I am British she is American... can we get marrade in the UK?

It is not all as simple as it looks in the heading!!

I am a British Citizen with a British Passport however I legally live in Spain (I have residency). My fiance is American and she is living in Spain at the moment (she is on vacation and is soon to get residency). However we want to get marrade in March 2009 in the UK and we were wondering what we can do to get this moving!! We are not planning on staying in the UK so would my fiance just need to get "Marriage Visitor Entry Clearance".

Please help sombody. She is paniking!!

Al

Yes, you have it...

You realise you will have to exercise your EEA treaty rights in Spain if that is where you are settling, correct?

Is it a COE wedding or a Civil one?  If Civil, there is usually a 5 day period you have to both "reside" in your registrars cachement and 15 days of giving notice.  COE you have your COE rules, which are about to change (I can't remember when).

Hi a_waby, would you please clarify?  I don't get the part where your fiance is in panic.  She is afraid of marrying in the UK?  Or afraid they won't let her get married?

Yes you can get married in the UK but it would be a TOTAL pain in the a$$. My husband & I got married in California and only spent £110. Yes it was at the Registrars office but, it is the action not the location that matters. Plus you can choose the location of where you want to get married. We were married next to a waterfall. Good Luck!

***Edited to add that we got our license and were married within 30 minutes. No waiting period, residence requirements or blood tests. We just called and booked it about 1 month in advance in the County that my parents live in.***

It's not that much of a pain.  As Kitson said, wait 5 days, register, wait 15 days, marry.

Vicky

Mine will only cost £103.50 and it's going to be in a registrars office in the UK. £30 for each of us to give notice...£40 for the room/"ceremony"...£3.50 for the certificate. No pain for us though.

thanks for all the advise.... she is paniking because they might not let us get married in the UK and she didn't realise it would be so difficult!!

We are planning on living in Spain for a while but not forever, we have not decided where we are going to live long term it depends what happens with the company I am working for!!

We are planning on just a civil ceremony!! I will have to look into residing in the cachment area of my registar, as that looks like the best option at the minute!! (Do you know what the paperwork is like for this option... is there any??)

It sounds like an MVV might do the trick http://londonelegance.com/transpondia/mvv/ 

It shouldn't be something to panic over.  If you're expating in Spain and she's domiciled there, it should be a breeze...

We are planning on just a civil ceremony!! I will have to look into residing in the cachment area of my registar, as that looks like the best option at the minute!! (Do you know what the paperwork is like for this option... is there any??)

As Gary said, a marriage visitors visa is required!  While officially you have to reside in your registrars cachement for 5 days, there is no formal paperwork to "prove" this, usually the registrar takes your word for this.  I simply showed up at the registrars office and made my appointment in 5 days time and the "proved" I was in the area.  There is paperwork to give notice, but the registrar fills this out.  Once you have given notice the dates can be somewhat flexible (they are hard period for Civil Partnerships for some reason) and you will choose a venue (registrars office is cheapest) and then come back for the marriage ceremony on your appointed date.

Plan for 20 days, call the registrar's office ahead of where you are going to registrar and talk through it.  Most registrars are perfectly reasonable and friendly people, unlike some of the UK Borders folks.  Be sure to inform that one person is a UK citizen and one is coming on a MVV.

Nothing to panic about, just obtuse, expensive and lengthy, where getting married in the States in most cases is perfectly easy, short and cheap.