Bigamy or no Bigamy?

nav8400 · Post by **nav8400** » Mon Jul 07, 2025 12:38 am

Dear all,

Hope you are well.

I am currently on skilled worker visa and want to bring my wife and daughter over from Pakistan however there is an issue which I need to discuss. I got married to an English woman in 2018 and got my stay as FLRP(10 years route) while I was I married to her I got married to to another girl in Pakistan 2020, my first wife was aware of that. Sadly in 2025 I got divorced from my first wife. Now I want to apply dependent visa of wife and daughter, question is have I committed bigamy, bare in mind Pakistani law does allow you to have more than one wives. What are my options?

Post by **secret.simon** » Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:08 am

It may or may not be bigamy.

But the second marriage is not recognised in the UK at the very least for the purpose of immigration, because when you carried out the second marriage, even in a country that recognises it, you were not "free to marry" under UK law.

The traditional way around it is to sponsor your second wife to the UK under a fiancee visa and then remarry her again in the UK, after you have received the divorce decree absolute from the first marriage.

However, I am not sure that that is a route open to you, as I think (I am not sure) that a fiance visa requires you to have ILR or be a British citizen already. Wait for others to advise further.

nav8400 · Post by **nav8400** » Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:06 pm

Thank you, appreciate that.

Post by **Casa** » Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:46 pm

secret.simon wrote: ↑
Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:08 am
It may or may not be bigamy.

But the second marriage is not recognised in the UK at the very least for the purpose of immigration, because when you carried out the second marriage, even in a country that recognises it, you were not "free to marry" under UK law.

The traditional way around it is to sponsor your second wife to the UK under a fiancee visa and then remarry her again in the UK, after you have received the divorce decree absolute from the first marriage.

However, I am not sure that that is a route open to you, as I think (I am not sure) that a fiance visa requires you to have ILR or be a British citizen already. Wait for others to advise further.

Correct. In order to sponsor your second wife for a fiancée visa, you must first have been granted ILR, when you will then be outside of UK immigration control.

However, I'm not sure where you stand with your current leave under FLR(FP) now you are divorced from your sponsor and the relationship is no longer subsisting. I assume from your post that this will expire in 2028 and there may well be issues when you apply for ILR.

Do have any children with your ex-wife?

nav8400 · Post by **nav8400** » Mon Jul 07, 2025 11:25 pm

I am no longer on FLRfp, I switched to Skilled worker route in January 2024 and clock reset and now on the basis of that I will be eligible to apply ILR in January 2029, so she is no longer my sponsor. I have no kids from my previous wife.

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Bigamy or no Bigamy?

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