I want to marry my boyfriend from UK before we set off.

[Mimsy]

I'm an American married to a UK citizen. We found that you can get married anywhere. Just follow the required registration of the place the marriage will take place.

Once you are married, you can get a provisional visa for UK residency or you can live abroad, just be certain to register your marriage with the consulate of the UK and U.S.

Atoll has it right on ILR.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Sweetiepie

I'm asking if I have to live with him in England to get a marriage visa, or if we can live in the Caribbean.

From memory, you can get a Marriage Visa (into UK) that allows you to get married in the UK (and I think stay up to 6 months - but I suspect won't allow you to work).....might be an easier(?) way of getting a longish Visa, but no reason why you have to get married in the UK.

We want to cruise. We also want to get married, and I want to be able to work in a EU country if we need to along the way. That's all. There is a 27 month requirement to get residency...I havent come across anything that states whether you MUST live in England or not.

Cruising and getting married (pretty much anywhere) is zero problem - with a US passport, even if might need some Visas in places (especially for longer visits).

Working in an EU country is the tricky bit - to qualify you either need a working Visa or a Passport (simply being married doesn't qualify you).....to get a Passport (Citizenship) will almost certainly involved establishing permanent residency - a PITA for folk who don't actually want to live only in the UK, but IMO not entirely unreasonable. Would be a good question (for you to find the answer to!) as to whether residency in other EU countries would count towards your UK residency requirement.

FWIW, the folks over on ThaiVisa.com had a bucket load of (good) info on non EU persons marrying into the EU. The principles and rules the same whether you be Thai, Nigerian or American - although in practice as an American will no doubt be more likely to get a yes on the initial Settlement Visa (which does allow you to work).....but you will probably still need the same paperwork, including documentary evidence of your relationship (it would help if either of you started off stalking the other ).....but your UK husband has no "right" to bring a foreign wife into the UK - in the UK that "right" only seems to apply to Terrorists and criminals who have arrived by hook or by crook........

....in my case we never got around to filing the paperwork before she fell off her perch - a lot to do with that she didn't really want to live in the UK, simply something that would have to be done for the passport (for ease of travel elsewhere) and me being a bit hesitant on WTF she would be doing workwise - without the supporting business interests, battering folks and / or arranging for them to have a personal introduction to Mr Buddha not such a useful skill - and certainly not something that would fit neatly into a Visa application .....although we were working on something polite .

Oh, and just to say that if you have any kids (born outside the UK) that they will not automatically become UK Citizens simply due to the Father's passport - albeit would do if the Mother was a UK Citizen (Passport)....discrimination? .

Anyway, congrats on getting married . FWIW me / us getting married was largely driven by the passport thing - but turned out to be a lot better than expected (before always saw it as meaningless paperwork), I wish we had got married years earlier....she was kinda non-plussed by it as well . happy as a pig in **** about it though .

[Mimsy]

DOJ, we had no problem getting a passport for our baby. None what so ever. She was born in the US and it was harder to deal with the US agency than the UK. UK just asked for documentation and got us her passport quickly and efficiently- no worries at all.

[atoll]

i'm speculating here but you might find it easier for your spouse to get a usa green card,which would allow you to live and work in the usvi,if your intention is to be in the caribean,and at the same time apply for british residency.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Mimsy

DOJ, we had no problem getting a passport for our baby. None what so ever. She was born in the US and it was harder to deal with the US agency than the UK. UK just asked for documentation and got us her passport quickly and efficiently- no worries at all.

I dunno whether you (as Mum) are a UK Citizen, but either way I wasn't saying it was neccessarily a problem - just that it was not automatic / not a right for a UK Father, with a "Foreign" mother (and the kid born overseas). Easy for folks to assume that it might be.

[Mimsy]

Nope DOJ, hubby is the Brit. I am a citizen of Texas.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Sweetiepie

I'm asking if I have to live with him in England to get a marriage visa, or if we can live in the Caribbean. We want to cruise. We also want to get married, and I want to be able to work in a EU country if we need to along the way. That's all. There is a 27 month requirement to get residency...I havent come across anything that states whether you MUST live in England or not.

