Can I marry my Thai girlfriend whilst on holiday in Uk

[kingwilly]

It is the right of a citizen of a democratic nation to marry whom he wants.

nice concept.

Not true in many cases.

[taffyapple]

if you pop your cloggs your state pension dies with you,any private pension will go to a nominee or your wife it will be a percentage,about 60% of the total.advice if you have any living next of kins or relatives make a will in the uk.it will cover any assetts you have in the uk,do the same in thailand that will cover you over here.

[hazz]

It is the right of a citizen of a democratic nation to marry whom he wants.
Nothing to do with the government.

I don't think the government has the slightest interest in who you marry. What they are interested is the resulting change to immigration status. It's only about who has the right to live in the country, and every government in the world believes thats something they really do have the right to control. A case of the rights of the community overriding the rights of the individual; something that most democracies are very prone too.

[Bower]

if you pop your cloggs your state pension dies with you,any private pension will go to a nominee or your wife it will be a percentage,about 60% of the total.advice if you have any living next of kins or relatives make a will in the uk.it will cover any assetts you have in the uk,do the same in thailand that will cover you over here.

I am sure your wife would get a widows pension ?

[patsycat]

Why not just get married in Thailand and then again in the UK?

Easy peasy and everyone is happy.

[BigRed]

^^ not these days

[More Volts Igor]

NO! NO! NO!

You can NOT get married in the UK on a tourist visa, the practice was outlawed in January 2005

A fiancée visa is now required

EDIT, reading later posts I find it odd that the official website still carries the outdated information, unless it's changed again.

[hazz]

^outlawed is a rather strong word, I would use the word spannered myself. You need to provide evidence that the border agency has given it's go ahead for you to marry, either by issuing you with the right king of visa via the embassy or a certificate of Aproval in the uk. It also seems this process will change in the future.

One thing I have found out from experience is that different registry offices have different requirements for demonstrating residency in the the area. For Birmingham and camden this is/was gov letters, utility bills etc, whilst for Cornwall it's evidence that you have spent 7 days and nights in county.

so I think the best advice would be to call the registry office you want to use and ask them what they want under your circumstances. With a couple of exceptions wheeee they have let their religious fundamentalism get in the way of the professionalism; I don't know anyone who's not found them to be very helpful.

I suspect that the border agency/embassy would require that you meet the criteria required for a settlement visa before they would let you into the uk to get married.