Married To British National But How Do I Get It Registered?

[vicegerent]

Hi,

I am an Indian national, and my wife is a British National. We both married in UK some three months ago, however, due to time restrictions, we were unable to have our marriage registered at a UK civil register office in order for it to be recognised under the UK law.

We then returned together to Bangkok, as I'm working here and have a valid work permit. Our marriage is recognised by the Indian embassy and my wife's full name and Passport number have been endorsed on my passport. As a result, Thai authorities now recognise us as a couple and have granted my wife a dependent visa. My question is, how do I get our marriage registered under UK law, or with the British embassy?

Thanks in advance.

[Richard W]

I am an Indian national, and my wife is a British National. We both married in UK some three months ago, however, due to time restrictions, we were unable to have our marriage registered at a UK civil register office in order for it to be recognised under the UK law.

We then returned together to Bangkok, as I'm working here and have a valid work permit. Our marriage is recognised by the Indian embassy and my wife's full name and Passport number have been endorsed on my passport. As a result, Thai authorities now recognise us as a couple and have granted my wife a dependent visa. My question is, how do I get our marriage registered under UK law, or with the British embassy?

Here's a wild shot, just in case no expert advice comes along. I gather now that for extensions of stay in virtue of marriage to a Thai citizen, Thailand now requires that the marriage also be registered in Thailand. Will you need to register your wife's marriage in Thailand for her extension of stay when it falls due? I suggest that if the marriage in the UK is not recognised, then the registration in Thailand would be. Is there some flaw in this approach?

I am aware that the law is an ass. I recall a case where a woman was refused a divorce by a British court because the court was not persuaded that the marriage (in Pakistan or Kashmir) was valid, and then that her subsequent marriage was rejected as valid for immigration purposes because the ECO was not satisfied that her first marriage had been terminated. The ECO's decision was upheld on appeal!

[Rtwo]

Hi,

I am an Indian national, and my wife is a British National. We both married in UK some three months ago, however, due to time restrictions, we were unable to have our marriage registered at a UK civil register office in order for it to be recognised under the UK law.

We then returned together to Bangkok, as I'm working here and have a valid work permit. Our marriage is recognised by the Indian embassy and my wife's full name and Passport number have been endorsed on my passport. As a result, Thai authorities now recognise us as a couple and have granted my wife a dependent visa. My question is, how do I get our marriage registered under UK law, or with the British embassy?

Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry I don't understand how you claiming that you got married in the UK but then go on to say that you failed to register the marriage because of time restrictions. If the marriage isn't registered in the UK then under what law are you claiming to have entered into matrimony? I suspect that the British authorities may refuse to recognize the marriage.

[lovelomsak]

I think this question is better answered by the British Embassy. If there is a way they could help.

Makes me wonder about this thread? Whynot have your wife do it she is British. Or is there something you arenot telling us.

Areyou still together?

[rfukata]

Best if you enquire within the British (England) embassy or Consulate General

[nidhogg]

As a result, Thai authorities now recognise us as a couple and have granted my wife a dependent visa. My question is, how do I get our marriage registered under UK law, or with the British embassy?

Thanks in advance.

British Embassy in bangkok. However, thats to register an overseas marriage in UK. I don't understand how you were "married" in UK without it being registered.

Anyway, your starting place:

http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for...ister-marriage/

[Rtwo]

As you have stated it, you can’t. If the marriage took place in the UK but wasn’t registered then the marriage is void, you cannot have a marriage in the UK and for it to be legal without it being registered.. Neither the British Embassy nor Consulate will be interested in your case because as far as they are concerned you weren’t married in the UK. You claim that you were prevented from fulfilling the conditions of registration requiring you to be resident for the minimum seven days but it seems likely from what you say that you were also in breach of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 that requires foreign nationals who are living abroad but who want to marry in the UK to obtain specific entry clearance for this purpose. This would have taken the form of a marriage visit visa. The visa should have been obtained from your nearest British Embassy or Consulate. You would have needed to have shown this visa to the registrar when giving notice of marriage. Any attempt to circumvent these regulations will be looked on by The Home Office with obvious suspicion. The marriage ceremony cannot take place without these preliminaries. If you have got married in an Indian Embassy or Consulate whilst you were in the UK then you are married under Indian law and you or your wife should contact the Indian authorities.

[Richard W]

The only way for the OP and his wife to be married under British law is to have another marriage performed. Registering their marriage in Thailand would be the quickest way. I can see two problems in this approach:

1) Affirmations of freedom to marry - if they are needed in this case.

1a) His

1b) His wifes

2) Doubt being cast on the validity of his wife's entry permission to Thailand.

