I chanced upon an article yesterday on how a local man who wanted to marry a foreigner had to apply for approval, but was rejected numerous times. Normally here if people want to get married, the law is that both parties must be above the age of twenty-one, and witnessed by two witnesses when signing the certificate.
If one or both are less than the age of twenty-one but above the age of eighteen, parental consent must be sought. If one or both are below eighteen, both the parental and state consent must be sought. This is only for civil marriages, not religious marriages. In any case, save for Muslims, all other forms of religious marriages are not recognized until the marriage is legally registered.
However, in the case of the man in the article, he is already in his mid-forties. His girlfriend is in her mid-thirties. By right, they can get married without a glitch. So what is the problem? Firstly, his income is low, so the government fears that he will not be able to support a family. Secondly, his girlfriend used to be a domestic worker here, who has since finished her contract and gone home. So the government is reluctant to set the precedent of foreigners coming here to work with the mentality of getting married.
What a farce! On one hand, they have been going non-stop about how people should get married and have kids early, should not wait until the career has been established, can do everything at the same time, etc. On the other hand, when someone really yearns to get married and settle down, he is not allowed to because his income is too low.
Love happens anywhere anytime to anyone. So the two fell in love, one is a citizen, the other is not. Does it matter as long as both want to be together? Now there is massive promotion on singles get-together, matchmaking and parents matching kids, yet we have real life examples of two people finding each other but yet the government stands in their way of getting married.
Okay, no doubt perhaps what is stated in the article may not be totally true, but still, there is no reason to keep rejecting his application if he really wants to get married right? There are already so many who do not want to get married, so why stand in the way of people who really want to get married?
If one or both are less than the age of twenty-one but above the age of eighteen, parental consent must be sought. If one or both are below eighteen, both the parental and state consent must be sought. This is only for civil marriages, not religious marriages. In any case, save for Muslims, all other forms of religious marriages are not recognized until the marriage is legally registered.
However, in the case of the man in the article, he is already in his mid-forties. His girlfriend is in her mid-thirties. By right, they can get married without a glitch. So what is the problem? Firstly, his income is low, so the government fears that he will not be able to support a family. Secondly, his girlfriend used to be a domestic worker here, who has since finished her contract and gone home. So the government is reluctant to set the precedent of foreigners coming here to work with the mentality of getting married.
What a farce! On one hand, they have been going non-stop about how people should get married and have kids early, should not wait until the career has been established, can do everything at the same time, etc. On the other hand, when someone really yearns to get married and settle down, he is not allowed to because his income is too low.
Love happens anywhere anytime to anyone. So the two fell in love, one is a citizen, the other is not. Does it matter as long as both want to be together? Now there is massive promotion on singles get-together, matchmaking and parents matching kids, yet we have real life examples of two people finding each other but yet the government stands in their way of getting married.
Okay, no doubt perhaps what is stated in the article may not be totally true, but still, there is no reason to keep rejecting his application if he really wants to get married right? There are already so many who do not want to get married, so why stand in the way of people who really want to get married?
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