I am planning to get married but i am not sure what place to do it is the best option ?

Question

My fiancé is french and i am american, we are wondering which is the best choice to make it official (legal) in both countries. Is it necessary to do it in the USA or to fill forms with american migration since we are not planning to live there ? Would it be easier to get married in the USA and then take the marriage act to France or is it better to get married directly in France ? I was wondering if we would need to do some paper work in the USA if we only get married in France.

We would appreciate to know the easiest solution since we don´t want to be bothered with legal problems.

Would there be any delay ? I hope it is not a long process since we are planning to do it within a month. We are looking for the faster and easiest way to get married.

Answer 1

In my opinion it's best to get married at the place where you are going to live. That's what we did. I'm from Mexico and married someone from the USA. we had the official, legal ceremony in the USA. The party you can have wherever you want. but it's the legal part of it which is best to have there where you are going to take residence.

A months time is unrealistic. remember getting married and migrating are two different things and have to be done separately. he could come here on vacation and you two could elope to Vegas and get married but then you'd still have to deal with the immigration process for either country and that's what takes time. Suppose you got married here the way I told you then he'd have to take the marriage certificate to France or the French embassy or Consulate here and start process for you to be able to move there.

That's what takes time, not the marriage per se. Now, the right way to do it if you guys are planning on marrying here is for you to apply for a fiancee visa for him which could take anywhere from 6 months to a year...

I would start by finding out what the process is to migrate to France as the spouse of a French citizen.

CPG te dio la mejor respuesta en tu pregunta de ayer, esa link esta muy buena. El punto 16 que menciona es comparable a la Fiancee visa de aqui pero para Francia. Vuelvelo a leer creo que es lo que mas te ayudara. Un mes es demasiado pronto para todo esto a miga! Mucha suerte y felicidades! = )

Aqui te lo pongo otra vez:

As for the documents/visa you need to move to France when you are married, click the link below for the process. It is the long-stay visa you will need, look at point 16.

http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/s...

Extracto:

CONSUL GENERAL OF FRANCE IN WASHINGTON DC

(update : 03/25/2008)

LONG STAY VISA APPLICATION

IN ORDER TO MARIE IN FRANCE WITH A FRENCH CITIZEN

AND RESIDE IN FRANCE

Warning: American citizens who wish to reside in France after the marriage are obliged to ask for a long stay visa. Citizens of all other countries are concerned as well, except those of the European Union, of the Economical States of Europe, of Monaco, of Saint Martin, of Switzerland and of Algeria.

Lo demas lo puedes leer en la link que te di

Answer 2

Any marriage legal in one country will be legal in the other country. You can have a quick wedding anywhere you like and  will be legally married anywhere. Once you are both married you will need to look at visa requirements for whichever country you both wish to live in. Good Luck

Answer 3

Since you're planning to live in France and not planning on remaining in the US, your fiance may come to the US on a tourist visa, you two can get married, and then you may leave to France.

One way or another you, as the US citizen, need to apply for a French visa. Since you're married to a French citizen and will settle in France, you need a long stay visa for spouses of French citizens.

You can apply for that at your regional French consulate by showing proof of your marriage and all that jazz: http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/s...

Unfortunately I cannot tell you how long this visa may take to process but I'm fairly sure it won't take the silly amounts of time that a similar visa would take for your spouse to obtain if you wanted to settle in the US.

Since you need the long stay visa anyway, you'll probably want to do it that way.

It's one thing to plan to do things within a month, but immigration, visas, and all that c**p can take longer than that, so you may have to adapt.

Truly the best thing you can do is contact the French consulate in your area of the US to find out what the processing times for a long stay visa are, given that you are/will be married to a French citizen and wish to go live in France with him.

When you call them, definitely mention that your spouse does not reside in the US.

They are able to fill you in and I recommend you get in touch with them ASAP.

And if you marry in France, you will still want to register your marriage with the US embassy or consulate in France, however I'm not sure you can just travel to France with no visa, get married, and obtain a resident card without some amount of trouble. You would get into trouble if you did that in the US, but I'm not sure about France. Note I'm saying I'm "not sure" -- I'm not saying you cannot do it.

Answer 4

maybe a nice beach or even at a hotel?????????

or maybe under the eiffel tower?????

Answer 5

Check with Immigration Services of both countries.

Answer 6

If you are planning on living in US it would be easier to get married in US, that way you do not have to get the marriage certificate translated etc.  This marriage will also be legal in any other country - you will need to obtain an Apostille (for Hague Convention countries) or Embassy Legalization (for non-Hague countries.)  When you go to the city hall to obtain a license, explain that you will need this to be valid in France as well and they will get all necesary steps in order for it to be valid (you may have to pay extra for that service.)

Answer 7

Marriage in either country is valid in the other.  If you are planning to live in France, he will have to apply for your immigration there.

If you want to get married in the US, you have to apply for a fiance visa for him to enter and get married, and that can take a year to process.