Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Hello,

I'm in FL on an L1 visa (have 3 years left) and recently got engaged to my girlfriend who is an American citizen. We're planning on getting married in 2016 and our first job is to decide whether to get married in England, the US or destination (Costa Rica? :lol:). We plan to live in the US.

My question, of course, pertains to legalities, citizenship etc. Are there things we need to consider while making our decision? I.e. If we get married somewhere that is not in the USA, will it make my application for citizenship more difficult?

I have a house in England and we'd also like to have the option available to live in England in the future if we choose to so I need to find out what is involved for her to be able to become a British citizen too. Is dual citizenship possible for both of us?

I appreciate that some of these questions are fairly high level, grateful for any advice!

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

It doesn't matter where in the world you get married; if the marriage is legal in that country, it will be legal in the USA.

You can't jump right into US citizenship. After marriage, you need to apply for adjustment of status, which gets you a 2 year green card. Two years after that, you need to apply for removal of conditions, which gets you a 10 year green card. Once you've been a US PR for 3 years, and the marriage is also 3 years old, you can apply for citizenship.

So, if you marry in 2016, you should become a USC around 2020 or so.

Then you can move to the UK and live there long enough for her to get UK citizenship. Then you will both be dual citizens.

Rene

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Thank you for the reply, very useful.

Apologies for my use of terminology, I knew about the green card, removal of conditions etc, worded that badly.

Sounds like our options are open though, thanks again.

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

If you want to get married in the UK then your fiancée will need a fiancée visa - a visitor cannot get married in the UK.

As per Noorah's advice, the UK recognises any legal marriage, so there is no benefit of choosing the UK over the US or vice versa.

I would suggest that you are careful about choosing a "destination wedding" if you have guests you hope will attend but you don't have a bank balance large enough to pay for travel for everyone. :unsure:

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

You can get married wherever you want and it won't make any difference. However if you plan to get married in the UK, your fiancé will need a visa.

Currently the financial requirement to move a non EU spouse to the UK is to either have £62,500 on deposit in a bank for 6 months, a job paying at least £18,500 outside the UK and a job offer paying at least £18,500 when moving to the UK, or a job in the UK paying at least £18,500 for 6 months prior to bringing the spouse. It currently takes about 5 years for her to become a UK citizen. The changes over the past couple of years has made it more difficult for lower income spouses to bring their non EU spouse to the UK. Nobody know what the future will bring concerning immigration.

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Thank you for the advice, good to know.

I currently work for a US company with a UK office earning a fairly respectable salary so I don't think that would be a problem if eventually we did decide to go to England (although I currently don't foresee that happening, I love the USA!).

Cheers

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Even Bakersfield?

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

I thought the bonus point of a destination wedding was to keep people from coming...lol

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

I think we've decided on a FL wedding in autumn 2016. Now for the joyous task of picking a venue :)

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Just curious why you're waiting so long. What if you lose your job?

Rene

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

My sister-in-law got married in FL in October, her family came over from the UK, his from Canada, the next day an extra wedding guest called Wilma blew through! A day earlier and it really would have buggered up the matrimonial plans. Are you sure you want to marry in FL in hurricane season?

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

August 2004. Evacuated from Key West on our honeymoon due to Charlie.
Mum and Dad got practically the last plane out of Tampa to go home a couple of days later.

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Where in FL?

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

Might I make a suggestion? :sneaky:

http://floridianweddings.com/wp-cont...ic-Photo-1.jpg

Re: Wedding in UK vs USA vs ?
 

You said that you would be living in the US, so if you want to marry in the UK then your to be wife would need a marriage visitor visa. This allows you to marry in the UK, but not live there.

If and when you do decide to live in the UK YOU, as the British citizen would need to sponsor your wife for a spouse visa. You would need to fulfill financial requirements in order to do this.

Once you have the visa it will, initially be for 2.5 years, then you have to file for Further leave to remain, another 2.5 years. At the end of the 5 years then your wife will be eligible to apply for UK citizenship.