Marriage in India but UK divorce in Process

Hi

My friend is holding ILR .He was married in India. His wife came to UK as spouse .They have issues and she left him and living somewhere in the UK .He divorced her in India. His divorce is registered in India. After his divorce in India (while both were in UK it was Islamic divorce through court and her family was respondent )he is now planning to get married and wants to bring his wife in the UK.

First wife recently applied for English divorce which is in process in the UK.

Can he apply for 2nd wife spouse visa using the Indian divorce or he has to wait until English divorce is finalised .will it be a polygamous marriage ?

Please advice

jafferdeen wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:27 pm

He divorced her in India. His divorce is registered in India. After his divorce in India

Provided that a decree absolute for the divorce has been issued by a court in India, there is no marriage left to dissolve in the UK either.

He should be able to present his decree absolute from the Indian court to the English court and they should likely recognise it.

And, yes, to the best of my knowledge, if he has a decree absolute from an competent Indian court, he is "free to marry".

secret.simon's post is sounds sensible but it is likely that your friend will encounter issues

The divorce in India is unlikely to be recognised in the UK, especially for UKVI purposes. It would seem both your friend and her spouse were/are in the UK, therefore, a UK divorce certificate will be required.

Upon receipt of the UK divorce certificate, your friend could consider making an application for a spouse visa. However, the UKVI may not recognise the marriage because he was already married (according to UK law) at the time of the marriage. Thus, he may need to re-marry in India upon receipt of the UK divorce certificate.

If he does not wish to travel to India to marry again - or he is unable to re-marry - your friend may wish to consider making a fiance visa application to marry in the UK.