Hello.My Fiance has French and British citizenship.He was here on a
student visa which has long since expired and to make it worse all of
his papers/license were stolen.We have only a copy of his British and
French birth certificate.We are engaged and want to know what to do.We
want to travel to France this summer.Also at some point to live there
for a few months at a time.I am thinking once we go he wont be able to
come back here for awhile? Being punished for staying here so long?
Should we get married here before.Or once we get to France? Both?
Thank you for any info.

Has he already been to the French consulate or embassy at all?

Scriptor

I'm American living in the States, and have many friends who are
married to or dating people from other countries. Sometimes the
marriage process is easy, sometimes not. From what I've heard, the
process of marrying a foreigner is easy if all the foreigner's papers
are current and in order. Your fiance's visa is out of date, which
would throw a wrench in the works. My advice is to see an attorney who
specializes in immigration law. Don't see a general attorney; it's
unlikely that person would have the ready knowledge to help you. If
you live in a sparsely populated area, you might not have an
immigration attorney handy. In that case, look in a nearby city, or
any city or town that has a huge university.

If your fiance and you decide to marry--in either country--without
seeing a good attorney and finding out the facts, the marriage will be
valid, but that doesn't mean that he'll automatically be welcomed as a
resident of this country.

Even if all his papers where current and valid, the US Immigration
Service would still want to interview each of you more than once to be
sure you're really married. That is, that you don't just have a
marriage for convenience. If your fiance's visa is expired,
Immigration will take a *much* harder look at your situation.

Scriptor asked a good question about your fiance visiting a consulate.
Have you looked into French consulates (I mention this first, since
you say you want to live off and on in France) and the British
consulates? That wouldn't help his expired visa problem, but it would
help his lack of passports.

Again, find an attorney specializing in immigration law to have your
questions answered. That's my best advice. And good luck!

dtc

P.S. My gf is French. (She has a green card, which means she's a
permanent resident of the States. She's also going for citizenship,
but she wants dual citizenship, so she can keep her French passport,
too.) Were we to move to France unmarried, we could, but I couldn't
work there at a physical location. In other words, I couldn't hold a
French job, but I could do the work I'm doing now--writing and
freelance editing--by correspondence or by the internet. If we
married, I'd be eligible to work there, should I want to, but there
might be I's to dot and T's to cross. It's something we've never
looked into deeply.

Drop him like a hot potato.  He's not legit and could end you in all
sort of trouble.

I mean, you have the greatest nationality on earth and he's just
contriving to gain access.

Everyone wants to be Fijian after all

Poet

Scriptor-ga is being polite.  He must go immediately to the diplomatic
representative of the country on whose passport he entered the States
(the one for which the visa was issued) and report the loss and do
what's necessary to get a new passport.  Since you don't say that he
has done this, I have to assume that he hasn't, and the longer he
waits, the more suspicious those and US authorities will be.  Does he
know the passport numbers?  Can tell when and where they were issued?
His diplomatic office will want to know in order to trace and confirm this info.
Regardless of how suspicious they may be, he will be much better off
for having started the process, for having contacted them  - in
casebefore the US authorities start to get after him.
How long has it been since his papers were stolen/lost?  Have you
personally seen them?  Why didn't he immediately report their loss and
apply for a new passport?  Love can be blind?
Don't bother with a lawyer now.  He must first reestablish
documentation of his nationality, and his embassy or consulate is the
only place that can help.
And they can advise him about what to do about his expired visa.

It could be, 
(See the disclaimer below:  this is no legal or professional advice)
that with his new passport, the best thing is for him to leave the
country as soon as possible, secure a new passport from his other
nationality, and only use that one for travel to the States.

THis is the site of the US Citizenship and Immigrations Service, very
useful and info straight from the source (with a warning about
"immigration lawyers").
It can probably answer most of your questions about marriage and a Green Card,
but FIRST he must settle the present problem:

http://uscis.gov/graphics/

Good luck

I'm sure that myoarin is well-intentioned, but my advice stands. See
an immigration attorney, assuming that you trust and love your fiance.
The answers your fiance and you get from that person might not be what
you want to hear, but you'll know where you stand and what your
options are.

It was nice of myoarin to give you a link to that web site. But think
of it this way: If you have a bad tax problem, you see a tax attorney
or a CPA; here you should see an immigration attorney. A savvy
immigration specialist will give you good, impartial advice.

Of course, as Scriptor and I both asked, has your fiance visited one
of his consulates? Here I agree with myoarin. Visiting a consulate
would be my first step if I lost my documents in a foreign country.
The consulate will be able to arrange a new passport.

Assuming one of your fiance's consulates arranges a new passport, the
consulate won't be able to help with the problem of the expired visa
and the ramifications that come from that. An immigration attorney
would bring you up to date on visa issues, deportation issues, and
issues that a non-expert isn't aware of.

G'luck.