Basically it's not going to happen like that. ( laws and "I want" rarely coincide )



Dave

[Curmudgeon]

With the advent of the EU, does the British Commonwealth count for anything these days? Suppose I was born in Bermuda. Can I work in the UK without a work visa?

It would be kind of funny if every EU citizen were entitled to work in the UK without a visa (e.g. French, Italians, Germans) but citizens of Commonwealth countries were not.

[Mexdon]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

With the advent of the EU, does the British Commonwealth count for anything these days? Suppose I was born in Bermuda. Can I work in the UK without a work visa?

It would be kind of funny if every EU citizen were entitled to work in the UK without a visa (e.g. French, Italians, Germans) but citizens of Commonwealth countries were not.

Yup that is exactly the case.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

With the advent of the EU, does the British Commonwealth count for anything these days? Suppose I was born in Bermuda. Can I work in the UK without a work visa?

It would be kind of funny if every EU citizen were entitled to work in the UK without a visa (e.g. French, Italians, Germans) but citizens of Commonwealth countries were not.

uk nationals require work permits to work in all commonwealth countries,as do commonwealth nationals in the uk.

however uk citizens can become residents,tax payers,and work freely in any eu country,we can even vote once resident in local elections,plus have free health care.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

With the advent of the EU, does the British Commonwealth count for anything these days? Suppose I was born in Bermuda. Can I work in the UK without a work visa?

It would be kind of funny if every EU citizen were entitled to work in the UK without a visa (e.g. French, Italians, Germans) but citizens of Commonwealth countries were not.

See the nationality act

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Sweetiepie

I'm asking if I have to live with him in England to get a marriage visa, or if we can live in the Caribbean. We want to cruise. We also want to get married, and I want to be able to work in a EU country if we need to along the way. That's all. There is a 27 month requirement to get residency...I havent come across anything that states whether you MUST live in England or not.

There are at least three things being talked about here. Marriage, visa/residency/citizenship and work permits. They are related butt all different. The first thing you need to understand is that nothing is a given or automatic by getting married.

Marriage - there is an international agreement that most countries participate in that recognize marriage and divorce of each others countries. Some countries are not participants - it doesn't rreally matter where you get married but the best advice is to get married in uk or us where one or the other of you is a citizen. You do not need any kind of visa to get married but you should be planning ahead on visas.

If you are not worried about accruing time to become a citizen you can get married and live anywhere.

Visa - most countries will allow a spouse to act as sponsor of a spouse for a long term visitor visa in order to speed the waiting process - marriage facilitates line jumping. For example after marriage you could sponsor your spouse for a b1/b2 (long term) visitor visa for the usa. This would allow him to come and go and stay long term but not work.

Residency - most countries allow spouses to act as sponsor for permanent residency, which is considered the path to citizenship. Once residency is granted the spouse is allowed to work in the country. Most countries now limit the time the resident spouse can be away from the country. This is because most spouses want to keep home citizenship, enjoy the benefits of residency in the spouse country but never become citizens. Countries in general dont like this. They want you to choose and be "loyal."

Citizenship - after residency most countries require a period of residency (3-5 years) living in the new country in order to become citizens. There are exceptions to the wait time.

Dual citizenship - some countries require you give up home citizenship to become a citizen. Some countries will drop your citizenship if you become a citizen of another country. This is why some want to keep long term residency but not become citizens (japan is like this). The good news is Americans can lose their citizenship only in a few circumstances and the us usually does not care if you become a citizen of another country. There are a couple of rules about working for foreign governments or serving in foreign militaries but generally you are ok.

Work permits - UK citizens can generally work pretty easily in the commonwealths and as part of the EU can work pretty readily in EU countries. However probably for you as a us citizen you will gain no advantage to be able to work in a commonwealth country or EU country if you get married. Marriage bestows no rights. If you become a UK resident you can likely work in UK but no other commonwealth or EU countries until you become a UK citizen.

The reverse is true for your spouse working in the US until he becomes a resident and ultimately a citizen.

Your children if any will automatically be us citizens and should be registered at the nearest us embassy when they a born.

This is my understanding of the rules based on my Filipino ex-wife getting citizenship, me holding us and Austtralian rights and my brother holding US, Canada and Australian psssports as well as dealing with several of my employees over the years who have married foreign spouses.

