Where to get married?

Hi, I'm English, living in England, and my girlfriend is a US citizen, living in the US. In order to circumvent a whole heap of paperwork and the huge fees involved with visas we were thinking it would be easier to get married somewhere else, maybe Mexico, the Carribbean or Cyprus!!!, and then get the marriage legalized in the country in which we decide to live, either the US or UK. Any advice would be massively appreciated as this is a rather stressful and confusing time of my life.
Thank you.

You don't need to get the marriage 'legitimized". As long as you are legally allowed to marry in the country you choose, then you are fine.

Geeta is right. As long as your marriage certificate is real and you didn't buy it off the internet, you're fine .

In terms of where to get married, I can only speak for a few of the carribean islands and say it's very easy to get married there. No stress at all. We eloped to Barbados and they only wanted to see both of our passports and badaboom, we got married the next day after arrival. Then had the rest of the time to enjoy the honeymoon . I looked up cyprus but I can't remember why we decided against it, possibly a longer waiting period? Not sure about that one.

Thanks for the prompt and helpful replies guys, I guess now I just need to know whether I would be legally entitled to live and work in the US after "eloping", in which case would I need to inform US immigration of my intentions to live there prior to my arrival.    

Just be sure to find out the local rules before you head to where ever you pick. 

A couple my sister knows (both Americans) wanted to get married in Scotland.  40 of their closest friends and family are there now for the wedding.  The bride and groom were turned away at the boarder yesterday because neither of them thought to look up the local marriage rules and they didn't get visas.

I don't feel bad for the couple because its just common sense.  Even if you get married in your back yard you need to look up the local marriage rules.  It's insane to me that they wouldn't bother.  I feel really bad for their guests who spent thousands to be with them.

Thanks for the prompt and helpful replies guys, I guess now I just need to know whether I would be legally entitled to live and work in the US after "eloping", in which case would I need to inform US immigration of my intentions to live there prior to my arrival.    

What do you mean? You can't just live in the US after getting married even if you were to do it in the US. You need to apply for the proper visas. They average about 8-12 months on processing time. After you marry, your partner will have to petition for you to live there and this takes a long time.

Just be sure to find out the local rules before you head to where ever you pick. 

A couple my sister knows (both Americans) wanted to get married in Scotland.  40 of their closest friends and family are there now for the wedding.  The bride and groom were turned away at the boarder yesterday because neither of them thought to look up the local marriage rules and they didn't get visas.

I don't feel bad for the couple because its just common sense.  Even if you get married in your back yard you need to look up the local marriage rules.  It's insane to me that they wouldn't bother.  I feel really bad for their guests who spent thousands to be with them.

Sscarlet that's just painful. Ouch for everyone involved. I'm sure the bride and groom are gutted!!

I guess I was just hoping to bypass the fiancee/marriage visa expenses and time delays by applying for US residency as a spouse, as a friend of mine had a 6 month wait for a fiancee visa for the US. However it seems more likely, from what you are suggesting, that I won't necessarily save time or money by getting married in Mexico (for example) and then applying for a K-3 visa.
Thankyou very much for your time and advice.

Sscarlet that's just painful. Ouch for everyone involved. I'm sure the bride and groom are gutted!!

I'm sure they are, but when you do something so blatantly stupid you kinda deserve what you get. 

You can marry in the US without a visa, but you can only do so if you intend to leave and not remain permanently.

I guess I was just hoping to bypass the fiancee/marriage visa expenses and time delays by applying for US residency as a spouse, as a friend of mine had a 6 month wait for a fiancee visa for the US. However it seems more likely, from what you are suggesting, that I won't necessarily save time or money by getting married in Mexico (for example) and then applying for a K-3 visa.

Yeah, basically - either way, immigrant visas for the US take a minimum of 6 months for processing (with an average of 8 months), whether you want to marry there and live there afterwards (i.e. a fiance visa) or if you are already married before you move to the US (a spousal visa).

On the other hand, if you were to marry in another country and then wanted to live together in the UK, your wife could get a spousal visa for the UK within a few days to a few weeks.

Yep. Getting married is easy. Getting permission to live somewhere as man and wife, not so easy.

Either way, one of you is going to have to go through the visa procedure. And the rule of thumb has always been that it's harder to go UK>US than US>UK.

Hubby and I married in the States in Dec of 04 when he was over on a visit (visa waiver because he was only going to be there three weeks). He returned to the UK to finalize things here and came back to the States on a 3 month visit visa a couple months later. While on his visit visa, we filed for his legal permanent resident visa. They gave him an up to one year 'temporary visa/waiver' permission to remain in the States while they made their decision. His work permit came a couple months before his visa, so he was allowed to work before his visa came. It really shortened the time we had to be apart.

I don't know if any laws have changed since then, but it is worth looking into as a possibility.

My visa to be here took 8 weeks, but I know you can pay extra to expedite the process since you both have to be in your own countries.

Hubby and I married in the States in Dec of 04 when he was over on a visit (visa waiver because he was only going to be there three weeks). He returned to the UK to finalize things here and came back to the States on a 3 month visit visa a couple months later. While on his visit visa, we filed for his legal permanent resident visa. They gave him an up to one year 'temporary visa/waiver' permission to remain in the States while they made their decision. His work permit came a couple months before his visa, so he was allowed to work before his visa came. It really shortened the time we had to be apart.

I don't know if any laws have changed since then, but it is worth looking into as a possibility.

My visa to be here took 8 weeks, but I know you can pay extra to expedite the process since you both have to be in your own countries.

As long as I've been researching American visas, all the literature has said that this is not allowed. These days, you're meant to petition for your spouse while they are in their home country and they can only come over after they had their interview at their country's American embassy. Long long process! 

As long as I've been researching American visas, all the literature has said that this is not allowed. These days, you're meant to petition for your spouse while they are in their home country and they can only come over after they had their interview at their country's American embassy. Long long process! 

We didn't intend to do it that way. He was over for a visit and then we were going to file for his visa when he went back, but stopped in to talk to an immigration attorney to see what the best way of going about it was. It was his suggestion to do it that way. He helped us with the paperwork and gathering documents.

Sorry to give bad advice. I guess a lot has changed since then.