Can anyone expand on these issues? His wife could probably get an affirmation of freedom to marry, but I can't see him getting one. Is a marriage contracted in Thailand without such affirmations actually valid? For example, if one contracts a civil marriage in England without the appropriate immigration status, the marriage is valid even though the couple have probably committed a criminal offence. I haven't been able to determine what is involved in registering an overseas marriage in Thailand, especially if it is of limited validity.

[7by7]

You say that the marriage is recognised by the Indian embassy. What does that mean? Do you have an official marriage certificate issued by the embassy? If so, a UK one or an Indian one?

Under the Foreign Marriages Act of 1894, any marriage that is legal in the country where it took place is recognised as legal in the UK, so had you married legally in India the marriage would be recognised in the UK.

So, for the purposes of this act, if you married at the Indian embassy would this be considered marrying in India? I suspect not, as a divorce at an embassy is not recognised in the UK as the only place one can divorce in the UK is through the courts. I suspect that the same applies to marriages as the only places one can marry in the UK is somewhere licenced for the purpose, and had you married at one of those your marriage would have been entered on the UK registry and you issued with a UK marriage certificate at the time.

To marry again in Thailand each of you will need to complete an Affirmation of Freedom to marry and have it notarised at the relevant embassy. This then needs to be translated into Thai and certified by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You will not be able to register your marriage in Thailand without this. If you do not register the marriage then it will not be legal under Thai law and so not recognised by the UK.

However, you have already told the MFA that you are married in order to get your wife's visa!

I think you have a problem which needs professional legal advice to solve.

[steve187]

original post at 17.19 on 28th last post at 17.53 on 29th no other posts by vicegerent, where has he gone????

[vicegerent]

Sorry guys, things have been quite busy at work so I couldnt manage to get time to write here or reply. Infact, I almost forgot about this forum as I am not an active member here.

Ok, to cut short, I have my work visa in thailand working as a software consultant and in UK my wife got a temporary (3 month validity) dependant visa for Thailand based on my Thai work permit.

When we got here the HR department of my company said that to get my wife a full one year dependant visa I need to get a letter from Indian Embassy stating/acknowledging that she is my wife. Then, they said that the Thai Immigration office will give her a long term dependant visa based on my work permit.

So, we went to Indian Embassy and showed our marriage certificate requesting them to issue a letter of acknowledgement stating that she is my wife. Indian Embassy guys said that to issue a letter they will also have to endorse her name into my passport, which they did and then issued the letter. I then took this letter along with all my company papers to get Thai visa and work permit extension for me and dependant visa for my wife. We both got 1 year extension till August 2010. Basically, all the paper work was carried out by the HR department of our company. Even at the Thai Immigration office they carried out all paper work. So I was there with my wife only to sign the documents.

So basically Thai authorities have given my wife dependant visa for 1 year based on my work permit. Doesn't that mean that they have recognized her as my wife by accepting the acknowledgement letter issued by the Indian Embassy?

Now, as I stated in my initial post, we only had a religious ceremonial marriage and not a civil marriage. So, I have marriage certificate issued by the religious authority in Birmingham but I know that will not be recognized by British authorities or british law.

I travelled to UK only for 3 days and I didnt had time to bother about getting another visa nor I knew bout it. To be honest, I wasnt concerned as I didnt knew that it would cause any issue since we wanted to jus have a religious ceremonial marriage in presence of both of our families under our religious authority. And since we were not going to be living in UK so I wasnt concerned about it at that time. However, even if we dont live in UK, I feel its better if we get it registered and get recognized by British authorities too.

[7by7]

Now, as I stated in my initial post, we only had a religious ceremonial marriage and not a civil marriage. So, I have marriage certificate issued by the religious authority in Birmingham but I know that will not be recognized by British authorities or british law.

So, the religious place you had the ceremony is not licenced to perform marriages and the certificate issued by the religious people is not an official UK marriage certificate?

If so. then you had a religious ceremony in the UK, but did not legally register the marriage. So the UK marriage is not in fact a marriage, even if the Thai MFA have accepted it as such.

If you were both British citizens then you could register your marriage in the UK on your next visit; but as you are not British then you would need the appropriate visa to do this.

Can you legally register the marriage in India? If so, then this would be recognised as a legal marriage in the UK.

All this could have been avoided had you done it properly in the first place. You say

since we were not going to be living in UK so I wasnt concerned about it at that time. However, even if we dont live in UK, I feel its better if we get it registered and get recognized by British authorities too

Why?

If you are concerned about returning to the UK at some future point, even if your marriage was legally recognised by the UK as an Indian national you would still need the appropriate visa.