Visitors Marriage Visa

[h0bbitsr0ck]

My partner is American, I am English. We want him to come over here in March and we've been talking about the idea of getting Married on the first day in Ireland, and making it our honeymoon.

He currently has a job and a lease on an apartment he has to finish in the USA, and so wants to return there temporarily to sort himself out (and apply for a spouse visa from abroad) so he can return to the UK to settle with me for a few years, until we both go back to the states.

The provisional dates of Travel are the 2nd March to the 11th March. Now we realise that immigration causes quite a headache and we've been trying to find out if this is in our best interest to do. We would not be able to marry in England or Wales due to residency requirements, so would have to apply for a marriage notice by post to either Ireland or Scotland (we prefer Ireland) before he travels out here.

Now the Notice for Marriage documents that are available from the NI registry office website are out of date, and say he needs a certificate of approval (a system which was abolished last year), and I can't understand why they would want us to apply with these. I'm also not sure as to which way around we have to do it. Do we apply for the marriage notice first, which requires proof of entry clearance, or do we apply for the visa first which requires proof of marriage? Are both of these granted provisionally provided you can produce the original documentation when coming through immigration or at the registry office?

How easy is it to get a marriage visitors visa? We're worried that he'll be turned down and they won't let him into the country, and we don't want to make a mistake like that if it prevents him coming here. Does passage into the country require a different immigration process at the airport, or will it still just be a check and stamp?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!