The Foreign Marriage Order 1970

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 19th day of October 1970Present,The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise of the powers conferred on Her by sections 18 and 21 of the Foreign Marriage Act 1892[^f00001], as amended by sections 4(2) and 6 of the Foreign Marriage Act 1947[^f00002], or otherwise in Her Majesty vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:

1

This Order may be cited as the Foreign Marriage Order 1970. It shall come into operation on 1st January 1971.

2

• (1) Unless otherwise provided in this Order, expressions used in this Order shall have the same meaning as in the Foreign Marriage Act 1892.

• (2) The Interpretation Act 1889[^f00003] shall apply for the interpretation of this Order as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

3

• (1) Before a marriage is solemnised in a foreign country under the Foreign Marriage Acts 1892 to 1947[^f00004], the marriage officer must be satisfied:

• (a) that at least one of the parties is a United Kingdom national; and

• (b) that the authorities of that country will not object to the solemnisation of the marriage; and

• (c) that insufficient facilities exist for the marriage of the parties under the law of that country; and

• (d) that the parties will be regarded as validly married by the law of the part of the United Kingdom which has been jointly elected by the parties.

• (2) If a marriage officer, by reason of anything in this Article, refuses to solemnise or allow to be solemnised in his presence the marriage of any person requiring such marriage to be solemnised, that person shall have the same right to appeal to the Secretary of State as is given by section 5 of the Foreign Marriage Act 1892.

4

• (1) In special cases, where the Secretary of State is satisfied that for some good cause the requirements of the Foreign Marriage Act 1892 as to residence and notice for a marriage intended to be solemnised under the Act cannot be complied with, and he is satisfied that the intended marriage is not clandestine and that adequate public notice of the intended marriage has been given in the place or places where each of the parties resided not less than fifteen days next preceding the giving of such notice, he may authorise the marriage officer to dispense with those requirements.

• (2) In cases falling under paragraph (1) of this Article, the oath under section 7 of the Foreign Marriage Act 1892 shall omit the matter specified in subsection (b) of that section.

5

For the purpose of marriages to be solemnised by or before a consular officer who is a marriage officer, every place within the curtilage or precincts of the building which is for the time being used for the purpose of his office shall be part of the official house of such marriage officer, and every place to which the public have ordinary access in such official house shall be deemed to be part of the office of such marriage officer.

6

• (1) When a certified copy of an entry in a marriage register kept under section 9 of the Foreign Marriage Act 1892, relating to a party shown to be from Scotland or Northern Ireland is received by the Registrar General, he shall send a copy of that entry to the Registrar General for Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may require.

• (2) Any person shall be entitled to obtain from the appropriate Registrar General a certified copy of any document received by that Registrar General under paragraph (1) of this Article on payment of a fee in respect of the provision of the copy and any necessary search for the document.

• (3) The fee payable under paragraph (2) above shall be the same fee as is for the time being charged by the appropriate Registrar General for the provision of a certified copy of, and any necessary search for, an entry in the records in his custody of marriages performed in Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be.

• (4) A certified copy provided by the appropriate Registrar General under paragraph (2) above of an entry in the marriage register shall be sufficient evidence of the marriage.

• (5) In this Article, “the appropriate Registrar General” means the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland, or the Registrar General in Northern Ireland, as the case may be.

7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8

The forms in the Schedule to this Order shall be used in all cases to which they are applicable.

9

• (1) The Foreign Marriage Order 1964[^f00005] and the Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 1967[^f00006] are hereby revoked.

• (2) Section 38 of the Interpretation Act 1889[^f00007] shall apply in relation to the said Orders as if the present Order were an Act of Parliament and as if the said Orders were enactments repealed by an Act of Parliament.

SCHEDULE — FORMS

No. 1

NOTICE OF MARRIAGE

No. 2

FORM OF OATH

No. 3

CERTIFICATE OF COPY OF MARRIAGE REGISTER

Signed

W.G. Agnew

Explanatory note

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order is made under the Foreign Marriage Acts 1892 to 1947.

The Order, which supersedes the Foreign Marriage Order 1964 as amended by the Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 1967, lays down conditions under which marriages of British subjects may be solemnised by marriage officers under the Acts. It also makes provision for marriages of British subjects solemnised under the local law of foreign countries to be recorded in the United Kingdom. The principal changes from the previous Order are:—

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1892 c. 23.

[^f00002]: 1947 c. 33.

[^f00003]: 1889 c. 63.

[^f00004]: 1892 c. 23; 1934 c. 13; 1947 c. 33.

[^f00005]: S.I. 1964/926 (1964 II, p. 2070).

[^f00006]: S.I. 1967/1143 (1967 II, p. 3373).

[^f00007]: 1889 c. 63.

Editorial notes

[^key-ab67176800963a4e81e905cf1b10bd51]: Art. 1 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-07452b6830f47d09d7e8910d818daf9f]: Art. 3 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-9611871d67a50b3d8d064e7c2c29bfa2]: Art. 2 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-90a67b70357ce20b490fac4c64d8d142]: Art. 4 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-763a5f247d750dd217415120309e1353]: Art. 5 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-952c8f16fa924f41d2e44f52c542fd80]: Art. 6 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-43a665fb7dfca163d766eeb7b487ce89]: Art. 8 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-8fb697bc9aed1e8f700bf4ab484d1360]: Art. 9 in force at 1.1.1971, see art. 1

[^key-95734d4fc5c7500edf786e76e318ca27]: Words in art. 3(1)(a) substituted (12.4.1990) by The Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990/598), arts. 1(1), 2

[^key-dee13b7372d246c84cecfbcd47f6f0c8]: Art. 6 renumbered as art. 6(1) (12.4.1990) by The Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990/598), arts. 1(1), 4(1)

[^key-b0f94baaf517c8d31fb92fff2549926e]: Art. 6(2)-(5) added (12.4.1990) by The Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990/598), arts. 1(1), 4(2)

[^key-aaa944be359caa50094ccad68c7435e1]: Words in art. 3(1)(d) substituted (1.1.2014) by The Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/2875), arts. 1(3), 3

[^key-35a1babe75e8a997216dd25f87464483]: Art. 7 omitted (1.1.2014) by virtue of The Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/2875), arts. 1(3), 4