Hawkeye84

Ok, so here's my situation. I'm currently in Canada on an IEC permit and living with my common law partner. We've applied for spousal sponsorship and hope to hear back sometime towards the end of this year or the start of next year.

We also would like to get married and my partner has her heart set on getting married in England, at the place that I proposed to her. We've been trying to work out the legalities of the whole thing and it seems that we would have to 'give notice' after being in the country for at least 7 days. It then takes 16 days for the authorisation to be given, meaning we would have to be in the country for over 3 weeks before we can get married.

As we both work, taking around a month off isn't really feasible. Does anyone have experience with this? Have I understood the rules correctly? Are there other rules/laws/paperwork we should know about?

Thanks

CanAngel

Don't forget she would also need to apply and obtain a special Visa to get married in the UK. I don't know how long it would take. She would need a "certificate of no impediment to marry" not too sure how you get that, I think foreign affairs may be involved? Sorry I can't provide more specific details, we were considering getting married in the UK but as I am divorced and all my paperwork is in french I would have had to get it all translated and certified by the Canadian embassy so too much trouble.

What I can share with you is our solution which enabled us to have the wedding we wanted in the UK with much less hassle: we had a very simple legal ceremony without any fuss, wearing plain clothes, then had the wedding we wanted by having a beautiful and meaningful ceremony without the legal hassle in the UK as well as here in Ottawa That was our choice as our parents are not in a position to travel to either country, and the rest of the family was grateful not to spend thousands of dollars travelling for our wedding.

We chose to have the legal ceremony in the state of Vermont because there was no waiting period between getting the marriage permit and the "ceremony" itself, so we crossed the border in the morning, did our thing, had a nice lunch and drove back home after. Lots less hassle! And beautiful memories on both sides of the ocean.

We united both ceremonies by having a sand ceremony at each location, our guests put a little bit of sand from the beach we had our wedding at in a vase at each location. Then we poured the content of both vases in one larger vase to signify the coming together of both sides of the families (and the pond) by our marriage. It was beautiful the vase is in our living room now and is a beautiful reminder of both our wedding days

Good luck!

dbd33

This seems all very complicated. My brother, who lived in Canada at the time, married a Canadian in the UK (they had to do that as he was an, er, undocumented immigrant, here). They flew on a Thursday and married on the Saturday, plainly they were able to sort out the license and whatnot from here. I'd be very surprised if it's no longer possible.

Hawkeye84

Thanks CanAngel That had occurred to us and is currently looking like our best bet.

I'd be interested to know if it was possible to do things faster, dbd33. So far our information is from the CIC website and emailing the local authority in England where we'd like to have the ceremony. Will have to keep digging to see if there are alternatives.

dbd33

If the problem is that the local authority requires three week's notice will they accept written notification of notification in person far in advance? If the latter you could visit, arrange, return to Canada and go back for the day of the wedding.

Do you know anyone in the area who would lend you their address?

Former Lancastrian

What you dont want to be married by Elvis in Vegas or do a drive thru wedding?
Im seeing more and more Canadians getting hitched in Mexico and Jamaica etc etc. Many interesting stories of punch ups and family splits when staying at an all inclusive resort for 7 days with as much booze as you can drink.

HSJones

We're in the same boat. I'm a Brit, he's Canadian. I've always wanted to get married where I grew up (Northamptonshire).

We're just engaged and we're planning for the wedding in October 2013.

I was under the impression that we just need to apply for a visa for husband-to-be to get married in the UK. Also, I think we'll need to give notice here in Canada to our district.

We're going to have a C of E wedding, so in fact the vicar is investigating just what has to be done.

If you're a Brit I don't think there should be any issues, but the Canadian will have to get a visa and you'll have to give 15 days notice, though not quite sure exactly where - either in the district you live in, the district you will be married in or both.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/vi...p/eligibility/
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=14518

Out of interest, how are you getting on with the arrangements? Do you have someone on the ground in the area you want to get married to do some of the leg work for you?

I'm sure someone on British Expats will have done the live in Canada-get married in UK, so I'd love to hear from them with tips!

If I get more concrete evidence of what's needed I'll update the post!

ek84

If you get married in church there is no waiting period - although you do need to qualify to get married in a particular parish which is hard unless you lived there in the past or your parents live there now. The CofE website has all the info.

We got married in church last October - I flew in a week before and my husband 2 days before! You do need a visa though and have to submit biometrics at a specific office - which was Edmonton for us so not too bad but there aren't that many places in Canada where it can be done.

Hawkeye84

We have my parents who are willing to help us out with arrangements and the like in the UK. Our arrangements are in the very early stage, we've found a place we'd like to use for the ceremony and have some ideas but that's pretty much it. It won't be a church wedding though

curleytops

Are you aware that your choice of venue for ceremony has to be registered for performing weddings? It's not like Canada where you can get married in a private home etc. if you want.

MillieF

It was admittedly 11 years ago, but we tried to get married in the UK, but we couldn't because we would have had to be there for 21 days, and with cats and a dog at home, a baby and no family or accommodation in the UK....it wasn't practical. We went to Jersey in the end, as you only have to be present for three days in order to be considered 'resident' for the purpose of marriage. Best of luck and congratulations.