My fiancé and I are getting married in a few months. He is an American currently living here in London on a student visa. I am born in Germany, with a polish passport, so fully EU, living in London since 2006. His visa is running out at the end of January and I was wondering if anyone has any insights or experience as to how and what the procedures are.
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Possible duplicate of expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/2441/…– StrongBadApr 29, 2015 at 20:19
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3What's your current situation in the UK? Are you working? When and where will the marriage take place? In the UK before his visa runs out or elsewhere?– GalaApr 29, 2015 at 22:06
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3 Answers
If you're living in London legally (i.e., you're working, looking for work, self-employed, studying, or self-sufficient, or you have a permanent right of residence) then your husband can stay with you and apply for a UK residence card. You probably have permanent right of residence as you have lived there for longer than five years.
As I understand it, as your family member, he doesn't even need that document, but he could be stopped at the border if he is suspected of overstaying. He can't actually overstay if he's your husband, but if the border guard doesn't believe that he's the husband of an EU citizen resident in the UK, that fact does not help. The residence card would serve as proof.
For more information, consult Direct Family Members of EEA Nationals.
If you get married after his visa expires, however, you have to find out whether he will need to leave the UK. As an American, he may be able to stay. I do not know.
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This answer makes a number of assumptions. You do state them explicitly but I don't think it's a good idea to post an answer that might or might not apply before the OP clarifies her situation. And we already have questions covering basic EU free movement rules.– GalaMay 2, 2015 at 10:00
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Also, “living in London legally” and “being a qualifying person” are not necessarily the same, the things you list (working, looking for work, etc.) are the reasons to qualify as a sponsor under the EU treaty and free movement directive. But EU citizens that don't make use of their treaty rights are not necessarily illegally present in the UK, they just don't have a right of residence that would protect them should the authorities ask them to leave.– GalaMay 2, 2015 at 10:03
You should try to get married before his expiration visa otherwise he will need to ask a new Visa and if there are not anymore the conditions for any long-term type Visa he will need to ask a Tourist Visa.
Wherever you decide to get married the important thing is to register the marriage in your country (Poland) directly there (or by embassy). Of course if you decide to get married in Poland, the registration is immediate, and you will have the marriage certificate sooner.
Marriage certificate (or document of a registered partnership) issued by the EU-citizen country is the required proof all over Europe of the existence of a family relationship that gives to the NON-EU citizen all the EU Family member rights.
Although these rights are the same all over Europe, each country apply different administrative procedures and often they required additional documents. To ask a resident card as EU Family member you'll need to prove that you have enough economical resource to live in UK without ask social benefits. Usually they will ask to provide:
-Tax certificate or Job contract/payslip or evidence of the EU-citizen activity in the country; According to your status employ, sole-trader, job-seeker, "rich-person" they can ask different docs (professional certificates, bank statements...) -Health Insurance for both of you (comprehensive sickness insurance) -Registered House Rent Contract or other proof of address.
You find the full document list and information here: https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/documents-you-must-provide
Good Luck!
The UK government website at
https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships/giving-notice-at-your-local-register-office
gives detailed information what you need to do if you want to get married in the UK, including information what to do if you are not a UK citizen, and not a EU citizen.
I would assume that the Polish government has a similar website; you should go there as well and compare. It might be easier, or it might not. Depends on the Polish rules, whether being a Polish citizen makes things easier, or whether things are generally easier in Poland.
