Hi Luis, if the relationship is short of a few months, it should not matter that much. You can apply for cohabitation when she arrives. Marriage is something which shouldn’t be rushed. You can put the remark that both of you want marriage as part of the document submission when you go through the family reunification procedure. That will say that you are serious with each other. Good luck!

I am in the process of divorce but separated from my ex-wife more than 2 years ago. The divorce took a long time! During that time I met my girlfriend whom I love and want to live with me. She is in Mexico now, but she was doing 1 year of PhD in Louvain La Neuve. I am in Bruxelles since August 2017. We know each other and got together since October 2017, which is basically 17 months by now (March 2019).

She has a ticket to come back in July which would be 20 months. She can travel as a tourist, live with me for 3 months, and then go back to Mexico to apply after the 24 months of the relationship or can we request the cohabitation here in Ixelles?

I went to Mexico once and stayed with her for 26 days. In May, I will go back and stay 15 days more, which is 41 days together. When she was living in Brussels, she also lived with me 2 weeks before leaving her apartment and moved back to Mexico.

We want marriage but not just for the fact of living with me, so we don’t want to rush into a marriage just for the sake of it. What’s the best way to proceed from here?

Hi Tania,

There are two points that you have mentioned which I will clarify: –

1) All documents submitted can be drafted in 3 official languages – French, Dutch, German plus English. Although English is not an official language in Belgium, it can be accepted. All my submitted official documents are in English, and I have not faced any problems.

2) Legalised documents like the Birth Certificate and the Certificate of Celibacy has to be submitted within 6 months from the date of issue, including the Certificate of Good Conduct and not within 2 months as the validity is too short.

Now, I have the keywords bold in the article as others may have overlooked it. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