Marrying my Filipina fiancee

[DF68MR79]

Hello, I am looking for advice. My fiancee who is from the Philippines but is living and working in Dubai. How do I start the process of applying for her visa so we can marry and live in the uk. We have met and been together for nearly 2 years. Any help will be appreciated

[CR001]

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

[THO]

Hi,

My Fiance is Vietnamise and we are having a lot of trouble with the visa. We tried for the visitor marriage visa, and were turned down because they said we didn't prove she or I could support her visit. Utter rubbish, she showed her 6 months bank statements which have substantial savings, and I showed my contract of employment, which has an ample salary.

Secondly they said we hadn't proved we will marry. This is impossible to do, since she has to be here for 8 days before we can register, and then we won't know what date we can get at the registration office, so how can we book a venue or print invites etc? Plus, why go to the expense when you don't have the visa, just like you don't buy airline tickets. We provided letters from lots of people (including my aging parents) saying they know we are a couple, so are they all liars?

All, I can tell you is gather every bit of detail you can. Skype, WhatsApp chat history, all you passport stamps when you visit there, dated pictures of you together, supporting letters from people with their passport attached to show they are real. Your income will come under scrutiny, so if self employed, two years made up accounts showing your income is more than (I think) £18.6K p.a. Your bank account, deeds to your house, recent bill to show you are there still, documents to show you are free to marry each other.

It might be worth using a specialist solicitor, which will be about £1.2K http://home.oisc.gov.uk/adviser_finder/finder.aspx# for a H/O approved list.

I hope your experience is a whole lot easier than mine. If I think of any other information, I'll write more.

Let us know how things go.

[THO]

Oh, and maybe if you have wedding ring/ engagement ring receipts, and call wedding venues and get some quotes, include those too.

[TanJL]

THO seems to have been unfortunate in his experience, perhaps because he applied for the marriage visit visa which requires the huge burden of proving you will leave the country after marrying.

If you apply for the fiance visa, you do not have to prove you will leave the country after marrying as you can apply for FLR(M) after marrying.

(The finance visa is much more expensive than the marriage visit visa, but once we factored in the cost of flights to & from my partners home country & the difficulty of proving his ties to his home country, we decided it was worthwhile paying the extra to apply for the fiance visa to get married & apply for FLR(M) in the UK. If you can easily get married abroad & then apply for the spouse visa from outside the UK, that's usually the cheapest and most preferred option, but again, it depends on your personal situation as the process to get married in my partners home country was very complicated so we decided against it)

In terms of proving you will marry, they are most likely looking for proof you have spoken to the registry office. You can call & book to give notice at the registry office & they will send you a confirmation email with all the relevant information. You may have to estimate the date; you get to chose a date you would like to enter the UK on the visa application form, so add at least 8 days to this date and book to give notice after that. If it becomes apparent that the visa isn't being processed as quickly as you'd hoped, you can alter the booking date to give notice later.
Also include emails that you've contacted venues for quotes and perhaps that you have chosen an ideal date & are looking for availability for that date (make sure it makes sense with regards being at least 28 days after your booking to give notice, as that's how long the notice is in the UK).
As THO has said, wedding ring receipts can be included, but the more official proof is booking to give notice & possibly quotes/correspondence with wedding venues.

Most people without negative immigration history or complicated financial situations apply for these visas with no help from solicitors or immigration advisers.
Just make sure you read all the requirements fully to see how you qualify and ensure all the necessary documents are provided.
& if you're not sure, search the forum or ask

[THO]

Quote "In terms of proving you will marry, they are most likely looking for proof you have spoken to the registry office. You can call & book to give notice at the registry office & they will send you a confirmation email with all the relevant information. You may have to estimate the date; you get to chose a date you would like to enter the UK on the visa application form, so add at least 8 days to this date and book to give notice after that. " By Tan.

Sorry to correct your point Tab, but it is impossible to book a registry office marriage at all by just one person, both people have to be there and she has to be in the country for 8 days before we can register. The H/O are fully aware of this, and the registry office gave me an official, (I made them sign it) document explaining the situation. We explained this fact in our letter. Otherwise I would have booked the wedding.

