Ronaldo, Georgina excused from Saudi Arabia’s laws which forbid unmarried couples to live together
Cristiano Ronaldo and his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez will be permitted to live together in Saudi Arabia in spite of the Kingdom’s laws which prevent unmarried couples from cohabiting.
The 37-year-old star striker joined Saudi club Al Nassr on a two-and-a-half-year deal believed to be worth around £175 million per year and was officially unveiled to supporters in a grand ceremony today. Argentine-born Spanish model Rodriguez, who accompanied Ronaldo at the unveiling, will also move to Riyadh along with Ronaldo’s five children, of which two are her own.
The pair have never married, and with Saudi’s Islamic laws strictly prohibiting ‘cohabitation without a marriage contract,’ it was unclear how the family would remain together.
But authorities are said to be turning a blind eye, allowing Rodriguez and Ronaldo to live under one roof given the star power that the footballer brings, two Saudi lawyers told the Spanish press.
‘Although the laws of the kingdom still prohibit cohabitation without a marriage contract, the authorities have recently started to turn a blind eye and no longer prosecute anyone. ‘Although these laws are used when there is a problem or a crime.’
Another lawyer added: ‘Nowadays Saudi authorities no longer interfere in this matter – for expatriates – even though the law prohibits cohabitation without marriage.’
The next problem facing the couple is Rodriguez’ visa.
She will not receive a visa automatically through marriage, and Saudi employment laws decree that ‘any woman who obtains an entry visa to the kingdom be the wife, worker or first-degree relative of a man residing in the Kingdom’, according to one of the lawyers who spoke to EFE.
The lawyers posited that football club Al Nassr could personally sponsor the model’s visa, with the alternative of Rodriguez obtaining a one-year tourist visa, though this would expire long before the end of Ronaldo’s contract.
MailOnline has approached Ronaldo’s representatives for comment.
Ronaldo and Rodriguez, who have been together since 2016, are parents to a nine-month-old daughter Bella, and five-year-old Alana Martina and are also raising Cristiano’s near-five-year-old twins Eva and Mateo born to a surrogate mother and the football pro’s 12-year-old son Cristiano Jr.
Although their permanent living arrangements have not yet been finalised, Ronaldo wasted little time assuring the pair were royally received, securing a luxury suite in the Kingdom Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the country at 99 floors.
