THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW…
Legal Requirements Immigration Requirements
In order to be married or form a civil partnership there are a
number of legal requirements which must be observed. These
requirements will vary dependent on where the marriage or
civil partnership is to take place. Where neither party is subject to immigration control: Each
party to the marriage or civil partnership should arrange to
give notice to the registration service for the district in which
they live.
It is vital that one of the first decisions which you should make
is where the ceremony will take place, as the place of marriage
will determine under which piece of legislation the marriage or
civil partnership will fit, if any. Where one party or both parties are subject to immigration
control: Both parties must attend together at a ‘Designated’
Register Office (full list available at www.gov.uk.)
Preliminaries for civil marriage and civil partnership are
similar, they require the couple to ‘give notice’ (the civil
equivalent of Banns for a Church of England ceremony).
Under normal circumstances notice can only be given 12
months before the date of the ceremony. After notice has
been given you must wait a minimum of 28 days.
ations
When giving notice each party must provide evidence of the
following:
Name • Age • Nationality • Address
In most cases a current passport is the documentary
evidence required to provide evidence of Name, Age and
Nationality. Other documents are acceptable but the list is
very prescriptive. Please check registrars web pages on
the Council’s website www.shropshire.gov.uk for a full list of
acceptable documentary evidence.
Your Marital Status Residency
If either party have previously been married or in a civil
partnership, it is necessary to provide evidence of the
marriage or civil partnership ending either by death, divorce,
dissolution or decree of nullity. You will be asked to provide evidence to show that you have
lived at your current address for more than 7 days.
Death of former spouse – Produce a certified copy of the
death certificate
Divorce – Produce a decree absolute bearing the original
seal of the court (a coloured stamp)
Decree of Nullity – Produce the document issued by the
court bearing its original seal (a coloured stamp)
Dissolution - (Civil Partnerships) - Produce the
Dissolution document bearing the original seal of the
issuing court (a coloured stamp).
If your divorce or dissolution was granted outside of the UK
you will be required to pay a non-refundable statutory fee for
the consideration of the validity of the document.
If any of these documents is not in English you will need to
provide a translation of the document, the translation should
be done by a third party and should include the full name,
address and contact details of the translator.
Please ensure that all official stamps are translated also.
This can be either:
A utility bill (Gas, Electric, Water, Broadband only)
dated within the 3 months prior to your appointment
Your most recent Council Tax bill, dated within the
12 months prior to your appointment
A bank statement, dated within a month of your
appointment – Please note statements produced via
online banking must be stamped with the branch stamp
to validate them.
This list is not exhaustive and requirements may change,
please check the registrars web pages on the Council’s
website www.shropshire.gov.uk.
6