Marriage law in the UK is set to change from March 2015. Officials have reported that the notice period for marriages and civil partnerships will increase to nearly one month, with the potential to be increased to 70 days if needed.
The days of gunshot weddings are coming to a close here in the UK. On a crackdown to tackle “sham marriages”, the UK government has announced a series of laws slated to extend the notice period couples seeking to marry must give in order to be married or to enter into a civil partnership in Britain. A Home Office release states, ‘the notice period for all marriages and civil partnerships will increase from 15 to 28 days with the potential to rise to 70 days if further investigation is necessary.’
The extended notification period is meant to prevent migrants from abusing immigration rules through sham marriages. The release states that by upping the notification period to 28 days, officers will be able to investigate, prosecute and remove people involved in sham marriages.
This is just one of a handful of new marriage laws to be introduced in March 2015. In addition to the notification hike, couples planning to marry from spring 2015 and beyond can expect to:
- give notice at the register office before making arrangements when they want to marry in the Anglican Church when one party is a non-EEA national
- make an appointment with the local registrar to give notice if you are a British national or EEA citizen wanting a civil ceremony or partnership
- provide the Church of England or the Church in Wales with evidence of nationality if you would like to marry in either of the churches and are a British national or EEA citizen
- give notice at the register office with your spouse-to-be if you are a non-EEA national, and you want a civil ceremony or partnership or
- complete civil preliminaries if you are a non-EEA national who wants to marry in the Church of England or the Church in Wales
For full details on the new policies and laws as well more information on documentation needed to raise your registration, visit the Home Office website.
Confetti.co.uk makes every effort to keep you aware of new policies and laws and we have taken every care to ensure the information shared in this article is accurate and up to date, but please double check with your local registrar before booking any appointments and acting on any of the policies shared.
