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Section 49: Exempt persons

Immigration Act 2014 · 2014 c. 22View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 4: Marriage and civil partnership — CHAPTER 1: Referral and investigation of proposed marriages and civil partnerships

A person who is a party to a proposed marriage or civil partnership is an exempt person if the person—

is a relevant national;
has the appropriate immigration status; or
holds a relevant visa in respect of the proposed marriage or civil partnership.

A person has the appropriate immigration status if the person—

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
is exempt from immigration control; or
is settled in the United Kingdom (within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 — see section 33(2A) of that Act).

"Retained enforceable EU right" means a right that—

was created or arose by or under the EU Treaties before the coming into force of this subsection, and
forms part of retained EU law by virtue of section 3 or 4 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018,

as that right is modified from time to time.

The question of whether a person is exempt from immigration control is to be determined in accordance with regulations made for this purpose by the Secretary of State.

A person holds a relevant visa if the person holds a visa or other authorisation that is of a kind specified for this purpose in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State may not specify a visa or other authorisation under subsection (4) unless the Secretary of State considers that the purpose of issuing that kind of visa or authorisation is, or includes, enabling a person to enter or remain in the United Kingdom to marry or form a civil partnership.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.