刚才看了一下UKBA网站，COA也就是结婚许可出台的目的是防范假结婚，和没有有效签证的人在英结婚。因为与欧洲人权法第14条发生冲突，COA不得不放宽政策让没有合法身份的人得到结婚许可。因此结婚许可也就失去了存在的意义。今年年底到明年年初，国会通过之后COA将不再存在，也就是说想结婚的人将不再需要申请结婚许可。
下面是原文
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Important information regarding Certificate of Approval (COA) for marriage or civil partnership applications
06/09/2006
Following a judgment in the High Court on 10 April 2006, the Home Office suspended decisions on some Certificate of Approval applications. A further judgment considering the effect of the provisions on those here unlawfully was handed down on 16 June.
In order to comply with the judgments, the Home Office has revised the guidance for considering Certificate of Approval applications and, with immediate effect, will resume consideration of suspended applications. This guidance is interim guidance, pending the outcome of the appeal and may be changed in light of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Applications from individuals who previously did not meet the criteria for a Certificate of Approval but who have valid leave to enter or remain at the time of their application will now be considered in line with revised guidance. The Immigration Directorate Instructions (IDIs) will be amended in due course.
Applications from those individuals who do not have valid leave to enter or remain will continue to be refused unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances for granting a Certificate of Approval.
Applicants who were previously refused and had valid leave at the time of their application can submit a request for reconsideration of their application. These requests will be considered in accordance with the revised guidance
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26 July 2010
The government has today announced its intention to abolish the ’certificate of approval’ scheme. A Remedial Order under the Human Rights Act 1998 has been laid in Parliament to achieve this aim.
At present, any migrant who is already in the UK and is subject to immigration control must apply for a certificate of approval before they can get married or register a civil partnership in this country (unless they are getting married within the Anglican Church).
The government is now seeking to remedy the declaration by the UK courts that the scheme is incompatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (read with Article 12). Additionally, changes made following rulings from the courts have weakened the scheme, and it is no longer an effective method of preventing sham marriage.
We expect the scheme to end in late 2010 or early 2011, subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
We do not know how long it will take for the process of parliamentary scrutiny to be completed. When we know the exact date for the abolition of the scheme, we will announce it on this website.
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如果楼主朋友结婚的目的是想留在英国，也就是协商结婚，申请会有很大难度，Home Office并不傻，要有足够的证据才能说服他们。再加上签证过期的事实，就像楼上的楼上说的，可能需要很长时间的等待，在拿到配偶签证之前是不可以合法工作的。
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