Divorce while on work visa in UK

Dear Client,
A divorce in England will bring an end to your marriage, wherever you are married. Most of the divorce proceedings are conducted entirely online, meaning that you can apply for a divorce in England and Wales from anywhere in the world without needing to travel back to the UK. An Indian citizen on a work visa can file an application for divorce in the UK if the following conditions are met. 1) You must have been married for at least a year, 2) your spouse agrees to the divorce. 3) either you or your spouse meets certain residence conditions, i.e, lived in England or Wales for 6 months or more. The process is simple and hassle-free as long as both spouses agree to a mutual consent divorce. If one party does not agree to the divorce and takes a legal step to challenge it, the divorce is referred to as a defended divorce. To file your divorce application, you need to provide a full colour scan copy of your original marriage certificate or an official copy and court fees as prescribed. Neither spouse needs to accuse the other for the breakdown of the marriage, which is known as no-fault divorce. You do not need to provide specific reasons for the divorce. You just need to tick a box stating that your marriage has irretrievably broken down and cannot be saved. As part of the new system, effective from 6 April 2022, it is no longer required to argue that the marriage has not broken down by your spouse. If your spouse is living in England and Wales, the court will serve them the divorce application via email; failing which, the court will then serve them at the address as provided in the divorce application. As part of the new system, your spouse must be served within 28 days of the divorce application being issued. Your spouse must return the Acknowledgement of Service form to the court within 14 days of receipt. After the application is issued by the court, the parties must wait for a ‘cooling off’ period of 20 weeks before they can apply for the next steps. After 20 weeks, either Applicant 1 or Applicant 2 in a joint divorce application, or the Applicant in a sole divorce application, can apply to the court for a Conditional Divorce Order. There is an additional waiting period of at least 6 weeks post-order for conditional divorce before passing the final divorce order, and the marriage is considered legally ended on receipt of the final divorce order. The validity and enforceability of foreign divorce decrees in India depend on whether the originating court is from a reciprocating territory or a non-reciprocating territory. India has notified 13 reciprocating territories in June 2023 under Section 44-A of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC). These territories are Aden, Bangladesh, Cook Islands (including Niue), Fiji, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Western Samoa. This list designates the countries and territories where judgments from their courts can be directly enforced in India, and vice versa, simplifying the legal process for cross-border cases involving these jurisdictions. Accordingly, a divorce order or decree of the UK is legally valid and enforceable in India. Hence, it is advisable to consult with an attorney in England or Wales to understand your rights and remedies to navigate the divorce proceedings in the UK.