Complex: US czen marrying UK czen on tour in Europe (hope?)

[artsypants]

Please forgive the novel, here - it's an unusual situation. Please help if it's in the wrong place - the ultimate questions are about UK visas for marriage, in particular, though it involves other complicating issues.

I am from the US, and my fiance is from the UK (he also has Canadian citizenship, from his previously married life). We've known each other closely for 4 years, and been together for 2. He works as a musician on major touring productions. As a result of this, we have had trouble getting married. Until recently, we were roughly based in the US (I stayed there, and he visited whenever he wasn't on a contract - which still came out to be less than the legal 6 months), but the waiting periods for getting married there legally (and to have the marriage recognized so that he wouldn't be in the country illegally) were too long for us to ever get married between his contracts.

Now he has a long-term contract touring Europe, which he took on the basis that because it's long-term, I would come along. Initially, it looked perfect - we would finally have time to work on us, marriage, etc. So, having left my life in the US, here I am in Spain, and soon on to Amsterdam, and thought I'd be on to Antwerp, Zurich, then several stops in Germany... looking into what we need to get married in the UK, or Zurich, or Cypress...

Suddenly, we have a problem that means I (and the other non-working tour partners) will not be able to legally continue with the tour (we were told "don't worry -someone is working on it," but then no solution was found). This is the short of current situation:

I am only legal to visit the Schengen area for 90 days, so come the mid-April, I need to leave the Schengen area for the UK for 90 days, because the show will not be in any one of the Schengen countries for long enough to get residence cards until it's in Germany. However, we also want to get married around the same time (actually, we NEED to do this very soon, so that at the very least, I can stay on tour with him once the tour gets to Germany). We've already planned a visit to give notice in a couple of weeks. We don't plan to go back to the UK to STAY ... at least, not immediately. But I do need to be able to go back there to visit, and stay with his family, when I can't stay on tour due to Schengen restrictions. The questions I have are these:

If I go to the UK with him on a "Visitor for Marriage or Domestic Partnership" visa, I read that it's good for 6 months. We wanted to be married immediately, and then get back on tour. I am guessing (but can't seem to confirm) that I would not be able to go BACK to the UK to visit on that same visa, then, once we're married, even if within the 6 months that that visa is good? And even though we don't plan to settle immediately, we do eventually need the option for a Spouse visa to be an option, because we would likely be going back there after this contract, at the end of this year, or if renewed, after next.

On the other hand, if I go to the UK with him on a "Fiance" visa... well, we can't stay (at least he can't) to go through the Spouse visa process immediately, and don't necessarily intend to settle there immediately, but we do need to still be able to travel there regularly... as right now the UK is the closest thing either one of us has to a "home," with his family.

I have no idea what route to take - nothing seems to apply to our situation, and after years, we're desperate to move forward, and exhausted from long-distance. We are totally lost. Suggestions? Please help. What am I missing?

[pennylessinindia]

I wonder if you may get more help on the EEA section .
Is your partner exercising his treaty rights in Europe and could you show that you have been in an enduring relationship , I wondered then if you could apply for a permit to join him as his partner ?

[artsypants]

Thanks for the suggestion, pennyless. That sounds like an angle the company may not have investigated (since most of their employees are Canadian and Russian), and I certainly haven't.

I'll take my question there, but unless it frustrates anyone, I'll leave it here, too, since, well... even if it turns out to help, we do want to get married (thank goodness the company, at least, recognizes me as his partner without, though), and do not want to somehow talk to up our long-term relationship with the UK.

Thanks again