It is really rather stupid, that an official could not see that if anyone is trying to arrange a scam marriage, they will look at sites like this and provide what is needed to get a visa, since booking a venue does ensure we get married, and maybe a small deposit lost is nothing compared to the cost of a visa? This kind of evidence can be faked really easily, the hard to fake evidence is all of our chat history, our pictures together all around the World, letters from my boss (with passport included) on letter headed paper, (same as my contract of employment) stating he was there when we met and knows it is all very real, letters from my father, all the other stuff we sent.
And since we have been together for 2 and a bit years, why is then hard to believe we don't want to marry? And if we marry, how could we possibly carry on together if she overstays her visa? I have lived in my house for 16 years, my car has number plates that pop up everywhere, I have a bank account, the officials can find my quicker than you could say Jack Robinson. So the only logical conclusion is she would go home, as per our documented plans.
I am now considering a Pre Action Protocol to see if I can get this decision overturned as applying for any visa for her now will probably result in a refusal, since she has one against her name.

[THO]

I meant Fake and not "bad quality"

[CR001]

Quote "In terms of proving you will marry, they are most likely looking for proof you have spoken to the registry office. You can call & book to give notice at the registry office & they will send you a confirmation email with all the relevant information. You may have to estimate the date; you get to chose a date you would like to enter the UK on the visa application form, so add at least 8 days to this date and book to give notice after that. " By Tan.

Sorry to correct your point Tab, but it is impossible to book a registry office marriage at all by just one person, both people have to be there and she has to be in the country for 8 days before we can register. The H/O are fully aware of this, and the registry office gave me an official, (I made them sign it) document explaining the situation. We explained this fact in our letter. Otherwise I would have booked the wedding.

It is really rather stupid, that an official could not see that if anyone is trying to arrange a scam marriage, they will look at sites like this and provide what is needed to get a visa, since booking a venue does ensure we get married, and maybe a small deposit lost is nothing compared to the cost of a visa? This kind of evidence can be faked really easily, the hard to bad quality evidence is all of our chat history, our pictures together all around the World, letters from my boss (with passport included) on letter headed paper, (same as my contract of employment) stating he was there when we met and knows it is all very real, letters from my father, all the other stuff we sent.
And since we have been together for 2 and a bit years, why is then hard to believe we don't want to marry? And if we marry, how could we possibly carry on together if she overstays her visa? I have lived in my house for 16 years, my car has number plates that pop up everywhere, I have a bank account, the officials can find my quicker than you could say Jack Robinson. So the only logical conclusion is she would go home, as per our documented plans.
I am now considering a Pre Action Protocol to see if I can get this decision overturned as applying for any visa for her now will probably result in a refusal, since she has one against her name.

Not to turn this original posters question/topic into another one of yours, there is no requirement for a fiance visa or marriage visitor visa that you have to a Registry appointment booked. There are many other documents that can be provided to prove impending wedding preparations. In your particular case, you are wrong in 'assuming' that a fiance visa will automatically be refused.

Kindly continue to post in your own topic with your further queries you have so that the OP in this topic can also get a fair chance at advice for the correct visa they have asked about.

See also point 12 in the link below.

announcements/read-me-getting-started-t ... 24804.html

[TanJL]

Quote "In terms of proving you will marry, they are most likely looking for proof you have spoken to the registry office. You can call & book to give notice at the registry office & they will send you a confirmation email with all the relevant information. You may have to estimate the date; you get to chose a date you would like to enter the UK on the visa application form, so add at least 8 days to this date and book to give notice after that. " By Tan.

Sorry to correct your point Tab, but it is impossible to book a registry office marriage at all by just one person, both people have to be there and she has to be in the country for 8 days before we can register. The H/O are fully aware of this, and the registry office gave me an official, (I made them sign it) document explaining the situation. We explained this fact in our letter. Otherwise I would have booked the wedding.

As I have highlighted above, we are talking about different things.
For my fiance visa I provided an email confirming I had booked an appointment to GIVE NOTICE, ie the meeting you have when they check all your details/that you're not related etc etc and then they display your notice publicly for 28 days and after that period has passed you can get married.
I am not talking about booking the actual date to get married.

As CR001 has mentioned, it's not even essential to have this appointment booked, it's just useful to show that you are at least enquiring about the process of getting married. & I just wanted to share something that I had successfully included in my application.

To be honest, I just wanted to reply to give the poor OP a bit of hope.

Your situation THO is very unfortunate, but many people get these visas with no issues at all and just because you have been unsuccessful doesn't mean that the OP is doomed to failure as well and needs to be panicked unnecessarily.