Hi,

I am UK , my fiancée is American, and she would like to come and live with me and as soon as she's settled, we'd like to get married. The big question is how we can accomplish this.
I've contacted the French consulate, and I did get a reply, but one that is simply not realistic. They tell me that she has to apply for a long term visa, and send the paperwork in, together with "la publication des bans de votre marriage". As I found out, this "bans de marriage" is obligatory in France.
For us this is not realistic, as 1) we want to get married in the UK and 2) we want her to get settled first before getting married. And her only getting a long term visa, and getting married within the 1 year of validity is not an option either, as I want her to have health insurance coverage.
We are really getting desperate of how to arrange her move, and I'm hoping that someone has gone through a similar situation or that someone knows more about what is possible. The other option would be to quite my job and to move back to the US, but this would definitely be a last option.
Can anyone please provide us with more information?

Thanks,
Geoff

 

Thank you for the information. Meanwhile I got a new reply from the French consulate, stating that if we want to get married in the UK, that then the French consulate has no responsibility anymore in providing her with a permit, but we need to apply for it in the UK.
That then opens up a new point, and it sounds to me as if the consul is telling me that if we want to live in France, that then we also have to get married in France.
Cyril, you may be right. It might indeed be best to get a visitor visa or whichever has the longest duration, then get married in the UK, I assume get all documents translated and certified, and with those then apply for a long term visa in France. But then we need to be sure that France will accept them, and the duration for obtaining the long term visa has to be less than the time remaining on the visitor visa. Sounds to me like gambling.