UK spouse visa confusion

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I can't think why it would matter; the only thing that will concern the authorities is if your marriage was deemed as being "forced", as these have now been declared illegal in the UK.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you so much for the response. its just that it was a proper traditional arranged marriage. I was just worried that since i haven't declared his details and since i have mentioned my primary purpose of visit as tourism in my visit visa application was wondering if that would be a cause of concern for them.

Hi,
As far as I know, a traditional marriage is not recognised in England and UKBA will not grant you spouse visa. You might want to look into getting a registered marriage in order to be able to secure a marriage certificate which will be used in the application for spouse visa and for this you will have to go to gov.in website and look at the procedures. I am not sure if you will be able to get married on a tourist visa.

Good luck !

I think the information you have given here is incorrect.

It is not possible to marry in the UK on a visitor's visa from outside the EU. Please correct me if that is incorrect.

This being the case, this young lady is not married, and has been the victim of some kind of fraud, which I am given to understand is not unusual.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Can you clarify - WHERE exactly were you married? I mean we're you married in a church, another religious place or at a government registry office?

Hi all.

Arranged marriages in the UK are not by themselves illegal; however, there can be legal issues when:

Any party (so bride or groom) of that marriage is forced to cooperate against their will; these are classed as a "forced marriage" and deemed as illegal, or

when the purpose of the marriage is without the intention that the spouses will live as a couple; sometimes known as a "sham marriage"; these are also deemed as illegal.

Overseas marriages are generally recognised if the marriage is recognised as a legal marriage in the country in which it took place and the parties to the marriage must have complied with the procedures required in the country of marriage.  The couple who are married must also have been able to be married in the country of domicile; so the country where they are going to live must also recognise the wedding.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

No, it doesn't help.
I assume you cut and pasted, or this was answered by a bot.

As I understand the law, and as it was when I married a non EU citizen - you cannot marry until you have a marriage visa. IF that is correct then this lady could not have gone through a legal marriage. IF that is correct then she isn't married.
That law is there precisely to protect niave vulnerable young women.

Is that your understanding?

rustygecko wrote:

No, it doesn't help.
I assume you cut and pasted, or this was answered by a bot.

As I understand the law, and as it was when I married a non EU citizen - you cannot marry until you have a marriage visa. IF that is correct then this lady could not have gone through a legal marriage. IF that is correct then she isn't married.
That law is there precisely to protect niave vulnerable young women.

Is that your understanding?

Hi again.

No - I neither C&P'd this, nor am I a bot.

We're discussing 2 different things - I made a comment about arranged marriages (what she actually asked about), then later on about forced and sham marriages, you are talking about whether her marriage ceremony is legal because she was here on a tourist visa.

You cannot get legally married in the UK on a Tourist visa, so whatever ceremony she went through, it was more likely a religious service than a marriage ceremony.  As far as the law in the UK is concerned, she is not legally married, as far as her faith is concerned, she probably is.  Tourists do get married in the UK, these ceremonies are not recognised as such by the UK government.

Your statement "you cannot marry until you have a marriage visa" is not true; anybody with permanent residence in the UK can legally marry here.  For example, an Indian citizen here on a skilled migrant visa who then gains permanent residence can marry a UK citizen, there is no requirement for a marriage visa.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

I think it obvious that we are discussing here a non EU citizen who is a non resident.

What we have in this case is one of two things:
either a husband who is totally ignorant of the rules and laws in the UK - and not only that, everyone around him is also in this state of ignorance (extremely unlikely);

or

an unfortunate girl who has been tricked into a sexual relationship. I am told from friends in a certain religious community that this is not at all unknown. While it is a criminal offence, no action will ever be taken.

rustygecko wrote:

I think it obvious that we are discussing here a non EU citizen who is a non resident.

What we have in this case is one of two things:
either a husband who is totally ignorant of the rules and laws in the UK - and not only that, everyone around him is also in this state of ignorance (extremely unlikely);

or

an unfortunate girl who has been tricked into a sexual relationship. I am told from friends in a certain religious community that this is not at all unknown. While it is a criminal offence, no action will ever be taken.

Hi again.

You can speculate all you wish; we who work here tend to stick to the questions asked, not speculate on gossip.

Either of what you say may be true, conversely, they may be both totally incorrect and irrelevant.  It's best to answer the question, then if they come back with a further one, then answer it.  We're not here to make a judgement on people.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team