Spouse visa for my South African fiance.

[sara132]

Hi There

This is my first post so I am hoping to get some replies to my questions...

I am British and my fiance is South African. We are currently in London and he is on a visitors visa. As it expires in December we are going back to South Africa to get married and then we are applying for an marriage/spouse visa.

As I am going back for an unspecified time I am unable to keep my current permanent job. I know that you need to specify in the application how I would support my husband but I am afraid that I may not have as much as they are wanting me to have. When we come back we have a place to live but we will both be looking for work. My sister is going to be helping us with money if need be. Would that make her the sponsor? And does she need to write a letter explaining this?

Thanks very much!

[topazstar]

As far as I know - and I hope others can give you more detail on this - third party sponsorship is no longer allowed i.e. your sister. But, I think you may be able to overcome this by including letter from your current employer, giving you a good reference and the job title and salary you are on at the moment... you then need to include a covering letter, explaining that you will be working upon your return, as well as your husband. Also give details of his qualifications, experience and likely jobs he will look for together with approx. salary. Then maybe deposit a sum of money into your bank account as savings. It is important that you show you have sufficient funds to live on in the short term and good job prospects.

[sara132]

Thank you very much for the reply!

I was wondering whether it may be easier for him to apply for an ancestral visa. Is this easier? His father is British but as his parents were never married he is unable to get a passport from his dad, he immediately falls under his moms passport and she is south african.

His grandparents on his dads side are British though and we thought it may be easier to go that route? Does he need to show that his parents were married (his parents marriage certificate)or is this not needed for his application?

Thanks once again!

sara

[JAJ]

I was wondering whether it may be easier for him to apply for an ancestral visa. Is this easier? His father is British but as his parents were never married he is unable to get a passport from his dad, he immediately falls under his moms passport and she is south african.

His grandparents on his dads side are British though and we thought it may be easier to go that route? Does he need to show that his parents were married (his parents marriage certificate)or is this not needed for his application?

As far as I am aware, for an Ancestry Visa, marital status of parents/grandparents is not important. So this might well work for him.

HOWEVER, you should be aware that it would then take him 5 years rather than 2 years to get Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) which he would need to become naturalised British.

There is a way to bypass the ILR requirement if you're a spouse of a British citizen (the ppron method) but it's complex and not for everyone. And the law could be changed anytime to close this loophole.

So the bottom line is that a spouse visa is normally preferable to an ancestry visa (the only extra risk from his point of view is the relationship ending before getting ILR). Ancestry might be possible as a fall-back - see http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Out of interest - does your fiance have any siblings aged under 18? If so, they can still be registered as British citizens based on their unmarried father, provided they apply before age 18.