UK Policy Consultation & Briefing

Marriage Registrars Campaign

Press Release - Friday 21 January 2005

You don't have to ask parents for permission to marry - just the local bureaucrat or the Home Secretary

From February 1 anyone who wants to get married in England and Wales to a foreign national will have to go with their partner to get permission from a marriage registrar first. Only around a quarter of marriage registration districts will be able to grant permission.

The rules apply to all marriages involving a foreign national from outside the European Economic Area. Church of England marriages are exempt. JCWI says the rules may amount to a breach of the right to marry, are unfair and discriminatory and could inconvenience hundreds of couples who have every right to marry.

While the couple may marry anywhere, just 76 of the 342 marriage registration districts in England and Wales can give the permission, of which 28 are London boroughs . In the rural south-west, couples will have a choice of just six registration districts to travel to obtain permission.

Couples who do not obtain permission from the marriage registrar could have to pay £135 to get permission from the Home Secretary.

In contrast to England and Wales all marriage registration districts in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be able to grant permission and the in-person attendance to obtain permission first will not apply there. The Home Office Minister Des Browne told the Commons that he did not want to jeopardise the marriage tourism business in Scotland.

Habib Rahman, JCWI Chief Executive, said:

"It is ridiculous that we live in an age where many people no longer ask their parents' permission to marry but they could now have to ask a marriage registrar or the Home Secretary.

"These rules are meant to prevent so-called sham marriages but they are much more likely to breach people's fundamental human right to marry. Turning marriage registrars into immigration officers risks generating a culture of suspicion toward black and ethnic minority fiances and discriminating against them."