Options for US / UK Couple Marrying Abroad - Any Recent Experiences?

[GoingTheDistance2 7]

Hi all —

 

I’m an American living in the US and my fiancée is dual UK/German living in London — we got engaged last week when I arrived for a visit in the UK, and we’re now looking at different options for a civil marriage to start the CR-1 process.  We’ve done some research, but given travel restrictions and irregular government office hours due to COVID-19, wanted to see if anyone had any recent experiences (or thoughts) on options that may work for us.

 

Places we’re considering:

• Caribbean - Barbados, Aruba, and Bermuda all appear to be open for travel for both of us, have reasonable flights for each of us, and would work for a civil marriage
• Gibraltar - this was an interesting suggestion from someone else on a thread re: a different topic had posted (thanks HRQX!) - also appears to work, although I’m having a hard time finding any info on whether I will need to quarantine if arriving from the US
• Germany - my fiancee’s family is in Munich so this would be great, but currently looks difficult to visit as an American (I understand others have spent 14 days elsewhere before entering Schengen, but we have an American friend who was turned away at Heathrow before boarding a flight to Spain despite having spent 14 days in the UK so seems less certain).  We’ve reached out to the German embassy in the US to see about approval for an exception - definitely a long shot but worth a try.

 

Are there any other options we should be considering?  Has anyone in a similar situation had a civil marriage in any of the above locations?  

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

Are you still in the UK? Get married there.

[GoingTheDistance2 7]

I’m in the UK now, but didn’t enter on a Marriage Visitor Visa - our understanding is that I need to apply for this visa in advance of entering the country in order to marry (https://www.gov.uk/marriage-visa).

 

I also need to return to the US on Sunday and don’t have my birth certificate with me.

 

Given the marriage visitor visa requirement and 14 day quarantine requirement (just did this), we’re looking at different distinctions for our civil marriage, but could definitely be an option for another trip.

[VJmember2020 32]

51 minutes ago, GoingTheDistance2 said:

Hi all —

 

I’m an American living in the US and my fiancée is dual UK/German living in London — we got engaged last week when I arrived for a visit in the UK, and we’re now looking at different options for a civil marriage to start the CR-1 process.  We’ve done some research, but given travel restrictions and irregular government office hours due to COVID-19, wanted to see if anyone had any recent experiences (or thoughts) on options that may work for us.

 

Places we’re considering:

• Caribbean - Barbados, Aruba, and Bermuda all appear to be open for travel for both of us, have reasonable flights for each of us, and would work for a civil marriage
• Gibraltar - this was an interesting suggestion from someone else on a thread re: a different topic had posted (thanks HRQX!) - also appears to work, although I’m having a hard time finding any info on whether I will need to quarantine if arriving from the US
• Germany - my fiancee’s family is in Munich so this would be great, but currently looks difficult to visit as an American (I understand others have spent 14 days elsewhere before entering Schengen, but we have an American friend who was turned away at Heathrow before boarding a flight to Spain despite having spent 14 days in the UK so seems less certain).  We’ve reached out to the German embassy in the US to see about approval for an exception - definitely a long shot but worth a try.

 

Are there any other options we should be considering?  Has anyone in a similar situation had a civil marriage in any of the above locations?  

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

Hey there. Funny you ask this as we just got married here and it was absolutely amazing. You do not need to quarantine here. You just need to stay a minimum of 2 nights. I would recommend it 100%. John Lennon also got married here 😃. Feel free to ask or PM any questions. 

[VJmember2020 32]

32 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Are you still in the UK? Get married there.

Not that easy to get married in the UK. 

[Melc 138]

27 minutes ago, VJmember2020 said:

Hey there. Funny you ask this as we just got married here and it was absolutely amazing. You do not need to quarantine here. You just need to stay a minimum of 2 nights. I would recommend it 100%. John Lennon also got married here 😃. Feel free to ask or PM any questions. 

To get married you only need to spend one night in Gibraltar. Either the night before, or after, the wedding. 

Definitely recommend The Rock Hotel in Gibraltar, and getting married in Gibraltar in general. 😊 

 

Wonderful place, wonderful people, far less hassle with documents/translations/apostilles. 

[VJmember2020 32]

9 minutes ago, Melc said:

To get married you only need to spend one night in Gibraltar. Either the night before, or after, the wedding. 

Definitely recommend The Rock Hotel in Gibraltar, and getting married in Gibraltar in general. 😊 

 

Wonderful place, wonderful people, far less hassle with documents/translations/apostilles. 

Yes correct ! Sorry 1 night minimum we ended up staying for 4 nights and stayed at Sunborn Gibraltar. Although it says 5 star hotel, it wasn’t that most modern hotel. For about 200$ USD a night, not the most bang for your buck. But amazing customer service. 

[PBabz 137]

1 hour ago, GoingTheDistance2 said:

Gibraltar - this was an interesting suggestion from someone else on a thread re: a different topic had posted (thanks HRQX!) - also appears to work, although I’m having a hard time finding any info on whether I will need to quarantine if arriving from the US

 

 

My husband and I had the same issue to resolve, we couldn't decide where to go given that UK visas for marriage are about just as complicated as one for the US.

We got married in Gibraltar in November, granted it was pre-COVID times, but in terms of ease of everything it was the absolute best! 

As others have said, you do have to stay in Gibraltar either 1 night before or after your wedding, but with arrangements needed, this would be the case anyway.

