TazCaz

Hi there,

Currently researching getting married in Australia vs in the UK (I'm Australian and currently in Melbourne and my partner is Scottish and currently in the UK). Neither of us are eligible for ancestry visas and too old for working visas, so we are restricted to tourist visas to see each other at the moment.

Seems that regardless of whether we get married in the UK or Australia, it's going to be a two step process, whereby one of us gets an intent to marry visa, have a short period of time from when we enter the country to get married, then we get a partner/spouse visa once we are married.

Obviously when you are living apart, it makes it very hard to plan things - not only because the legalities of it all are quite confusing (and expensive!), but also you don't know how long everything is going to take and therefore it's hard to make bookings, send 'save the dates' to international guests etc. Though once everything is in motion, you have such a short time to pull it all together!

A small 'paper signing' ceremony in one country allowing us to at least live in the same place to plan a bigger wedding would be ideal, but with both the UK and Australia requiring this two step process, it hardly seems worth it.

Does anyone have any experience with this same situation and can offer any advice? Feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment!

Thanks in advance!

Beoz

If your intent is to marry for the right to live in either country, forget it. You actually need to be together for a period of time and prove it through joint bank statements, leases/mortgages, bills, photos, etc. Marriage doesn't mean anything and is discriminatory for those who don't believe in marriage.

The hardest part of an international marriage is getting the international guests there.

Not really sure what your question is to be honest.

TazCaz

We've been together nearly two years, and I've just come back from 8 months staying with him in the UK - now just figuring out the least complicated path for marriage in order for us to be able to live in the same place. You don't need to have joint bank statements, leases, mortgages etc. to get married - many couples living in the same country don't even have that!

My post was just a call out to see if anyone else had been in a situation where one partner was living in the UK and the other in Australia and how they went through the process of getting married, and how long that took, when they were unable to live in the same country in the interim.

Beoz

Las Vegas should be pretty uncomplicated but marriage doesn't mean you can live in the same place.

Pulaski

That is simply not true, certainly not for the UK, and I don't believe for Australia either - married is married for the purpose of a visa application. Mrs P was granted a visa for the UK when we had never cohabited (established a home together) for even 5 minutes!

To answer the OP's question: for the purpose of a visa application it makes absolutely no difference which country you get married in. You could get married in a third country so long as that country allows visitors to get married and the marriage there would be legally binding.

In the case of Britain, a visitor needs a visa to be allowed to get married. So unless Australia also requires a visitor to have a visa to be allowed to get married, getting married in Australia may be possible sooner, logistically easier, and a little cheaper.

TazCaz

Both the UK and Australian immigration sites tell me that, given both our situations, being granted spouse visas shouldn't be a problem. Is there something I may have missed?

Beoz

Ok it looks like you are right, but there does seem to be something to prevent arranged or fake marriages. Not sure what that is.

It does look like you have to be married outside the UK though.

Australia doesn't care about marriage. Its all based on proof of the relationship.

Pulaski

And a bona fide marriage is proof of a relationship for the purposes of a visa, even for Australia. There is no necessary requirement to have lived together before you got married. Those of you who "don't believe in marriage" might find that hard to believe, but it is still true.

Pulaski

No, you are correct. You will have no significant problems getting a visa for either country so long as your marriage is genuine.

mikelincs

In the UK, you will be questioned, separately, about what you know about each other, what work each of you do etc. the questions will be different for each of you. This is true even if both parties are from the UK, this is to prevent, or try to prevent, 'Marriages of Convenience' Not sure what would happen in Australia.

TazCaz

I initially thought this too Pulaski, but it seems you first need a Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300), which is a temporary visa for nine months by which you need to get married and transfer to a Partner Visa. I believe this is similar to the UK's fiancée visa then spouse visa path - though you only have 6 months to get married in the UK. So two steps either way (if you want to actually get married in the UK or Australia). Trying to see how the two compare in terms of waiting periods for visa approval and cost.

The difficulty is in making when the timeframes are so unknown - and we're currently in two different countries!

Pulaski

What sort of visa would be required if both parties are from the UK?

And if you're not talking about visas, who would be asking the questions, and why?

Pulaski

OK, so the fiancé(e) visa requirements are similar for Britain and Australia, but contrary to Beoz's assertion, there is nothing to prevent the "foreign" party to the marriage arriving and getting married almost immediately (there could, for example be a residency requirement of a few days, or a mandatoy wait after a marriage licence is obtained), and a visa being applied for immediately after the wedding with effectively no period of cohabitation.

BritInParis

It doesn't matter whether you marry in the UK, Australia or a third country, providing you are both free to marry and the marriage is legal. An Australian citizen wishing to marry in the UK requires a marriage visitor visa which costs £87 and requires you to go through an application process involving a visit to a Visa Application Centre and submission of various supporting documents. An British citizen wishing to marry in Australia only needs a normal eVisitor visa (subclass 651) which is free and can be obtained online with no supporting documents. From an immigration point of view then marrying in Australia is significantly easier. You should however check the requirements for marrying in the relevant Australian state or territory.

A far more important question frankly is which country do you wish to live in after you marry? Both countries' immigration systems have their pros and cons and whilst Australia is arguably an easier and cheaper country to emigrate to as a spouse in the long run making a decision to move to the other side of the world needs include a lot more determining factors than the ease of obtaining the correct visa.

I also note that you have spent the last eight months in the UK where the maximum possible time for visitors is six months. Which visa did you hold to enable you to do this or did you do a 'visa run' to another country?

Pollyana

BiP's post has more details,but just to set the record straight here. You don't need a PMV to marry in Australia.You can marry on a tourist visa as long as you leave again afterwards.
A PMV is designed for if someone wants to come here, marry and STAY, then applying for a spouse visa. Just for marriage a tourist visa will do. Work the rest out later and do a Spouse Visa application from offshore if necessary.

Its easier than the UK where you have to get a specific visa to allow you to marry there.

Don't confuse getting a Spouse Visa with just 'getting married' which Ithink some well-meaning posters have done.