Getting married
 

My Bajan man and I are now talking about getting married. We`ve been together for about 5 years. How is the process? Would it make a difference in getting the papers (work permit, stay permit etc.) getting married in Barbados vs. the UK? If we get married in the UK, would he get permits for the UK even though we plan to live in bim. How long does it usually take after you get married before everything is sorted with the papers :huh:

Re: Getting married
 

there are many threads on this board about getting your immigrations documents sorted out. At present it could take maybe 3 plus years, once you are married, to get your citizenship. You could apply for residency, but not sure that's being dealt with any quicker. Re the work permit, I recall reading someone on here had applied for citizenship and then was granted a conditional work permit based on that application.

I don't think it matters where you get married and wouldn't have anything to do with how long or short the process is.

Re: Getting married
 

Where ever you get married you then have to apply for your Bajan Citizenship and your partners UK Citizenship. Its worth applying for his when you marry even tho you want to live in Bim cos you never know when you might have to go back. You can apply for his citizenship at the Brtiish embassy in Barbados but its all done now by post over to America. Warning! the people I know who have applied for UK citizenship for their husbands have had to supply loads and loads of back up paperwork (ie phone records, letters and photographs) to prove it is not a marriage of convenience.

For your citizenship you can apply as soon as you are married but although you will have the right to stay on the island (and at present i think they are issueing 2 year work permits to new spouses) you will not be interviewed for your citizenship for at least 3 years.

Be careful if you plan to get married in UK that he has a visa to marry. They kind of frown on things if he visits you for a few weeks then you get married. You can actually apply for him to have a fiance visa and visit for 6 months but he must return home whilst processing the application after marriage. As in Barbados he will initially (if granted and i was shocked to find out its not a given) be given a 2 year working visa and providing that he gets in no trouble in that period he can then be assessed for citizenship.

Hope this helps

Re: Getting married
 

Dipty that's funny about the Fiance Visa. When my hubby and I got married in the US, we were never told anything about having to get a Fiance visa.. never even heard of it until he started to apply for his green card. We were 1 3/4 years into our marriage when he started the application process, and someone at the US embassy here in Barbados asked him about his fiance visa when we got married.. we looked at them with stupid looks on our faces and said.."a what".. didn't seem to have any effect on his US Green Card, although it may have been that we has already been together for close to 3 years and had other documents to prove that.

Re: Getting married
 

Hi Sunnie hope ya good

I dont know a huge amount about these things just recently had a few gfs who went thru the process but I know right now they are so strict on doing things properly cos of terrorism threats etc. Anyone reading my advice should check out the facts on the uk immigration internet services.

Was your marriage back in the day sunnie lol?? (the days when things made complete common sense??)