My Thai fiancée is with me in the UK at the moment and has the usual 6 month Visa. We plan to give notice to marry in the next few weeks and I’m not sure if I need to translate her decree absolute into English. If it does have to be in English where is the best place to go to get it translated.

Thanks again for any help in advance, Gibbo

Gibbo, not sure what you mean by "the usual 6 month Visa." If you mean a fiance visa, then I'm very surprised that her divorce papers were not required for her visa application. However......

Yes, in order to give the required notice to marry she will need to show that she is free to marry, so you will need to get it translated. All I can suggest is look in Yellow Pages or similar.

If however, you mean a visit visa then I'm afraid that she cannot marry in the UK.

New rules for getting married in the United Kingdom: Questions & Answers

From 1 February 2005, people who are subject to immigration control who wish to marry in the United Kingdom (UK) will need to follow new procedures.

They must either:

Hold entry clearance* as a fiancé/e or marriage visitor, or

Hold a Home Office certificate of approval**, or

Be a person with settled status in the UK (e.g. indefinite leave to remain)

People who are subject to immigration control will also be required to give notice to marry to a registrar at one of a number of designated register offices throughout the UK.

Thank you for the quick reply GU22.

She has a Fiancée Visa so all her papers were verified by the British Embassy in Bangkok. I was hoping this would be good enough, and it would not be necessary to translate her divorce papers.

Regards

Gibbo

If you have the translation you used for the fv application then that should be ok.

If you didn't get them translated for the visa application, then you'll need to do so now. Which is a shame, as getting the translation in Thailand would have been a lot cheaper than in the UK.

Good luck for the forthcoming nuptials.