You will need to submit your documents before 9am the day before your marriage ceremony so plan your flights/travel accordingly. The wording in some of the documentation confused us slightly so I ended up having to change our flights by one day but the registrar office was helpful (when we were finally able to speak to them over the phone) and the registrar was delightful!

 

No worries with translating your marriage certificate as it is a British territory and is in English. The only delay is actually receiving your marriage certificate. You can collect in person a few weeks after your ceremony or have it posted to you by recorded delivery (at a nominal charge) - the option we went for since you can send as many copies as you like to different addresses. 

We had a delightful ceremony, extremely affordable, especially if you maybe want to save for a larger reception at a later date the registrar's office is perfect.

We stayed at the Sunborn yacht as a treat to ourselves for having a small ceremony. 

 

Good luck to you both whatever you choose!

 

See below for information on entry, hope it helps. Seems that they do not have any restrictions, just contact tracing. This in on the UK Gov website:

Entry rules in response to coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Government of Gibraltar has confirmed that air travel restrictions into Gibraltar due to COVID-19 have been lifted as from 21 June 2020. All incoming travellers with valid travel documents will be allowed entry into Gibraltar via the Gibraltar International Airport.

The Government of Gibraltar requires passengers flying to Gibraltar to complete a COVID-19 contact tracing form. This form will be given to passengers by airlines.

[Appy 38]

11 minutes ago, PBabz said:

My husband and I had the same issue to resolve, we couldn't decide where to go given that UK visas for marriage are about just as complicated as one for the US.

We got married in Gibraltar in November, granted it was pre-COVID times, but in terms of ease of everything it was the absolute best! 

As others have said, you do have to stay in Gibraltar either 1 night before or after your wedding, but with arrangements needed, this would be the case anyway.

You will need to submit your documents before 9am the day before your marriage ceremony so plan your flights/travel accordingly. The wording in some of the documentation confused us slightly so I ended up having to change our flights by one day but the registrar office was helpful (when we were finally able to speak to them over the phone) and the registrar was delightful!

 

No worries with translating your marriage certificate as it is a British territory and is in English. The only delay is actually receiving your marriage certificate. You can collect in person a few weeks after your ceremony or have it posted to you by recorded delivery (at a nominal charge) - the option we went for since you can send as many copies as you like to different addresses. 

We had a delightful ceremony, extremely affordable, especially if you maybe want to save for a larger reception at a later date the registrar's office is perfect.

We stayed at the Sunborn yacht as a treat to ourselves for having a small ceremony. 

 

Good luck to you both whatever you choose!

 

See below for information on entry, hope it helps. Seems that they do not have any restrictions, just contact tracing. This in on the UK Gov website:

Entry rules in response to coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Government of Gibraltar has confirmed that air travel restrictions into Gibraltar due to COVID-19 have been lifted as from 21 June 2020. All incoming travellers with valid travel documents will be allowed entry into Gibraltar via the Gibraltar International Airport.

The Government of Gibraltar requires passengers flying to Gibraltar to complete a COVID-19 contact tracing form. This form will be given to passengers by airlines.

Complete the form and it will still be up to the discretion of the border guards, who were awful awful people. 

[Appy 38]

14 minutes ago, Melc said:

Sorry to hear you had such an awful experience. The world was quite a mess when the lockdowns were starting all over, across the board. I'd like to think they have had time to adjust now, and will have better coordination in place. Maybe @VJmember2020 can chime in there with the recent experience. 

 

When we got married pre-covid, we didn't run into any issues with border force agents; they were lovely and just waved us through. We didn't have a need for a taxi the day of our wedding, we enjoyed a short walk from the hotel to the registrar's office. 

Yeah unfortunately after seeing how they put passengers into a prison van and how they treated us and others I have no faith in them. 

[VJmember2020 32]

We also worked with Sweet Gibraltar weddings and they sorted all the documents with the registrar office themselves. They were amazing with how quick they reply to emails and they have done this numerous times so they know what they are doing. Definitely recommend them! 

[Appy 38]

57 minutes ago, VJmember2020 said:

I am so sorry for your terrible experience. My wife and I can honestly say this was not the case for us. When we went to heathrow airport, the lady working for British Airways said I (American citizen) wasn't allowed to travel to Gibraltar. But she was actually wrong. When we arrived to Gibraltar the officer asked us if we were traveling to Spain, and we said no we are only staying in Gibraltar. She said good, because if we were to cross the border into Spain, then we would most likely get refused entry back into Gibraltar. 

 

Yes the taxi thing is true, no uber here. But we had no issues with the taxi service, actually it was extremely quick. 

 

Gibraltar residents and everyone working at the hotel/restaurants were SO EXTREMELY nice/friendly. We both loved our experience. 

We had elderly family members and were at the rock hotel where we had spent a few thousand pounds for a ceremony but because of how everything happened we cancelled, lost all our money and did a registry office thing instead. The registrar himself was horrified by how everything went down and was super accommodating to us, giving us our certificate straight away and other things. 

[Ontarkie 14,365]

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[GoingTheDistance2 7]

Thank you all for the very helpful replies!  

 

@Appy, I’m so sorry to hear of your difficult experience.  @VJmember2020 - it’d be great to hear more about your recent experience, so I’ll send you a PM.

 

Does anyone have experience traveling / getting married in the Caribbean recently?  Aruba in particular seems like a good option - no quarantine needed with negative test, can get married there, etc.  Gibraltar seems great, but want to make sure we’re considering all of our options.

[Ryan H 3,819]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Off Topic; topic is about places to get married and not the spousal visa process itself.