Couple go to High Court over refusal to allow them to marry
A couple has brought a legal challenge to a refusal to allow them to marry because it would allegedly be a sham marriage.
Pakistani national, Rana Asad Riaz, and his Romanian fiancee, Diana Badiu, both of Homelawn Drive, Tallaght, Dublin, say they were told there had been an objection to their planned wedding for January 9 last on grounds it would constitute of a marriage of convenience.
They say however, despite requests, they have been refused any details of the objection which led to this decision.
The High Court gave their lawyers permission to seek a judicial review of the decision by Charles McGuinness, superintendent registrar at the Civil Registration Office.
In an affidavit, Mr Riaz said he came to Ireland in 2014 when he applied for asylum.
He was sent back to the UK as that was where he had originally arrived in Europe and regulations require asylum applicants be processed in the country they first landed in.
He re-entered Ireland last August and applied for residency here based on the fact that his partner, Ms Badiu, is a EU citizen.
He said he and Ms Baidu have been in a relationship since October 2015 and have been living together since January 2016. He proposed to her shortly after and she accepted, he said.
They notified the Civil Registrar of their intention to marry in September but on December 28 were told there had been an objection and the matter referred for investigation. The superintendent registrar upheld the objection on March 3.
They were unable to make submissions to the superintendent registrar because, Mr Riaz said: "I had no idea regarding the nature of the objection", on which the decision was made.
They were unable to go to the Circuit Court, as provided for by law, because they also had no information on which to base such an appeal.
As a result, the couple sought a judicial review in the High Court.
Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted their lawyers leave to bring the review and said the matter could come back to court in July.
The application was made on an ex-parte (one side only represented) basis.