Good luck and check with an immigration lawyer both in the UK and US for latest rules. And the final point is be prepared to deal with skepticism and bureaucratic bs along the way. Therre are tons and tons of folks getting married for visas. If one is caught out doing this there ar penalties for us citizens. Infortunately for the legit folks it can be a painful process.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by atoll

i'm speculating here but you might find it easier for your spouse to get a usa green card,which would allow you to live and work in the usvi,if your intention is to be in the caribean,and at the same time apply for british residency.

You'll stand a better chance:

1. Traveling to the US with hubby on a tourist visa and get married at the JP (if not already).
2. Leave the US and then apply for a green card for your husband, from anywhere outside the US.
3. Once granted you'll get an IV and then you can enter the US again, this will get him a conditional green-card with the right to work, based on your marriage. However, you'll have to show that you have the means to support both him and yourself during the initial period of 1 year. As you'll have been married less than 3 years they'll want you to 'renew' to make sure you're still married.

Also consider that the green card requires you to pass the residency test with respect to taxes, which means you need to prove (through passport stamps etc.) that you have been in the US more than 183days per year. If you can't prove that then he'll become a non-resident alien and will lose his right to the green-card.
A similar regime applies for the UK.
This will, unfortunately limit your ability to live somewhere else while building you residency case.

Put a call into the US embassy, and the same for the UK embassy and they'll tell you everything you need to know.

Good luck

[Sweetiepie]

Originally Posted by Mimsy

I'm an American married to a UK citizen. We found that you can get married anywhere. Just follow the required registration of the place the marriage will take place.

Once you are married, you can get a provisional visa for UK residency or you can live abroad, just be certain to register your marriage with the consulate of the UK and U.S.

Atoll has it right on ILR.

Thanks for that! Hat is what i needed to know!

[Sweetiepie]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

From memory, you can get a Marriage Visa (into UK) that allows you to get married in the UK (and I think stay up to 6 months - but I suspect won't allow you to work).....might be an easier(?) way of getting a longish Visa, but no reason why you have to get married in the UK.

Cruising and getting married (pretty much anywhere) is zero problem - with a US passport, even if might need some Visas in places (especially for longer visits).

Working in an EU country is the tricky bit - to qualify you either need a working Visa or a Passport (simply being married doesn't qualify you).....to get a Passport (Citizenship) will almost certainly involved establishing permanent residency - a PITA for folk who don't actually want to live only in the UK, but IMO not entirely unreasonable. Would be a good question (for you to find the answer to!) as to whether residency in other EU countries would count towards your UK residency requirement.

FWIW, the folks over on ThaiVisa.com had a bucket load of (good) info on non EU persons marrying into the EU. The principles and rules the same whether you be Thai, Nigerian or American - although in practice as an American will no doubt be more likely to get a yes on the initial Settlement Visa (which does allow you to work).....but you will probably still need the same paperwork, including documentary evidence of your relationship (it would help if either of you started off stalking the other ).....but your UK husband has no "right" to bring a foreign wife into the UK - in the UK that "right" only seems to apply to Terrorists and criminals who have arrived by hook or by crook........

....in my case we never got around to filing the paperwork before she fell off her perch - a lot to do with that she didn't really want to live in the UK, simply something that would have to be done for the passport (for ease of travel elsewhere) and me being a bit hesitant on WTF she would be doing workwise - without the supporting business interests, battering folks and / or arranging for them to have a personal introduction to Mr Buddha not such a useful skill - and certainly not something that would fit neatly into a Visa application .....although we were working on something polite .

Oh, and just to say that if you have any kids (born outside the UK) that they will not automatically become UK Citizens simply due to the Father's passport - albeit would do if the Mother was a UK Citizen (Passport)....discrimination? .

Anyway, congrats on getting married . FWIW me / us getting married was largely driven by the passport thing - but turned out to be a lot better than expected (before always saw it as meaningless paperwork), I wish we had got married years earlier....she was kinda non-plussed by it as well . happy as a pig in **** about it though .

Thanks, what a happy ending! I am finally starting to get the info I need. Continued happiness to you!