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Travel & living abroad
   
Last updated at 18:14 (UK time) 19 Feb 2010

Asian weddings

Young Indian women looking at wedding dresses. Photo by RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images
If you are planning to travel to India, Bangladesh or Pakistan in preparation for a wedding, you should take the following precautions before you go:


  1. Always take out travel insurance
    • Make sure your luggage is insured should it go missing or be stolen. Check this with your insurers and check the amount you would be covered for. You may also have to take out additional insurance for high value items such as family jewellery.
    • Medical expenses can be extortionate. For example it can cost up to £45,000 to get transported by air ambulance back to the UK from the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is unlikely you will have free access to good quality medical treatment, and costs can be extremely high if you become ill or injured so check your travel insurance covers medical costs.
    • If you are a dual national, seek advice from your insurer as to whether this affects your cover.
  2. Check whether you or your family need vaccinations or medication such as anti-malarials
    • Even if you have lived in a country in the past, you may no longer be immune to diseases local to that region.
    • Ensure all required vaccinations are up-to-date.
    • Visit the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) website for health and vaccine advice for the country you are planning to visit.

  3. Update yourself on the area you’re travelling to
    • The situation in countries can change very quickly. For up to date country information, check our Travel Advice
    • Register online with LOCATE to make it easier for the FCO to find you in case of a crisis.

  4. Ensure all documentation is correct
    • Make sure the name on your passport is the same one you give when booking flights and arranging other travel documentation.
    • If you have dual nationality, make sure you have entry clearance when you arrive at your destination, and that you have right of re-entry to the UK.
    • Make a copy of the relevant pages in your passports (back page of your British passport containing your photograph, valid visa (s) and pages with relevant immigration stamps or vignettes on) and store them separately to your originals.

  5. Know your nationality status
    • If you are a dual national in the country of your other nationality and travel on your non-British passport, Her Majesty's Government can provide you with consular assistance only if there is a special humanitarian reason to do so. These circumstances might include cases involving minors, forced marriages or an offence which carries the death penalty.
    • If you or your father were born in Pakistan or Bangladesh, you may be considered a national of that country by the authorities, even if you don’t hold a passport of that country. This, again, may limit the assistance that the British government can offer you.

  6. Know what you can take in and out of you destination
    • It is illegal to bring meat products & pickles, milk, dairy or other animal products (e.g. fish, eggs, honey, mithai), chestnuts, potatoes or potato seeds into the UK from any country outside the EU. Check the food imports page on the DirectGov website for more information.
    • There may be restrictions on the amount of money you can take out of the country and on certain types of gifts, such as antiques. In India for instance, you must seek approval from the Reserve Bank of India if you want to take out more cash than you declared on arrival in the country. The maximum you can bring into the country is $5,000.