UK Citizen marrying US Citizen seeking advice

Hi there,

 I am a UK citizen looking to marry my girlfriend who is a US citizen. We plan to do this in the US (probably NY) as it appears the process is slightly more straight forward. I currently work in the UK and once married I will return to the UK. After returning can my girlfriend apply for a spouse visa or can she come here and start working straight away?

Also, do I have to give any notice to UK or US embassies before travelling to the US to get married? Is it correct that we once applied for the marriage license in the US we are able to get married 24hrs afterwards?

Finally upon my return to the UK do I need to register the marriage in the UK for it to be recognised? 

Apologies for the bombardment of questions and i hope you guys can clear the muddied waters for me.

Thanks,

The only thing you would need to do is the ESTA registration for Visa Waiver entrants to the US. This needs to be done at least 3 days before you leave the UK.

The requirements for marriage vary from state to state. My husband and I married in California where we showed up, applied for the license and were married 30 minutes later. No waiting period or blood tests needed. What state would you get married in?

The marriage does not need to be registered in the UK.

With a spouse visa she would be allowed to work when she arrived in the UK.

Thanks WebyJ

She is works in NYC so i would probably be there however we were thinking of doing it in florida but were unsure if the state had differing rules to NY.

Are you familiar with the Spouse Visa, if so do you have a rough idea on how long it takes for these to be issued.

Thanks once again,

Yes, different states (and even different towns within the same state) can have different requirements for marriage.  The best thing to do is to choose where you want to get married and contact the town clerk in that town to inquire as to what their local requirements are for marriage.

ETA:  If you purchase priority service for your settlement visa, you may have your visa in 15 working days or less, provided there isn't anything in your application that would make it complicated and need more than 15 working days to process.

my wife and I got married on last Thursday doing the same as you... All will work out ok

I got married in Florida (Orlando County Courthouse) and they have very liberal marriage laws. Similar to WebyJ, we showed up at 8am with our passports, had our license issued by 9am and had them marry us at 9.05am. As long as you are not a resident of Florida there is no waiting period for the license (3 days if you are a resident).