Married in UK but couldn't registered the marriage

Anyone please on the issue of non-registered marriage in UK.

As myself and partner were Islamically married & lived togther for 4 years in UK.

After a long wait & no reply I came bk and applied from Pakistan for spouse visa but the case was refused on the basis of marriage not registered in UK.

so would like & appreciate comments/guidance on this..........

Bad-Boy wrote:As myself and partner were Islamically married & lived togther for 4 years in UK.

If you have proof of having been living together in a relationship akin to marriage/civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more, then your partner may apply for an unmarried partners visa.

Bad boy

u did a big mistake because according to UK Laws unregistered marrige means LIVING TOGTHER WITHOUT MARRIGE. so they dnt accept your marrige until u register it

Bad-Boy, why not get legally married in Pakistan, and then apply for your spouse visa.

[quote="John"]Bad-Boy, why not get legally married in Pakistan, and then apply for your spouse visa.[/quote]


Hi John


but we're already Islamically married infront of 200 people with valid Nikah Nama & BHC (Home Office) are aware of the whole situation........

so I'm not sure what do u actually mean by legally marriage here in Pakistan.

Look the problem is the whole situation is in the knowledge of BHC; we can't remarry. We can register the marriage here in Pakistan but can't do another Nikkah on the same marriage.

and for instant if we register our marriage here then what date of Nikkah to be declared?

These are all technical points Yar. Think........seriously

I had EXACTLY the same situation. You need to go to the Union Council for your district with both the original (take all 3 parts i.e. not the 4th which the Imam keeps, but they only need to keep 1) and an english translation. Before this, it needs to be notarised as a certified copy. Then you need to take it to the Government Foreign Affairs Office for another stamp and signature, all before the Union Council will provide the official registration number. This is what the UKBA want to see. I would advise that you visit the Union Council for advice first as they sometimes insist on the smallest detail e.g. the Urdu page number also needs to be typed in english on the translated document etc.

I was worried about the second nikkah too. I spoke to the head of the document legalisation section in the Pakistan Embassy in London before I travelled to Pakistan to sort this out. He said that if you explain the situation to your local Imam there and tell him it is a technicality, he should have no problem blessing the marriage and providing the paperwork. Islamically, there is nothing wrong with conducting the ceremony (the same as renewing vows) with the same person again as long as there is no divorce in between.

My husband's application was refused only on these grounds and we resubmitted late January. Hopefully it won't take too long to get a response this time around. Hope the above helps.

... I forgot to mention, it doesn't matter that the BHC know of your first nikkah because as far as they are concerned under UK law it isn't valid so you might as well have been playing dress up in a theatrical production. They cannot object to you renewing your vows in Pakistan as it is the ONLY marriage they recognise so there cannot possibly be anything wrong with it in their eyes! Take new photos of the nikkah.

lubzy, brilliant post! No doubt bad-boy should follow that advice about what to do in Pakistan to register a legal marriage.

lubzy, do you happen to know the answer to this? If there any religious reason why Mosques in the UK do not tend to register as a place where legal marriages can be performed? As you probably know, in the UK many religious places, such as Churches, are so registered, and accordingly marrying in such a Church etc, counts not only as a religious wedding but also as a legal one as well.

Hi John

I can only assume it's a lack of awareness on the part of mosque organisation committees. I know of a couple in London which include space for British Registration No. on their english nikkah certificates and do register marriages. It may also not be widespread because people assume there are too many administrative responsibilities associated with the ceremony, especially in evidencing no duress etc, although the Muslim Parliament in Great Britain advocates the process to be straightforward.

To be honest, views on what is or isn't allowed under Islamic law differ vastly depending on how hardline an approach the Imam you happen to be speaking to takes. To the best of my knowledge there should be no problem with this as Islam promotes living by the law of the land.

[quote="lubzy"]I had EXACTLY the same situation.


THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS VALUABLE INFO.

GOOD LUCK WITH UR HUSBAND'S VISA CASE.

lubzy, do you happen to know the answer to this? If there any religious reason why Mosques in the UK do not tend to register as a place where legal marriages can be performed? As you probably know, in the UK many religious places, such as Churches, are so registered, and accordingly marrying in such a Church etc, counts not only as a religious wedding but also as a legal one as well.

Brilliant John!

I agree with u on this. To me it is just laziness from our community part.

It is a serious issue and community should be mobilized to get these religious marriages registered.

