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Topic: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)  (Read 1046 times)

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Hey folks,

My fiancee and I are hoping to get married in the UK, but it's looking intimidatingly complicated -- even for what I'd think is a very simple case. I'm really looking for some anecdata and possibly some advice on specifics.

We are both US citizens living (together) in the US, and hoping to have essentially a destination wedding in a beautiful old chapel (I studied in the UK and it's associated with my alma mater).

We've been informed we will need to request a special marriage license, and travel to the UK for an in-person interview related to that, and that it must be done before we put down deposits or are otherwise sure we can get married there at all. We're also told we'll need Marriage Visitor Visas for the wedding itself, but they can be applied for at most three months before the intended wedding date.

My questions:
  • has anyone else gone through anything similar, and have experiences / tips they can share?
  • must we apply for the marriage visitor visa before we are able to enter the UK to interview for the special marriage license? Or can we apply for the visa if our license is approved (and we know we'll be able to use it)?
  • regardless of whether we're able to actually get married in the UK, we're both keen on honeymooning in Scotland. If we aren't able to get the paperwork sorted out to get married there, will that affect our ability to vacation in the UK?

A little background, if it's useful:
  • as noted above, we're both US citizens, and have no other nationality (neither of us has ILR or anything of the sort)
  • we're both employed full-time and have a shared apartment lease and a dog here
  • as noted above, I studied and lived in the UK (undergrad and, later, postgrad followed by Tier 1 Post-Study Work) ending a little over three years ago. We met after I moved back, and we've visited the UK once since then, but only for a couple of weeks

Thank you all in advance for your help!


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2017, 08:49:35 AM »
Honestly?  I would do the legal bit in the US and have a "blessing" in the UK.  Then you eliminate all the visas, costs, and time in sorting the visas.  The UK does an EXCELLENT job of sucking any and all romance out of weddings.

Just to give you an idea, my now husband and I were living together in the UK (I was on a work visa already here) and we chose to marry in the US as we couldn't take the amount of rules there are to marry in the UK!

Would you be marrying in Scotland or England?  The process is slightly different for each.

Have you asked at the chapel if they would marry you there?  Most will only marry people who live in the "catchment" for the area.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2017, 01:14:07 PM »
@KFDancer, thanks for getting back to me so quickly!

It would be in England, and we've confirmed with the folks in charge that they will indeed marry us there, they do so for alumni regularly, but we'll need a special license (because, as you say, we're outside the usual "catchment" area).

We're told that if we have a "blessing" it's much less faff but it can't resemble a wedding too closely (e.g. no ceremonial entrance of the bride, no vows, etc)... and we'd like to try and have all those pretty things if we can.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2017, 01:27:22 PM »
We're told that if we have a "blessing" it's much less faff but it can't resemble a wedding too closely (e.g. no ceremonial entrance of the bride, no vows, etc)... and we'd like to try and have all those pretty things if we can.

Ugh, that annoys me for you.  It's a blessing, it should be able to be anything you want it to be!  I mean, I could understand if you wanted to have a satanic worship in their chapel, but an entrance and vows isn't exactly wild, you know?   ;)

You'll either need to plan a long trip to the UK or two separate trips to set everything up in addition to the wedding.

First you'll apply online for Marriage Visitor Visas.  These can be applied for up to 3 months before you intend to travel to the UK.  Once your visas have been granted, you can then travel to the UK.  You'll need to make an appointment at a registry office that allows foreign nationals to give notice.  Normally you have to be resident in the UK for a minimum of 7 days for this to happen but if you are both from out of the country and not moving here, I'm not sure how strict they are about this requirement.  You'll want to contact the registry office you'll give notice at and clarify.  After you've given notice, you'll have to wait between 28 and 70 days for the Home Office to give approval for the marriage to occur.  This *should* only be 28 days as you'll already have your visas in hand.  But some registry offices do make people wait the full 70 days, so again ask this question when you call.  After you've received approval from the Home Office, you are free to marry!  You have six months to marry once your visas are issued.

My 2p, I'd get married somewhere else.   ;D  But I wasn't bothered by the white wedding thing and we eloped just the two of us, so I might not be the best person to ask.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2017, 01:28:04 PM »
Have you thought about having your legal ceremony in the US then having a Celtic Handfasting ceremony here? It's quite a beautiful and meaningful ceremony.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2017, 01:28:07 PM »
Okay, to marry in England, you will need to:

- contact a church or registry office about possible ceremony dates and keep the evidence of correspondence from them
- apply for the Marriage Visitor Visas, providing the evidence of wedding planning
- fly to the UK
- after 7 days in the U.K., you can give notice to marry, showing your visas
- wait at least 28 days, or 70 days if your case is referred to UKVI for investigation (though with the visas hopefully you will only have to wait 28 days
- after the 28 or 70 days of waiting, you can get married
- after the wedding you can fly home

So, after getting the visas, you will need to be able to spend between 35 and 77 days in the UK before you can marry.

