# UK wedding for American marrying a British Citizen with US green card



## amandarooo (Jan 22, 2014)

I am an American and so are my parents and grandparents before them. My fiance is a British citizen whose mother and maternal grandparents were born in the UK (he has no father on his birth certificate and does not know him). My fiance has lived in the US on a green card since 1993.

We want to have our wedding in the UK (mostly for the benefit of his aged family), and return to the US to live as we have been. Can anyone tell me what the requirements are surrounding such a situation?

Additionally, our children can apply for British citizenship and be dual citizens, correct?

Thank you in advance for any help, I haven't been able to find anything similar to this situation in my research.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

amandarooo said:


> I am an American and so are my parents and grandparents before them. My fiance is a British citizen whose mother and maternal grandparents were born in the UK (he has no father on his birth certificate and does not know him). My fiance has lived in the US on a green card since 1993.
> 
> We want to have our wedding in the UK (mostly for the benefit of his aged family), and return to the US to live as we have been. Can anyone tell me what the requirements are surrounding such a situation?
> 
> ...


You need a visitor for marriage visa to enable you to marry in the UK:

UK Border Agency | Getting married or registering a civil partnership in the UK

Lots of threads of other couples who have done this. Search for "visitor for marriage visa"

Any children you have, which are born in the US, will be able to hold dual citizenship. If your to-be husband was born in the UK then the children will be British by descent.

I would advise that your husband gets his US citizenship.


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## amandarooo (Jan 22, 2014)

Thanks! I think i was misundertanding some of the verbiage on that page as i had read it before. It sounds like we need to take a lengthly trip as we need to be there for 15 days afterward before we can marry.

why do you recommend he get his citizenship? his mom always says that too, but no one really had any reason behind it. Would he then be a dual citizen and our children still candidates for dual citizenship?


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

US citizenship

Your future spouse will be a citizen; can vote, does not have to report moves, does not have to renew Green card, can leave the country without restrictions, survivor benefits such as inheritance tax should be looked at. He will not loose his UK citizenship and will be able to apply for UK passports for children.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Your children will still be dual citizens, no matter what he does or doesn't do on the US citizenship front. They'll get US nationality from you and UK from him. 

But should you want, for any reason, to go live in the UK, even if only for a couple of years, life will be much simpler for your husband if he has US citizenship.
Cheers,
Bev


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## amandarooo (Jan 22, 2014)

thank you so much for the input. He doesnt care about voting (i wish he did!), but i did not know the other things. I thought being a British citizen would make it easier to go back and such. Glad to know the opposite is true! You have been very helpful.


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

get married in the US then travel together and have a fake wedding for the 
relatives ... in the UK it not actually uncommon


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

amandarooo said:


> thank you so much for the input. He doesnt care about voting (i wish he did!), but i did not know the other things. I thought being a British citizen would make it easier to go back and such. Glad to know the opposite is true! You have been very helpful.


Being a British citizen does not make it easier to move in and out of the US. If he was to leave the US for any length of time then his Green card might lapse and he would need to go through the immigration process all over again.

Him being a UK citizen has tax implications should one of your die. The spousal exemption for taxes does not pass between a US and non US spouse. i.e should one of you die you will be immediately taxed on your assets.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Crawford said:


> Him being a UK citizen has tax implications should one of your die. The spousal exemption for taxes does not pass between a US and non US spouse. i.e should one of you die you will be immediately taxed on your assets.


....On U.S. estates with a value greater than ~$5.25 million (2013).


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