My partner and I emmigrated to Australia 18 months ago and plan to go back to the UK for a civil ceremony.

Just when we thought we had everything sorted we find out that the registrar requires the following:

"In England and Wales, both partners must be resident in England or Wales for seven days before notice is given (on the eighth day). A notice must state where the marriage is to take place. The marriage can then take place after 15 days have elapsed from the date on which notice of the marriage is entered in the marriage notice book. The fee for giving notice of the marriage is £30 per person. There is no requirement for the 15 day notice period if the one of the partners has been issued with a gender recognition certificate and was previously the civil partner of the person who they wish to marry. In this case, notice of the marriage and the marriage itself can happen on the same day".

In effect this will mean we will both have to be back in the UK for at least 21 days prior to the wedding. Is this correct or is there any way around this that anyone knows about.

We are still citizens of the UK, have a rental property and pay tax. We have rental documents in our name but no utility bills.

Any advice would be greatly received

Get married in Scotland, it's much easier to organise at short notice.

We did this and it was easy peasy to sort out, it took under a week from first enquiry to getting married and I reckon we could have done it quicker.

hey we are in the same boat but we dont have a property in the uk - we were told if you have a property in the uk it was easy and only the 15 day notice period was required

w/o any proof of residency you had to do the whole 7 days in situ ebfore you can apply - we have been told that our parents can write us a letter saying they still hold possessions for us and hold a room for us during our "temporary stay in Aus"

we found the people at the licensing/council v helpful though so you may want to email someone direct

we are getting married in a church so our priest referred us to the council as the parishy has someone that only deals with their weddings

hope that helps?

Really appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately we have been told that our property in the UK won't count unless we have our names on a utility bill! Rental agreements aren't acceptable. There must be a way around it so I am still digging.
Its very frustrating.
We have been told that we do the same as you've suggested and get our parents to confirm we have been living there for the past 7 days together with our passports as proof of entry into the UK. And then have to give notice prior to that for which we have to be there in person.

Scotland it is then. Either that or we'll stay and get married in the sunshine on our own!

Alternatively, get married over here for the legal requirement - then fly to the UK and just have a celebrant do a non-binding ceremony for all your friends and family to enjoy with you. Therefore - no time requirement - no hassles.

Friends of mine both from UK had the same issue they were told they had to be in the country 5 weeks before hand so got married in NZ then had a blessing and party in UK not sure on Scotland

That would seem to be your best bet, just have a celebration and blessing of the marriage in the UK, can be treated in just the same way as a wedding, full dress up etc, but none of the legal hassle.

We looked into it and found the same thing (in fact I thought it was longer) but my wife isn't a Brit Cit. We ended up having a full blown ceremony in Korea then having a 'rubber stamp' jobbie here.

I would have liked it to be in the UK but never mind. We'll re-affirm our vows at some point in the UK so that the family can have some sort of 'do'.

Hi, I will ask my friend here who is Australian (but has also just gained a British Passport through her parents) she married her long, long time partner who is British but both have lived in Australia for more years than I care to remember...lol...well they finally did the "decent" thing..lol and got married in August 09, in London at my friends partners "local" boyhood church....they did not have a problem at all...neither do they have any property etc what so ever in the U.K....just thought I would let you know....if you like I will find out more but I do know my friend arranged everything herself even the meal etc afterwards....good luck

There are plenty of UK people who go abroad to get married, Dominican republic is popular, so why can't people come to the UK for the same reason?

I am not sure if you are suggesting that your friends did not bother with the formalities or not. But just thought I would mention that I am sure it is not difficult to actually organise a wedding without meeting the resident rules, but there could be HUGE problems later if somebody announces that the marriage is not valid.

For example if things go wrong between the couple, one partner could claim they were never maried in the first place. Another example would be if one partner dies, there could be inheritance issues if somebody else in the family decides to announce that the marriage was never valid.

Not sure, the only problem my friend seemed to have had was obtaining her British Passport, there was a skeleton in the family "wardrobe" that the family did not know about but I will certainly meet up with my friend for a coffee and ask her....not something I do normally...honest!!!