• Located in Eastern Africa west of Somalia
• The weather in Ethiopia is tropical monsoon
• The fact that the Great Rift Valley passes through Ethiopia makes it vulnerable to volcanic activity, there are frequent droughts as well.

 

Marriage to an Ethiopian Citizen

Every country has its own laws that apply to its citizens marrying a person from a different country. Getting married to an Ethiopian citizen with the goal of eventually bringing them to Canada to live is a process with many steps. The Ethiopian government imposes strict requirements on foreigners who marry Ethiopians as an indirect way of discouraging Ethiopian citizens from moving to other countries.

To learn more about marrying in Ethiopia, contact the Ethiopian Embassy.

If you want to bring your Ethiopian spouse or partner to live in Canada, you must then file a sponsorship application for them to become a permanent resident. If they would like to visit you in Canada while their application is in process, they must also apply for a visitor visa. For more information, please see our family sponsorship page and our visitor visa page.

Processing Time

Once the necessary documents are gathered, it usually takes the Ethiopian government up to 3 weeks to authenticate the documents.

If you then file a Canadian sponsorship application for your Ethiopian spouse or partner, this application takes an average of 10-12 months.

A visitor visa application for your spouse or partner to visit you in Canada while the sponsorship applications are processing takes an average of 3 –14 days.

Please see our pages on family sponsorship and Canadian visitor visa for more information on the processing times of these applications.

 

Ethiopian Marriage Basic Requirements

In order to marry a citizen of Ethiopia, you must demonstrate to the Ethiopian government that you are eligible to do so. This includes:

• Proof of country of birth
• Proof of single status
• Proof of age requirement

Family Members

If your Ethiopian spouse has dependent children, this does not affect the Ethiopian Marriage document application.

If you have dependent children, they have no effect on the application to marry an Ethiopian citizen.

 

List of Ethiopian Consulates in Canada

Consulate of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Toronto, Canada

 

Calling Ethiopia from Canada

• The country code is 251 to call you would dial 011 – 251 – area code – local numbers

List of Area Codes for Major Centres in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa	11	Dessie	33	Jijiga	25
Adigrat	34	Dila	46	Jimma	47
Arba Minch	46	Dire Dawa	25	Mekele	34
Asela	22	Ghedo	57	Nazareth	22
Awassa	46	Gonder	58	Nekemte	57
Debre Birham	11	Harar	25	Shashamane	46
Debre Zeyit	11	Hosaina	46	Sodo (Wolaita)	46

The above chart applies to landlines only.

The prefix fo cells is 9 and for satellite phones is 98.

 

Calling Canada from Ethiopia

Dial 00 – 1 – area code -local number

List of Canadian Area Codes

Province	Code	Province	Code
Alberta	403 / 587 (southern Alberta) 587 / 780 (central and northern Alberta)	Nunavut	867
BC	236 / 250 / 778 (majority of BC) 236 / 604 / 778 (Metro Vancouver)	Ontario	226 / 519 (southwestern Ontario) 249 / 705 (northeastern Ontario) 289 / 365 / 905 (Greater Toronto Area) 343 / 613 (eastern Ontario) 416 / 647 (Toronto) 807 (northwestern Ontario)
Manitoba	204 / 431	PEI	782 / 902
New  Brunswick	506	Quebec	418 / 581 (eastern Quebec) 438 / 514 (Montreal) 450 / 579 (Greater Montreal) 819 / 873 (remainder of Quebec)
Newfoundland and Labrador	709	Saskatchewan	306 / 639
Northwest Territories	867	Yukon	867
Nova Scotia	782 / 902

 

Time Difference

Ethiopia is in East Africa Time (GMT+3). Ethiopia does not observe Daylight Saving Time.

Canadian Time Zone	# of Hours Ethiopia is Ahead	# of Hours during DST
Pacific (BC, Yukon)	11 hours	10 hours
Mountain (Alberta, western Nunvaut, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan)	10 hours	9 hours
Saskatchewan	9 hours	9 hours
Central (Manitoba, Northwest Territories, central Nunavut, northwestern Ontario)	9 hours	8 hours
Eastern (most of Ontario, most of Quebec)	8 hours	7 hours
Atlantic (Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, eastern Quebec)	7 hours	6 hours
Newfoundland	6.5 hours	5.5 hours

 

Emergency Information for Canadians in Ethiopia

Embassy of Canada in Addis Ababa Old Airport Area, Nefas Silk Lafto Sub City Kebele 04, House No.122 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Postal Address: P.O. Box 1130, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Telephone: 251 (0) 11 371 0000 Fax: 251 (0) 11 371 0040 E-mail: [email protected] Website: canadainternational.gc.ca/ethiopia-ethiopie/

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