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If my husband refuses to register our marriage with the italian consulate in UK , could i go ahead and register without his knowledge. My husband is italian and i am Singaporean and we are resident in the UK.

Ooops! I wrote a reply a couple of days ago, but I do not know where it went... Anyway, the only ones who are going to be able to answer your question are the people from the nearest Italian Consulate. Technically, it is compulsory to inform the Civil Registry of any changes in your status; however, many people do not do it at all. Your husband needs to be registered with the relevant Consulate in order to do any registration as he is the Italian citizen.

Thank you for the reply. My husband is registered with the local consulate but as an unmarried man. I couldn't ask the local consulate face to face as the mention of my husband's name will definately bring this to the attention of my husband as the employees of our local consulate has a strong personal relationship with my husband. Could i go to the embassy in London or for the matter, the italian embassy in Singapore?

Sorry Mangosteen, but your problem seems to be totally personal and should be solved between your husband and yourself. Just talk to him and find out why he does not want to register your marriage. I do not think that you need to get the Italian consulates or anyone else involved in this. It is not my intention to sound unhelpful, but you two are the ones who have to sort this out. You - not the consulate employees - must have a strong relationship with your husband, one where everything can be discussed and not hidden. That is what marriage is all about. In any case, I wish you the best.

Regardless of personal problems, for any Italian marrying abroad the marriage is valid whether or not it is registered with the Consulate. However, if your husband is still registered as unmarried he is in an illegal position and, were he to decide, for reasons of his own, to marry again on the basis of his unmarried status with the Consulate, he would be guilty of bigamy and this could result in legal proceedings. This is true of a lot of countries. Since you are not technically Italian I doubt if you could go ahead and register your marriage in the Consulate but I agree with Gala, sort out your problems first. From personal experience of consular staff, I doubt very much if they would be party to any illegal actions - the last thing they would want is to be accessories to a crime however small; so I think their strong relationships with your husband should count for very little. I think they would be much more concerned with making sure he hadn't contracted a marriage of convenience which he is now regretting. All administration matters for Italian citizens are the responsibilty of the Consulates and not the Embassy, so they will only refer you back to the Consulate. However, if it is the local Consulate you are worried about, go to the one in Liondon (38, Eaton Place) and talk to someone there: stato civile statocivile.londra@esteri.it +44 (0)20 7235 9371

Thank You Very Much for the much needed advice however, my husband is adamant that he is not registering the marriage with the local consulate. He doesn't seem to care if he has broken the law. I am aware that he had made a will via the notary of our local consulate with the presumption that his marital status is single. Whether the notary is aware of his actual marital status, I can't be certain. Anyway, the will had made no provisions for me (the legally married spouse) and that is the reason for this correspondence. I would appreciate very much if you could give me further advice as to what course of action I should pursue. Thanks a million for replying to my previous posts and I am so grateful to you and Ms. Gala Placidia for giving me the knowledge in trying to deal with my predicament.

Again, this is a personal decision; however, I would recommend you to see a lawyer to ascertain your situation and what you can do to remedy it. Good luck!