Alternatively, get married in the US and fly to the UK for a blessing with no visas needed and no waiting period.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2017, 03:57:16 PM »
@nctami72, thanks for the suggestion! A big part of what we want to do would be to have the ceremony in the chapel, which is pretty heavily constrained by the C of E -- so I suspect a Celtic thing is out.

@ksand24, @KFDancer, thank you for the detailed responses! From the research we've done it seems like the process of giving notice you describe is not available to us if we wish to get married in the chapel, since the chapel wedding requires a special license from the Archbishop (!) and the church license process and the civil notice process are mutually exclusive. From your knowledge, is that accurate or are we misunderstanding something?

Also, we are happy to do all of this as far in advance as we can and wait as long as necessary, but from what you have said it seems we have to do so in the UK? I had been under the impression we could make one trip to acquire the special license and then another to actually get married.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2017, 04:04:16 PM »
Have you thought about having your legal ceremony in the US then having a Celtic Handfasting ceremony here? It's quite a beautiful and meaningful ceremony.

I had to google that. It looks lovely.  :)


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2017, 04:27:00 PM »
@ksand24, @KFDancer, thank you for the detailed responses! From the research we've done it seems like the process of giving notice you describe is not available to us if we wish to get married in the chapel, since the chapel wedding requires a special license from the Archbishop (!) and the church license process and the civil notice process are mutually exclusive. From your knowledge, is that accurate or are we misunderstanding something?

Everyone has to give notice to marry - it's a legal requirement. The notice must be displayed for a minimum of 28 days before a wedding can take place.

I haven't heard of a special marriage licence before, though I'm just looking it up on Google. It looks like one is needed if you do not have personal connections to the particular chapel that would normally qualify you to marry there. It sounds like it is very rare to get one and will cost at least £310! I'm not sure if it is done instead of giving notice or if it is considered the same as giving notice.

From what I can tell, you would need to:
- apply for the Marriage Visitor Visas showing evidence of plans to marry
- fly to England
- apply for the Special Marriage Licence (you need a copy of your visas for this)
- attend interview for Special Licence
- (give notice to marry in person... both of you must attend) - not sure if this is done as well
- wait at least 28 days (maybe 70 days)
- get married

What I'm not sure about is the exact order or timing of everything - whether you give notice too or if the special licence is instead of it.

Quote
Also, we are happy to do all of this as far in advance as we can and wait as long as necessary, but from what you have said it seems we have to do so in the UK? I had been under the impression we could make one trip to acquire the special license and then another to actually get married.

I'm not sure exactly - you will need the Marriage Visitor Visas first before you can apply for the special licence... but those are multiple entry - so you might be able to fly over on the visa, apply for the licence/give notice, then fly back, then enter again on the visa to marry... but I don't know how long it will all take.

You might find that you need to be in the UK for several weeks during the licence application, in order to attend the interview - the license information pages mention delays of 4 weeks for the application to be processed before you will be invited to an interview. Not sure whether you could apply for the licence  from the US after you get your visas and then travel to the UK for the interview and signing of the affidavit, or if you would have to be in the UK for the whole process.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2017, 04:56:59 PM »
Yup, probably best to ask the chapel directly for clarification on what exactly they need for you to marry there.

Basically, to do the legal bit in the UK, it's going to be time consuming and expensive.  You might find it's not quite as romantic as the movies make it out to be.  Hopefully not though - I want you to have your dream wedding.  And if you do this - we need pictures!   ;D

I think you are okay to fly over, be here for 7 days, give notice (be sure to have the appointment arranged in advance of flying).  Then fly back.  BUT you'll want to check with the registry office (or chapel if they handle the notice in lieu of the registry office).  I suspect that as you are foreign nationals, there won't be a way around the registry office.  I would think the special license stuff will be in ADDITION to the registry office.  Just guessing, but that's my guess.


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #10 on: April 19, 2017, 07:35:30 PM »
Thank you all so much for your help with this!

I'm not sure if it is done instead of giving notice or if it is considered the same as giving notice.

The chapel informs us that the church licensing process is equivalent to the civil process and should be all we have to do (i.e. we shouldn't need to be inquiring with a registry office in parallel). We are informed we can handle most of it by mail, as original documents will not be needed until the interview.

What I'm not sure about is the exact order or timing of everything - whether you give notice too or if the special licence is instead of it.

I'm not sure exactly - you will need the Marriage Visitor Visas first before you can apply for the special licence... but those are multiple entry - so you might be able to fly over on the visa, apply for the licence/give notice, then fly back, then enter again on the visa to marry... but I don't know how long it will all take.

