Second marriage before receiving decree nisi / absolute

Domicile is a very, very long-term thing and immensely complicated. My domicile (for example) is dead simple - I was born in the UK, and apart fro 9 months as a gap year in Poland, I've always lived in the UK. So my domicile is my domicile of origin.

Your initial message implied you were born in Pakistan of a Pakistani family, if I remember rightly? So Pakistan was your domicile of origin. But you lived in the UK for many years, and married here, and acquired British Citizenship. So you almost certainly acquired a British domicile of choice at that point.

The question is whether you then acquired Kuwaiti domicile, and given you've only spent 8 years there, and are now planning to leave and return to the UK, I would personally not think that you've acquired a domicile there BUT it's a very complicated area, and I'm NOT an expert on it at all. I'm only musing.

Also bear in mind the advice from the General Register
"However, this is merely our view and I can only suggest that you seek further detailed legal advice on this matter."

Hi

I checked with the lawforum

"You cannot make the application as neither you nor your new wife qualify.

S55(2) makes it clear that only those domiciled at the time of the application or who have been habitually resident for the previous year can apply. I should of course have added that it was domiciled/resident within the UK.

The general rule however is that if a marriage was recognised in the country it was conducted it will be in the UK"

Provided you were free to marry, which you weren't as you were not divorced (decree absolute) to your spouse who you married in London in 1990.

The 'divorce' by the fatwa council will not be recognised under English law.

Ive asked a few quotes from solictors in London and am getting quotes of GBP8-10,000 plus to prepare an application !!

My tupenn'orth.

I concur with avjones that the OP is unlikely to have acquired domicile in Kuwait. Domicile is a complicated field that looks at not only where you reside but also where you intend to reside.

While I am no expert on immigration laws in the Gulf states, from a cursory glance, they do not appear to make any provision for settling there on a permanent basis. You are only good enough to stay there while you are capable of working there. So, I would find it hard to believe that one would have the intent to stay there on a permanent basis and therefore one is incapable of forming a domicile in those states.

When one applies for ILR and certainly when one applies for British citizenship by naturalisation, one creates an expectation that the "center of one's life" is in the UK (language borrowed from the Surinder Singh route to convey the idea) and it could be construed that one has therefore chosen the UK as the domicile of choice at that point in time.

Domicile is a very grey area, as avjones advised, as it deals with intent to live permanently and not actual residence. People have purchased burial plots in another country to demonstrate that they intend to live permanently in that area later in their life. That is mainly done for tax purposes.

Further reading:
The official Home Office guidance on domicile. Have a look at the questionnaire at the end to see why the law firms would charge you the sum that they quote.
The difference between Domicile and Residence. This deals primarily with financial domicile, but the concepts are related.

Pervaz wrote:Ive asked a few quotes from solictors in London and am getting quotes of GBP8-10,000 plus to prepare an application !!

it doesn't need to cost anything like that much.

Final update:

I managed to get my marriage certificate re-registered with Nadra after going there and explaining my situation

So now I have
- a marriage certificate (before my divorce)
- my decree absolute
- the above marriage certificate with a new registered date.

Would this be acceptable to the Entry Clearing Officer ?

Thanks

You mean that the authorities falsified the marriage document for you?

Hi Casa

There was nothing illegal or falsification about the marriage certificate. The Pakistani authorities could not give my wife a "No Objections Certificate" to remarry again as she was legally married already. I went there and explained to them the situation and they offered to re-register the marriage again. There was nothing illegal in the matter.

Thanks

More fortunate than your would have been with the British Registry Office.

Honestly its been a BIG pain for the last few months - I think i have looked up 50+ countries to marry (I think the US is the easiest)

Do you think there will be an issue with me submitting all 3 documents (with an explaination) ?

Regards

Are you suggesting that you submit the original marriage registration and the amended one? The HO won't accept that as it will be obvious that the marriage took place before the divorce absolute.

Oh dear

I think i can see trouble ahead !!

On the new registered certificate the original marriage date is the same (15th of Feb 2015) - my decree absolute came in on 1st June 2015 - and the new registeration date (15th May 2016)

So safer to hand the new amended certificate in with the decree absolute ?

Oh dear

I think i can see trouble ahead !!

On the new registered certificate the original marriage date is the same (15th of Feb 2015) - my decree absolute came in on 1st June 2015 - and the new registeration date (15th May 2016)

So safer to hand the new amended certificate in with the decree absolute ?

It won't change the issue. You still have an amended certificate showing the second marriage took place before your divorce absolute.

Finally after 3 months we got the visa. The ECO accepted the second marriage (and re-registered certificate). Thanks to everyone and all the mods for their advice.

What a relief!

Pervaz wrote:Finally after 3 months we got the visa. The ECO accepted the second marriage (and re-registered certificate). Thanks to everyone and all the mods for their advice.

Hi pervaz, congrats! Did u send the original copy of your decree absolute? And did u have to provide any extra info on your first marriage e.g. Dates or anything like that? Thanks