Immigration - Important Changes to Right to Marry

According to a press release issued by the Home Office on 14 December 2004, after 1 February 2005 anyone under immigration control will have to give notice of intention to marry at a specially designated registrar office which s/he must attend with her/his partner. S/he will also have to meet strict new eligibility criteria before the notice to marry is accepted.  According to the press release, the criteria may include:

• entry clearance granted expressly for the purpose of marriage in the UK;
• written permission from the Secretary of State to marry in the UK in the form of a certificate of approval from the Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Department;
• s/he falls within a class of persons specified by the Secretary of State.

It is questionable whether the Home Office could impose criteria that are contrary to EU law with respect to free movement. These new measures may therefore be open to legal challenge.

The Assistant Registrar General wrote to the Law Centre’s immigration unit on 8 December 2004, stating that specially designated registrar offices had not yet been designated and that the Law Centre would be informed of the new arrangement once they were available.

It has since been clarified that a notice of intention to marry can be lodged with any registrar office in Northern Ireland.