Do i need COA before i do Nikah ( muslim marriage agrement )

I am wondering if some body could help me ia m an international student living in UK and ia m planing to get married to my GF of 5 years, she is British citizen and have been living in UK since her birth 23 years ago. Both of us are muslims and want to get married now. What is the procedure, can we perform NIKAH and other family celebrations before i apply for COA. I mean does home office have any objection with my case if we perform Nikah first and then apply for COA
Thank you very much and waiting for your kind replies.

Regards

You're better off applying for a CoA first. Just in case. You're kinda stuck if you're not granted one. It doesn't take that long if your case is straight forward. My husband who was on a student visa applied and we recieved our CoA within 14 days. Whereas my friends application took over two months and a lot of phone calls. Applied for CoA in May. We had our Nikah in June and registration in August. Goodluck.

I don't think a Nikah ceremony officiated in the UK is classed as a legal marriage as far as immigration rules for the UK are concerned. So I don't think your plans of having your Nikah should have an impact on your application for CoA

parvez wrote:I don't think a Nikah ceremony officiated in the UK is classed as a legal marriage as far as immigration rules for the UK are concerned. So I don't think your plans of having your Nikah should have an impact on your application for CoA

Nikah is a legal marriage in UK if it is held in presence of a registrar from the registration district

Any advice for me?? I am asylum seeker and married to my wife ofcourse who is on student visa.

I have not informed home office about this wedding. We have done Nikaah and have proof.

Do we also need to get COA??? Please also check my other post.

Excuse the blonde moment.. but what's CoA?

could someone expand/explain the abbreviation?

Thanks?

Sammie

sammie COA is a certificate of aproval

if your a student and want to get married in the UK u need to get permission from the home office.. so they giv u a COA iffffff u dont have this then no Imam performs the NIKKAH!! which i find really stupid!!

i had this problem, we arranged the wedding and everything was sorted out! then dad went to the mosque to get an imam to persom the Nikkah but they simply refused! no Mosque imam would agree to do the Nikkah so i had to get an imam who my husband knew personally and even then he was scared of puting the mosque name on the Nikah Nama!!!

The way I look at it.

You need a Nikah to make it legal for you in the eyes of Islam to live/sleep wih your new husband or wife....i.e make it halal

Has no legal weight re: immigration though. Anyone asking me for a 'CoA' before entering into a Nikah can take a hike!

Surprised that Imam's are asking for CoA's though (if true)

its true!!
cuz i tried all the big mosques in Birmingham and NO IMAM was willing to do the Nikah!

i even got angry at one of the imams and said say if theres two people who want to do a Nikah and want to make there relationship halal, and they come to u and explain the situation will u turn them down and let them walk out together knowing that if they do sumthing haram ur gonna be partly to be blame! and he was like oh sister sister u have to understand we have follow percedures i just slamed the fone on him i no it was bad but he realllllllllllllllllllllllllly was getting to me!

and then tried central mosque and they said
1st u have to get COA, Then u have to register ur marriage in registry office and thennnnnnnnnn u book the imam 16 days before u want the Nikah done and then he will come and do the Nikah..

n i was like forget it!

SO Khan, what if 2 Uk born Muslims want a Nikah - do they still ask for COA's?

gollywood, The answer is NO. British citizens are not subject to immigration control. COA applies to only those who are subjected to immigration control.

If you are planning to get married or register your civil partnership in the United Kingdom and you are a person subject to immigration control while in the United Kingdom, you may need to apply for a certificate of approval.

The rules on certificate of approval do not apply to you if you:

are a British citizen; or
are a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA); or
are the family member of an EEA national and have right of residence in the United Kingdom but are not yourself an EEA national; or
have in your passport a certificate of entitlement giving you right of abode in the United Kingdom; or
are not subject to immigration control.

eliasuk4u wrote:gollywood, The answer is NO. British citizens are not subject to immigration control. COA applies to only those who are subjected to immigration control.

If you are planning to get married or register your civil partnership in the United Kingdom and you are a person subject to immigration control while in the United Kingdom, you may need to apply for a certificate of approval.

The rules on certificate of approval do not apply to you if you:

are a British citizen; or
are a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA); or
are the family member of an EEA national and have right of residence in the United Kingdom but are not yourself an EEA national; or
have in your passport a certificate of entitlement giving you right of abode in the United Kingdom; or
are not subject to immigration control.

Thats a relief! So do Imam's demand to see passports (if they dont believe you?)

Bizzare.

The whole point of a Nikah is that it has nothing to do with immigration etc etc etc.

You have your Nikah - live a married life. Go to your respective countries and apply - and wait - and get depressed whilst waiting!

I agree that Nikah should serve no purpase as far as the immigration is concerned - but Imam's demanding to see cOAs!!!!

What next!

lolz tell me about it!!

Hey khan85 reading other questions looks like ur hubby had to apply for his settlemet visa from pak? but isnt he a student here. MY question is in order to change the visa status from international student to 2 yrs sppouse visa do we have to apply from back home embassy or from home office... Most of the Imams have told me that they want to see the COA first. but after consulting the solicitors we have found out that the NIKAH is not classed as legal marriage in UK anymore it has to be in registrar office. and to apply for registrar office both husband and wife should be living in same council for minimum of 3 weeks or sumthing like dat. so NIKAH is the only option when we start living as husband and wive ( according to the religeon) straight away we are applying for COA.

Khan wats happening with ur hubby application?

Ferari bhai jaaan salam!

well my story is a complicated

what happened was my hubby was an international student, but his viza expired and now he is an Overstayer and he hasnt got his pasport

so the story now is.. im collecting my documents and wer planning on going back to pak and applying from there!

so basically wen we wer gettingf married i found out from the mosques that he had to have a COA.. but he cudnt get that cuz he was an overstayer..

so no mosque imam was willing to do Nikkah and they said we shud do it thru an imam we personaly no.. so my hubby new an imam and he did the Nikah for us!

im almost there with my documents and inshallah will be heading back to pakistan to apply for the spouse viza.. but.. and that a bigggggggggg BUTTTTTTTTTTTT we duno how to get outa here without a passport