13.9 - Evidence required for fiancé(e) and proposed civil partnership applications
For applications in these categories, the Immigration Rules state that both the applicant and the sponsor must be aged 21 or over to qualify. Please see Paragraph 13.21 for more details. This Rule does not apply to those coming to the UK to visit for marriage/civil partnership.
The marriage/civil partnership provisions are as follows:
A valid marriage/civil partnership cannot be contracted in the United Kingdom if:
one of the parties is not free to marry/enter into a civil partnership, i.e. is still legally married to someone else (but see below).
You should warn anyone going to the United Kingdom for marriage who has previously been married, that he/she may be required to provide the registrar with evidence of freedom to marry before the Registrar can accept a notice of marriage. Where you have doubts about an applicant’s intention to marry/register a civil partnership, you should ask to see this evidence before issuing an entry clearance. The kind of evidence you will need to see is as follows:
Widowed person: death certificate of the late spouse.
Surviving civil partner: death certificate of the deceased civil partner.
Divorced person: evidence of divorce, e.g. divorce certificate. (This must be a decree absolute not a decree nisi. This will be stated on the order from the Family Court - a person is legally divorced until the absolute is issued).
Dissolved civil partnership: evidence of the dissolution e.g. dissolution certificate.
Single persons of full age: the Registrar normally accepts the parties’ declaration that they are free to marry/register a civil partnership. ECOs should, therefore, accept a similar verbal statement by an applicant, together with any supporting correspondence from the person he or she is going to marry/register a civil partnership with, unless there are strong grounds to believe that one of the parties is still married/in a civil partnership or has been married/in a civil partnership previously and is concealing this fact. In such cases you should make whatever enquiries as seem appropriate.
Evidence of marriage/civil partnership arrangements
Of itself, a booking at a Registry Office or church is not proof that a marriage/civil partnership will take place.
The law relating to marriage/civil partnership in England and Wales does not allow for any arrangements to be made with a Registrar until the foreign national has arrived in the UK.
If the only reason for a couple not being free to marry/enter a civil partnership is that one of them is awaiting a divorce/dissolution of a civil partnership, entry clearance should not be refused for this reason alone (though ECOs would normally expect to see some evidence that divorce/dissolution proceedings are well under way). The reasoning behind this is that the divorce/dissolution may well come through within the six months leave to enter period, thereby enabling the couple to marry/register a civil partnership. ECOs should, however, be aware that divorce/dissolution proceedings may take longer than 6 months to resolve. The applicant may then apply for leave to remain as a spouse/civil partner. Should one of the partners still be waiting for a divorce/dissolution to come through at the end of the six-month period, they may apply to the Home Office for an extension of stay.
The Entry Clearance Office (ECO) needs to be satisfied that it is intended that a marriage in the UK will take place. Any evidence that may be available that wedding arrangements are in hand may help in this respect. Failing that, the ECO can reasonably expect you to have made some tentative plans for the wedding. The ECO will, however, be aware from our published procedures that "the law relating to marriage in England and Wales does not allow for any arrangements to be made with a Registrar until the foreign national has arrived in the UK".
This is new to me...I am currently waiting for my annulment decision.
Am i right in understanding that... if granted a fiance visa and after 6 months the decision isn't out yet, i can apply for Extension of stay?
I just need couple more brains to interpret it hehehe
Thanks Everyone!
