Marriage Recognition

[lovinglife]

A friend of mine married a Thai girl in the UK 9 months ago, she then vanished without trace after about 1 month. He moved over here 6 months ago and is now living with a girl, she has talked about marriage, they have no intention of ever going to live in UK so my question is what is the legal situation for him marrying here?

If they just went ahead and married and lived here would there be any problem for him in Thailand?

After 2 years he could go back and get a divorce and then apply to take her to England for a holiday?

I can't give him an answer maybe some of you can?

[kunash]

They cannot legally marry in Thailand ( at an ampur) until he divorces his thai wife. If your friend wanted to marry now, in thailand, he would need to sign an affirmation to marry paper issued by the british embassy. This asks if he is free to marry. And as he is already married he cannot legally sign the paper.

I do not seee a problem if in the future he wanted to bring his new wife to the uk, either on a settlement or visitor visa. he would need to say what happened in the previous marriage. i am sure the embassy would look very closely at the application.

if he really wanted to marry the new Thai girl i would ask him to see a uk based solicitor to ask how he can go about getting a divorce. Solicitors do provide free consultations. but i am not sure of the time scales involved before he can divorce.

[Time Traveller]

"she then vanished without trace after about 1 month. He moved over here 6 months ago and is now living with a girl, she has talked about marriage, they have no intention of ever going to live in UK"

Did he even bother to look for her? Ask her friends or family where she is? File a police report for missing persons? What kind of person decides to permanently move to another country and plan to marry a second time 2 months after his wife disappears and less than 1 year from his first marriage?

Forget about worrying about whether there will be any problems for him and start getting the police involved.

[theoldgit]

Your friend married the girl in the UK, was she already living there or did he take her to the UK with the intention of marrying her, and then do so?

If your friend took her to the UK, married her and then she disappeared, then he should notify the UKBA of the facts, that may well focus her mind when she seeks further leave to remain, if indeed it was a scam. Just be careful she doesn't go down the abuse route, this does, unfortunately, seem to be a ploy, even if not warranted.

Only your friend, and not other posters on this site, will know the reason for her "disappearance", and whether or not there is a case for police involvement.

'Kanush' is correct in saying that your friend cannot marry his new girlfriend, either in the UK or Thailand, as he is already legally married. As he says, to marry in Thailand he would need to make a declaration that he is free to marry, and he isn't.

To go down the divorce route your mate must have been married for at least a year, he has to prove a court that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, it's best to do it through a lawyer, though he could do it himself. Again, he needs to be careful that she doesn't come after him for his money.

Of course, only your friend will know if it's appropriate for him to move on.

[lovinglife]

He met her there, she was on a student visa. He has spoken to one of her friends and she told him she is living in London and doesn't want anything to do with him, he is too embarrassed to report anything.

I thought there must be some sort of certificate for marrying here, thanks for the info. It is probably a good thing that he can't marry too quickly!

[RAZZELL]

He met her there, she was on a student visa. He has spoken to one of her friends and she told him she is living in London and doesn't want anything to do with him, he is too embarrassed to report anything.

I thought there must be some sort of certificate for marrying here, thanks for the info. It is probably a good thing that he can't marry too quickly!

Is it not a "criminal" offence not to report it to UKBA?

RAZZ

[Mario2008]

He can't get married till he gets divorced. Period.

Any circumvention would only create more problems in the long run. A marriage he undertakes while still married would be invalid and bigotry is a criminal offense in many countries.

[7by7]

Is it not a "criminal" offence not to report it to UKBA?

No, it is not. It may be a good idea to inform the UKBA that the relationship is over, but he is under no legal obligation to do so.

It would be illegal if he were to make false declarations on her behalf to help her extend her leave to remain in the UK., e.g. say that they were still together when they're not.

[englishinsiam]

Did they apply for a settlement Visa after they were married?

These take around 2-3 months to arrive so if she moved away from him before this was issued he should have contacted the UKBA as his circumstances no longer warranted the Settlement Visa.

She then wouldn't have got it and would have to leave at the end of her student visa.

He's too embarrased to report it to UKBA yet he's prepared to do the same thing with another girl?

Are you a troll?

[nycpal44]

He met her there, she was on a student visa. He has spoken to one of her friends and she told him she is living in London and doesn't want anything to do with him, he is too embarrassed to report anything.

I thought there must be some sort of certificate for marrying here, thanks for the info. It is probably a good thing that he can't marry too quickly!

Wow! I wonder how the British Authority sees this, but here in the US it would be marked as a marriage scam and a serious offence, especially failing to report it. For her, she would lose her US Permanent Residency document and get deported. It would be almost impossible for him to bring another girlfriend or wife back to the US then since there is a record with Immigration.

[RAZZELL]

Is it not a "criminal" offence not to report it to UKBA?

No, it is not. It may be a good idea to inform the UKBA that the relationship is over, but he is under no legal obligation to do so.

It would be illegal if he were to make false declarations on her behalf to help her extend her leave to remain in the UK., e.g. say that they were still together when they're not.

I did put criminal in " "

However, I thought people were under a legal obligation to inform the UKBA that the relationship is over...interesting that you say you don't have to.

RAZZ