That's the part that we're unsure about too, and the chapel isn't able to help us too much because they are mostly working with UK nationals  :-\\\\

Basically, to do the legal bit in the UK, it's going to be time consuming and expensive.  You might find it's not quite as romantic as the movies make it out to be.  Hopefully not though - I want you to have your dream wedding.  And if you do this - we need pictures!   ;D

Well, it's the romance of it that we're trying to capture! I'm getting the feeling that if we want to have anything to do with the chapel it's going to have to be a blessing rather than a wedding, which from the sound of things means my fiancee won't get to pace down the aisle  :\\\'(

But whatever we do, it'll be wonderful, and there will definitely be pictures! Thank you all again for your help!


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #11 on: April 19, 2017, 07:41:47 PM »
Well, it's the romance of it that we're trying to capture! I'm getting the feeling that if we want to have anything to do with the chapel it's going to have to be a blessing rather than a wedding, which from the sound of things means my fiancee won't get to pace down the aisle  :\\\'(

But whatever we do, it'll be wonderful, and there will definitely be pictures! Thank you all again for your help!

If it helps, I didn't walk down an aisle, nor did we exchange vows.  Married five years in October and about to welcome our second child any day now.  We wouldn't change the way we married for anything.  In an ideal world, we would have loved our families to come together and to have had my brother officiate (he's a minister) but it was all just too complicated.  We made up for it with amazing rings and the honeymoon of a lifetime though.

We did hire a photographer as our witness and did photos all around the city afterwards (NYC).  So pretty romantic when you get down to it!





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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2017, 07:56:53 PM »
If it helps, I didn't walk down an aisle, nor did we exchange vows.  ... So pretty romantic when you get down to it!

That does help, actually! With any luck we'll have a story as amazing and fulfilling as yours!

Congratulations on the baby, fingers crossed for you both!


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2017, 12:45:01 PM »
My UKC husband and I (USC) were married by special licence in the UK in 2013.  This was before the waiting period was extended to potentially take up to 70 days and I was already in the UK on a Tier-4 visa, so I don't know how applicable my experience is these days.  I am not even sure that we actually needed the special licence in the first place.  Because I am American, the church insisted that we get a special licence (my US address is the one on our marriage certificate).  We had to pay a hefty fee but did not have to have the banns read.  Basically, a special licence supersedes the need to read banns in case there isn't time for the banns to be read (done 3 times over a three-week period) or if there is no applicable parish in which to read the banns (as in your case).  My husband's grandparents had to get married by emergency special licence in 1961 because the church neglected to read the first set of banns!  My husband had to meet with the bishop's assistant prior to the wedding and basically swear that everything we said on our application was true but I am not sure that you would need to do this if you are not UKCs. 

It was all a rather interesting process.  Our priest read the licence out to us at the rehearsal and it was very hoity-toity language.  It might be worth speaking with the staff at the chapel or at the registry office and having them outline the exact process because the special licence may take the place of giving notice, a long waiting period/banns, etc.  I do not know for certain so double check everything with people who should know.
Met Mr. Beatlemania: 20 Jan 2010
Tier 4 Visa Approved: 17 Sep 2012
Spousal Visa Received:  22 Sep 2014
Ohio to Essex: 26 October 2014
FLR(M): 10 May 2017
ILR: 23 October 2019
Citizenship: 6 September 2022


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Re: Help with Marriage Visitor Visa (+ special license to marry?)
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2017, 02:13:31 PM »
@Beatlemania, thank you for the info! I understand a lot of things have changed in the rules since 2013, but the bulk of things seem to be the same. The folks at the chapel have confirmed that:
  • we do need the special license, since the chapel is associated with an academic institution and doesn't have the usual local "catchment area"
  • the license supersedes the need to read banns or otherwise abide by the standard waiting period
  • we both need to meet with the bishop's assistant, in person [1]
A UK immigration lawyer friend-of-a-friend informally advised us that we should both be applying for marriage visitor visas as well in this case. No one has so far been able to advise on whether the visas are necessary before we apply for the license (which can be done by mail), only before we visit for the interview (i.e. whether that constitutes giving notice), or only before we actually get married.

Given the hefty fees as you describe, this thicket of red tape, the unavoidable cost of at least one visit to the UK (and the possibility that we will have to remain in the UK for several weeks on that visit), it is looking like we will probably have to get legally married in the US and visit the UK for a blessing.


1: Googling around hints that this is to a) confirm everything on the application is true, as in your case, and b) satisfy the Home Office that we're not doing an end-run around the visa rules (which honestly I don't see how we could, since neither of us is a UKC or has any other right to remain in the UK)


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