Sorry to butt in this conversation,but I want to ask Bad boy a questtion because I am somewhat confused.

You say you performed a Muslim nikkah with your partner and lived here in the UK for 4 years and that you are now applying for a spouse visa in Pakistan.

Can I ask how your partner/wife came to the UK in the first place, and why she went back.

you say after a long reply and waiting, you recievd no reply ..... whose reponse were you waiting for?

You say that you cant perform another nikkah, who is saying this? .In Islam it is said to constantly renew your nikkah. Why dont you perform a fresh nikkah in accordance with Pakistan and Islamic law,and then apply for a spouse visa from Pakistan.

As regards muslim places of worship being registered to register a marriage, there are a number of them here in West Yorkshire. The reason why Mosques do not register is that you have to pay a registration fee to register the place where marriage is solmenized. Once this is done, then everytime you perform a nikkah, you have to an official from the local authority present at the ceromony.... unfortunately you have to pay for this, and it could range anything from £50 to £100 a time.

It is therefore easier and cheaper to perform a Muslim nikkah in the masjid, and then a couple of weeks later both husband and wife books an appointment at the local registry office to register the marriage at a small fee.

Furthermore the maarige ceronomy that takes palce at the local registrty office requires both couples to be present to take the vow, whilst at the Muslim nikkah, its usually the husband who is present in the mosque, whilst the girls father/brother/uncle who acts as her VAKIL is only present and therefore it could cause a problem with the english marriage.

however there are certain Masjids/ wedding halls etc where both husband and wife are present, and the Registrar can carry out the english version, there and then without the need for them to do it at a later date.

Hope I have shed some light onn this problem, but I am sorry Badboy, i cant answer your question, as I am still confused with your queury.

Maybe if you care to expalin in greater detail as to how your problem began, I can advise you further.

The reason why Mosques do not register is that you have to pay a registration fee to register the place where marriage is solmenized. Once this is done, then everytime you perform a nikkah, you have to an official from the local authority present at the ceromony.... unfortunately you have to pay for this, and it could range anything from £50 to £100 a time.

I agree about the need to pay for the initial registration. But as regards any need to fee a fee every time a marriage is performed, to get an official present, that is up to the religious place concerned. That is, after some training, it is possible for person(s) to be appointed as a registrar, and to conduct marriages, from the legal point of view, and then indeed to issue a UK-style marriage certificate ... in the same style as issued by a Register Office.

Yes of course there are legal requirements to comply with, but these are easily overcome in thousands of Churches and other places of religious worship, so I don't understand why not in most Mosques. Hence my question about whether there was any religious reason why Mosques do not perform legal marriages.

Is there a problem with the bride being there to sign the marriage contract in Mosques? My female friends went in person and didn't get a male relative to do it on their behalf.

PaperPusher wrote:Is there a problem with the bride being there to sign the marriage contract in Mosques? My female friends went in person and didn't get a male relative to do it on their behalf.

Ofcourse, there's no problem Islamically for bride to be in the mosque to sign the marriage contract.

............and also there isn't any problem Islamically to register the marriage legally by the local mosques or on individual basis; infact Islam insists to do so to make sure Muslims be effective part of society they live in.

confused.......

Can I ask how your partner/wife came to the UK in the first place, and why she went back.you say after a long reply and waiting, you recievd no reply ..... whose reponse were you waiting for?

My wife is British by birth.

She didn't go bk to apply from Pakistan but I came back to apply from here.

Abviously, we applied there in UK for spouse visa but didn't get response from Home Office for 4 years.

Now I applied from Pakistan for spouse Visa & application was declined.

Hope it'll satisy your query.

I've sent a couple of e-mails asking the BHC to consider that my husband and I have been waiting for the duration of our first application as well as this one. Obviously it is down to them whether or not they show any compassion in this regard but I remain hopeful that document verification won't take as long considering it was all done just a few weeks ago.

Is your wife able to travel to Pakistan soon? I went out 4 days after getting the refusal and we resubmitted within 10 days. You might want to speak with the Imam and get a new submission appointment date sorted ASAP. Leave a few days for the nikkah and then 3 working days to get the translation etc sorted.

How long one should wait after getting the status of "app sent to Islamabad OC"?

Hi John

Any idea on how long it takes to change the application status from"Application was sent to Islamabad OC......"

to

"Application is ready for collection...."?

As mine has been nearly a month showing the status of "Application sent to Isalamabad OC....." and it hasn't changed yet.