Singapore Expats

Hi there,

My boyfriend and I both live in Singapore (we're British Citizens) and are getting married in the UK in March next year by civil cermony.

The UK registrar has told us we both need to be resident in the UK 7 full days before we can give notice to marry then wait another 15 days before the marriage can take place. Neither of us are planning on going back before the wedding so this is a major problem for us!

However I've read that there is an act called the 'British Subjects Acts 1915 & 1916' that allows you to register your marriage in certain countries, Singapore being one of them. We rang the British Embassy but they didn't have a clue about it.

Does anyone have any help for us? We are really worried we won't be able to go home and marry, so any help would be very much appreciated.

Lisa

Marriages overseas are normally recognised by home countries.

You should call the UK registrar to ask if they would recognise a marriage certificate from Singapore. If they do, your problems are solved.

Lisa500 wrote:Hi there,

My boyfriend and I both live in Singapore (we're British Citizens) and are getting married in the UK in March next year by civil cermony.

The UK registrar has told us we both need to be resident in the UK 7 full days before we can give notice to marry then wait another 15 days before the marriage can take place. Neither of us are planning on going back before the wedding so this is a major problem for us!

However I've read that there is an act called the 'British Subjects Acts 1915 & 1916' that allows you to register your marriage in certain countries, Singapore being one of them. We rang the British Embassy but they didn't have a clue about it.

Does anyone have any help for us? We are really worried we won't be able to go home and marry, so any help would be very much appreciated.

Lisa

Thanks for your reply, but we are getting married in the UK not Singapore, the problem is we need to notify of our intention to marry with the Registrar in the UK, but to do this we both need to be in the UK for 7 days before we can apply and then we have to wait 15 days before the wedding ceremony can take place.

Has anyone else had this problem and had to register their intention to marry in the UK whilst living abroad?

Lisa500 wrote:Thanks for your reply, but we are getting married in the UK not Singapore, the problem is we need to notify of our intention to marry with the Registrar in the UK, but to do this we both need to be in the UK for 7 days before we can apply and then we have to wait 15 days before the wedding ceremony can take place.

Has anyone else had this problem and had to register their intention to marry in the UK whilst living abroad?

C'mon people... wake up... what the hell are you asking? You've already determined what the rules are... are you trying to find someone that can bend them... avoid them? Either make allowances for the time requirements or do it somewhere else.

We are planning to get married next year and have looked into the same issue, you will need to register first with your local registrar,- as in local to where you wish to get married in the uk. You both have to be present and resident for 7 days prior minimum, and the notice of your intent to marry has to be displayed for 15days at the registrars office- presumably incase anyone objects. There is no way around this its the law or you wont be legal to get married otherwise. We are planning to go back early to satisfy this, or plan 'b' maybe to register here first and take the cert with us and just get a blessing in the uk but treat that as the wedding, all depends on how much leave we can get to go it all done- its a pain thats for sure but all the best!

Lisa500 wrote:...However I've read that there is an act called the 'British Subjects Acts 1915 & 1916' that allows you to register your marriage in certain countries, Singapore being one of them. We rang the British Embassy but they didn't have a clue about it.

This act was introduced in order to facilitate marriages between British subjects in countries where there was no recognised body to conduct them and this is still facilitated in certain countries. In some developing countries you can still get married in the British Embassy or High Commission. As Singapore has ROM this is not applied in Singapore any more because it is unnecessary. You can get married at ROM as well.

Bottom line: go back to the UK with ample time and follow the official rules or get married in Singapore.