Spouse visa application timings

[jesterpo]

Hello,

Following the legal paper work in July 2016, my wife planned to apply for a spouse visa for the UK. She is originally from Pakistan but lives in Dubai.

The formal wedding is in December and we wanted to get the visa sorted before she travels in January (2017) but having read through the material online, I had some questions:

- how long before intended travel date can we apply? Can this be 6 months before or does it have to be within 3 months?
- hopefully once the visa gets approved, what are the dates she has to come to the UK to collect her BRP? Can this be the date of travel specified in the application (I.e. Jan 2017) or is it 30 days within the application being approved?
- worst case scenario, if we can't get around this issue, can she just travel here for 2-3 days after approval of visa, collect the BRP and return?

We were planning to apply from Dubai but now the timings to collect the BRP are potentially messing up everything as the wedding is in Pakistan in December.

Many thanks!

[ILR1980]

Applicant can apply for a visa up to 3 months before their date of travel to the UK. 60 working days is standard time for most settlement application(non priority) to get processed but can take longer if complicated. If visa get approve then applicants will receive a 30 day ‘vignette sticker’ in their passport. Applicants will be required to collect their BRP from a post office( you chose location based on address of sponsor when you fill the application form) within ten days of arrival in the UK.