Getting married on an ESTA?

Hey! Can you get married on an ESTA? I’m based in the UK, my fiancé in the US and we’d like to get married over there. I have an ESTA that’s valid until Jan 2024 and have been a couple times this year already.

what do you intend to do after, where do you plan to live? UK, US, third country?

nat1111 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:06 pm

Hey! Can you get married on an ESTA? I’m based in the UK, my fiancé in the US and we’d like to get married over there. I have an ESTA that’s valid until Jan 2024 and have been a couple times this year already.

No reason why you can't get married whilst on ESTA in the USA. There are no laws against that. What you do (residency) after that, is where it starts to get tricky.
But yeah, you can say "I do".

Thank you! We'd be going on honeymoon from the US then moving to a third country so it's a tricky one as I wouldn't be coming back to the UK! My partner spoke to a lawyer and we were advised it's fine to do but it's a more a case of it bring 50/50 at border control, not ideal!

Your fiancé also can start an application for a fiancé visa for you. US Fiancé visa

Be aware that marrying someone right after getting into the US with another visa (or a visa waiver) can make your future residency paperwork more complicated. No matter if you have visited before.

I guess the lawyer informed your partner about these things and the options you have, otherwise they should ask if in doubt.