Emily894

Hello,

I'm hoping for some advice on the daunting subject of marriage visas and the amount of red tape there is.
My fiance (US citizen) and I (UK citizen, living in California) are getting married in the Church of England in September. We have to fill out an application for a common license for the Church as he is a 'foreign national'. Can someone please elaborate for me, how we go about making the marriage legal in both countries? Will US law recognise a CofE marriage legally, or will we need to do something here when we come back after the wedding?

Thanks in advance,

Emily

Noorah101

If you are legally married in one country, you are legally married in both countries. In general, if you have proof that you're legally married in the UK, you don't need to do anything else in the USA.

I don't know if there's anything special about the CofE marriage that would not adhere to that rule.

Rene

fatbrit

I seem to remember an issue that came up on these boards with a CofE marriage certificate. IIRC, it went something like this:

The marriage certificate issued by the CofE vicar was rejected by the consular officer -- they wanted to see a GRO copy. The CofE only submits copies to GRO for recording in batches, and there was a considerable delay before the record would be available from GRO.

Should be somewhere in the marriage threads.....but I can't be bothered to search.

Noorah101

Ohhh now that you mention it, that does ring a bell.

OP definitely needs to research this.

Rene

Emily894

Ok thanks guys. I'll email our lawyer as well to see what advice he has for us on the subject. All this legal stuff is so frustrating - almost takes the fun out of the wedding!

Colette3886

Try not to let it get to you. Make sure you spend as much time on looking at dresses and the like!

Congratulations
Colette