Article 16 Application for a consular certificate of no impedimentI1

United Kingdom

(1)

Any United Kingdom national (N) who wishes to enter into a marriage in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom which requires a consular certificate of no impediment to be issued may apply for a certificate of no impediment to the registration officer nominated by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this article in respect of the country or territory in which the marriage is to be registered.

(2)

An application under paragraph (1) must be accompanied by —

(a)

a notice, which must be signed and dated by N, containing the following details in relation to each of parties to the proposed marriage—

(i)

forenames;

(ii)

surname;

(iii)

nationality;

(iv)

date of birth;

(v)

sex;

(vi)

address;

(vii)

marital condition;

(b)

a declaration signed by N that—

(i)

N has been resident in the country or territory in which the notice is being given for a period of at least three days immediately preceding the giving of the notice;

(ii)

F1if N is under the age of eighteen years and the relevant part of the United Kingdom is Northern Ireland, that the consent of the persons whose consent to the marriage is required by law has been obtained, or that there is no person having authority to give that consent, as the case may be;

(iii)

N believes there to be no impediment to the marriage such that the marriage would be void under section 1 of the Marriage Act 1949, section 2 of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977, article 18 of the Family Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984^f1 or otherwise.

(3)

The notice detailed in paragraph (2)(a) and the declaration detailed in paragraph (2)(b) must be signed in the presence of any person authorised to witness the signature in the country or territory in which the marriage is to be registered or the registration officer responsible for the consular district in which the marriage is to be registered.

(4)

A person witnessing the signature under paragraph (3) must also sign and date the notice and declaration with a statement that they have witnessed the signature.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Words in art. 16(2)(b)(ii) substituted (27.2.2023) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/82), regs. 1(2), 7(5); S.I. 2023/88, reg. 2

Commencement

I1: Art. 16 in force at 11.12.2014, see art. 1(1)

Footnotes

f1: S.I. 1984/1984 (N.I. 14). Article 18 was amended by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/1945) (N.I. 14).