Question regarding proof of marriage

[hassaant]

Hello all,

This question might be a little specific but I'm hoping someone has seen a situation like this before and would be kind enough to advise.

My situation is as follows:

I am a UK national with a British passport and am living in the UK, my origins are Iraqi. I would like to marry an Iraqi national living in Iraq. Eventually we will want to live in the UK together and go through the spouse immigration visa process to do this.

As we are not yet married I intend to go to Iraq so we can have the marriage ceremony, this would be a religious ceremony. The way things work in Iraq is you do a religious ceremony but can also register the marriage officially with the state. However it will be difficult for me to register with the state in Iraq as I do not have up to date Iraqi ID "proving" I'm originally from there (and it's a very long and difficult process to get this ID)

My main question is would the religious ceremony be sufficient proof, that we are married to begin the immigration application process as long as I show my British passport and they provide a certificate of some kind? Or would an Iraqi state marriage certificate be required?

Note I have already applied for a certificate of no impediment to take with me just in case this might be required while I'm in Iraq.

[seagul]

Simply having a marriage ceremony without registering it with relevant authority won't be counted as legal. Unless you get official marriage certificate you can't apply spouse visa. If you are facing difficulty to marry her in Iraq then better to apply fiancee visa which will allow her to marry in UK.