marriage certificate possible problem

[ghummy]

hi guys/girls,
me and my wife are very confused now, we had all the documents ready and waiting to be submitted to the embassy this week, however someone has just burst our bubble saying we might not be actually married, here is the situation.

my wife is a zambian citizen, myself a british citizen from birth. we had a religious ceramony in Malawi and a legal court marriage in Malawi also plainy becasue of the reason all my family is in malawi and most her immediate family is in malawi also, she just lives with her parents in zambia.

someone has told me because she is a Zambian citizen, the court marriage document (marriage cert) will not be accepted by the British Zambian Embassy, is this correct. we are legally married which is recognised by the Malawi governement

please can someone shed some light on this matter, if this is the case we might have to get married again in zambia.

thanks.

[sakura]

If you had a "legal court" marriage then it will be accepted by the UK authorities.

[ghummy]

yes thank you for your quick reply, i have booked in with a lawyer but we have to wait till saturday to see what he says.

yes we did enter a "court marriage" the certificare is also in english

its just that this idiot said it would not be accepted in zambia for a spouse visa becasue neither of us were citizens of the country we married in.
so am i right this is not true if it recognised by the government of that country

[sakura]

I don't know Zambian law but generally if you are legally married every country would accept the marriage, whether or not you are residents or citizens is unimportant.

The UK also wouldn't have an issue with this - they only care that you are legally married. If anything, you simply explain that your family members live in Malawi, which is why you married there - although I doubt they'd want to have an explanation of where you married.

[ghummy]

thank you your a star buddy, im just waiting for saturday for the immigration lawyer to confrim what you said. thanks a bunch really.

[abhijack]

if the legal marriage and religious ceremony are on 2 dates as it might be on the 2 certificates, make sure u explain it clearly.

otherwise they might get confused about the 2 dates.

[ghummy]

if the legal marriage and religious ceremony are on 2 dates as it might be on the 2 certificates, make sure u explain it clearly.

otherwise they might get confused about the 2 dates.

what if we just not mention we had a religious ceromony and say we just had a legal ceromony, would this not simplify things a little?

[abhijack]

if the legal marriage and religious ceremony are on 2 dates as it might be on the 2 certificates, make sure u explain it clearly.

otherwise they might get confused about the 2 dates.

what if we just not mention we had a religious ceromony and say we just had a legal ceromony, would this not simplify things a little?

hmm ..not sure.. the problem is usually the photographs go along with a religious ceremony..

so my suggestion is keeping both certificates and explaining it as civil marriage and religious marriage in additional info section.. or on a notarised affidavit..

lets hear what others suggest.. and u cud ask this to ur lawyer as well, of course...