Anyone married to a foreign national?

Woden

Woden

Woden

Soldato
Joined
7 Mar 2011
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Location
Oldham, Lancashire
Specifically, Portuguese.

Going to get married to my Portuguese girlfriend but the embassy is no help at all.

Anyone know what we have to do? Tried calling the embassy, but its always busy. The nearest consulate is in Manchester, but they only answer the phone for 3 hours a day. How awesome is that?

We are going to turn up in person tomorrow morning but has anyone already done this? We want the marriage to be valid here and in Portugal and I´m hoping all we have to do is show up with a bunch of documents.
 
Yes, but can't be much help I'm afraid. Married to a Taiwanese national, and I suspect it's not going to get any easier over the coming years to get her back in to the UK...On the plus side, yours is at least an EU national, which should make it easier, I'd imagine.

Married in HK and registered it in Taiwan no problem, they gave me a marriage visa and open work rights within a fortnight on the back of the marriage. Suspect it won't be that easy going back.
 
Feef said:
Yes, but can't be much help I'm afraid. Married to a Taiwanese national, and I suspect it's not going to get any easier over the coming years to get her back in to the UK...On the plus side, yours is at least an EU national, which should make it easier, I'd imagine.

Married in HK and registered it in Taiwan no problem, they gave me a marriage visa and open work rights within a fortnight on the back of the marriage. Suspect it won't be that easy going back.
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When my parents did it a couple of years ago (UK from TW)

It was:
2 year visa (with working rights) before after to apply ILR,
1 year indefinite leave to remain (ILR) before able to apply for citizenship,
plus Life in the UK nonsense test and quite a lot in application fees.
 
I married a french woman in france - you need to ensure you understand the timelines and any limit of documentation. For example, we had documentation that only was valid for X amount of time and other documentation that could only be presented in person to the council offices in france within 3 months of the date of the wedding and not before. We had to have a period where our intent was made available for challenge as the UK doesn't have a certificate of celibacy (i.e. not married before) but france does.

Just need to make a critical path.. keep digging on documentation and the process and eventually you'll know how it all slots together for that country. So in the end we had it valid for both countries.
 
Woden said:
Specifically, Portuguese.

Going to get married to my Portuguese girlfriend but the embassy is no help at all.

Anyone know what we have to do? Tried calling the embassy, but its always busy. The nearest consulate is in Manchester, but they only answer the phone for 3 hours a day. How awesome is that?

We are going to turn up in person tomorrow morning but has anyone already done this? We want the marriage to be valid here and in Portugal and I´m hoping all we have to do is show up with a bunch of documents.
Click to expand...

I married a Saffer in Vegas and our marriage certificate has been valid both here and in Holland. I'm on a Dutch passport though, so YMMV.
 
Tunney said:
My wife is Welsh if that counts?
Click to expand...

Mine is Scottish but we swore never to mention it, thought you'd have taken the same vow surely, you know the one, we will never marry below our place in the world, which being English and far far ahead of anyone else (MILES ahead of the Scotts) is impossible. :D
 
I dated a Portuguese girl back in the 90s and it was a nightmare. She was a cracking bird, but her family were devout Catholics, hell her Aunt was a full-on nun, and they didn't take too kindly to her dating a long-haired, bearded, tattooed thrash metal freak.
 
Malevolence said:
I dated a Portuguese girl back in the 90s and it was a nightmare. She was a cracking bird, but her family were devout Catholics, hell her Aunt was a full-on nun, and they didn't take too kindly to her dating a long-haired, bearded, tattooed thrash metal freak.
Click to expand...

Did you 'convert' her?
 
With a Kiwi bird when I came to NZ. Makes you appreciate their immigration system when thinking back about the nightmares applying for a work visa for her for the UK. Our mob couldn't have been any more less helpful or rude if you paid them to. The hilarious thing was, her case officer could barely speak a word of English, yet tried to be rude. Told him on the phone that we need a translator and preferably one with a modicum of manners. He started piping up and I told him to shut up and learn to speak English and get some manners or bugger back on the banana ship he came in on. Let's just say it nearly reflected in the visa decision.

When I applied, it was awesome. Lovely Kiwi bloke, after my documentation was checked, I got a decision within 2 days giving me a year work visa. I could've applied for residency straight away but it takes like 9 months or something. I applied for it anyway right after my work visa and got a decision within 4 months. I can now live here forever. My residency case officer was awesome and we kept wise cracking on football results. He even mailed me 'LOL' after Arsenal lost against Tottenham. Imagine the sour pusses with chips on their shoulders at the UK Home Office doing that.
 
drakioned said:
When my parents did it a couple of years ago (UK from TW)

It was:
2 year visa (with working rights) before after to apply ILR,
1 year indefinite leave to remain (ILR) before able to apply for citizenship,
plus Life in the UK nonsense test and quite a lot in application fees.
Click to expand...

This was exactly the same for me. I married a Canadian and she came to live in the UK for seven years and then we did it in reverse and moved / returned to Canada.
 
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