Legal requirements before getting married or having a civil partnership ceremony
Giving notice A notice of marriage or civil partnership is valid for one year. We strongly advise that you give notice as soon as possible after making your provisional ceremony booking – this is particularly important if you have been through a divorce, civil partnership dissolution, or annulment of marriage in another country. In most cases, at the time of giving notice a copy of the legal document confirming your divorce or annulment (and an English translation, if the document is not already in English) must be sent by the registrar taking your notice, to the General Register Office (the governing body of all register offices in England and Wales). Your ceremony cannot take place until the General Register Office is satisfied that your divorce or annulment meets the necessary legal requirements for your ceremony to proceed. If your divorce was granted ‘outside the British Isles’ there is a fee for the registrar’s or Registrar General’s consideration of your divorce and this is payable at the time of giving notice. Please see our website for details of fees. Once the notices have been given you must then wait at least 29 days before the marriage or civil partnership can take place. If you do not give notice of marriage on the same day as each other, you must wait a minimum of 29 days after the second notice has been given. In some cases this may be extended to 71 days depending on your immigration status, so it is important to leave sufficient time. The notice is only valid for the venue you specify at the time of your notice appointment. If you decide to change the venue for your ceremony after you have given notice, you will need to give new notices and a further fee will be charged for this. You need to attend notice appointments at the register office in the borough or district in which you each reside – even if your ceremony is taking place with us here in Westminster and it is a legal requirement that both parties have established residency somewhere in England or Wales for a full seven days before attending your notice
appointments. The seven days doesn’t include any arrival dates or the date of the appointment. For example, if you arrive in the country on a Wednesday, then notice of intention to marry may be given the following Thursday. (The day you arrive i.e. the part- day Wednesday is not considered as part of the calculation of seven full days – day one actually commences on the Thursday – the first full day of residence). If one or both of you is not a relevant national, then you will need to give notice together, and if you live in different registration districts, then you can choose which register office to attend your appointment. A relevant national is someone who is either British, Irish, or has either pre-settled status or settled status. If either of you is not a relevant national there is a possibility that your notice could be submitted to the Home Office for approval, under the Home Office Referral and Investigation scheme (see www.gov.uk for further information). This may mean that the waiting period is extended from 29 to 71 days. You will each need to bring one passport sized photograph to your notice appointment, and an additional fee will be charged. You must be over the age of 18 to give notice of marriage or civil partnership. Documents to bring to your notice appointment Each partner must bring one document as proof of their identity and one proof of address from the list of acceptable documents below. Document checklist Proof of Identity • Current valid passport Proof of Address • Printed utility bill dated within the last three months • Printed bank statement dated within the last month • Most recent council tax bill for the current financial year • Current UK driving licence
• A letter from the property owner confirming residency
Proof of immigration status If either of you are non relevant nationals you will need to bring evidence of your immigration status with you to your appointment, for example, a visa stamp in your passport, a Biometric residence card, etc. If you have made an application through the EUSS settlement scheme and have either Settled Status, Pre-Settled Status, or are awaiting the outcome of a pending application, you will need to bring your sharecode with you to the appointment so that the registrar can verify your status. The code will need to be generated within 30 days of the appointment date. Other documents If you have been married or in a civil partnership before whether in the UK or abroad, you will also need to bring: • Original Decree Absolute/Final Divorce document • Death certificate of former spouse • Certified translation of any foreign
certificates/documents • Previous name changes Fee
You must pay the fee for giving notice (the current fee can be found on our website).
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