Marriage Visitor visa vs. Fiancee visa?

[beaver545]

Hi,
I'm a UK citizen who met an Indian national on a tier 2 general visa but has been required by her company to go back to India. We have now decided we would like to go forward together indefinitely and our plan is as follows:

1. She will come over here on a visa (marriage visitor or family/fiancee)
2. We will have a small ceremony at a register office
3. She will go back to India for a month to arrange a religious ceremony in India
4. I will go out with my family/friends.
5. We will then come back to the UK to live together (happily ever after hopefully!)
6. We would then have a celebration at a later point in the UK

My query is that would the above be possible on a marriage visitor visa which we would then, in turn, apply for a family visa?

What does a fiancee family visa allow you to do compared to a marriage visitor visa?

[geoeng]

What does a fiancee family visa allow you to do compared to a marriage visitor visa?

Stay in the UK after getting married and switch directly to a spouse visa. With just a marriage visitor visa your wife would have to leave and apply for a spouse visa from India, which can take several months to process. The marriage visitor visa is not intended for those planning to settle in the UK.

[beaver545]

Many thanks for the quick reply! Can you give more detail when you say 'switch directly to a spouse visa'?

Will this mean that after getting married, you then can switch onto the spouse visa with no fees/waiting time?

Or does it just allow you to apply for the visa from within the UK and hence 8 weeks instead of the 12 weeks from outside the UK?

[CR001]

Many thanks for the quick reply! Can you give more detail when you say 'switch directly to a spouse visa'?

Will this mean that after getting married, you then can switch onto the spouse visa with no fees/waiting time?

Or does it just allow you to apply for the visa from within the UK and hence 8 weeks instead of the 12 weeks from outside the UK?

If you apply for the fiance visa (costs £1523), which is a 6 month visa (can't work or use the NHS) to get married, once married you can then switch within the UK to a spouse visa. Spouse visa costs £1033 plus £1000 IHS fee. You have the option of 8 week standard service for a decision or Super Priority (costs £800 extra) for a 24 hour decision.

A marriage visitor visa (costs around £85) is ONLY for the purpose of marriage and then she would have to leave the UK and apply from India for a spouse visa. A spouse visa from India can take up to 6 months, sometimes longer.

[THO]

Well, I can speak from personal experience here. My wife and I did exactly the same thing as you are considering with the MVV, although she is from Vietnam. We applied for the MVV since it was supposed to take only 3 weeks to get, but were refused (I won't go into the reasons, there is a thread, but suffice to say it was entirely the H/O's fault), and I had to fight them to get decision overturned and that took months, so lost that advantage over the Spouse Visa.

The MVV was returned to her 3 days old already and by the time she had given notice, we lost 6 weeks from her time here, so she only got 4.5 months before it expired.

It was a lot less expensive to take the route we did take, but we were then apart for a long time, after I returned from the ceremony there, as her spouse visa failed and we had to fight that. Just got positive results yesterday.

You need to make sure you lay your plans out up front for this visa and then when applying for the spouse visa from India, make sure you tell them you are applying in accordance with the visa being granted.

However, IMHO now, best to go straight for fiance visa as you will have already have passed all the financial/ relationship stuff when you receive it, so no worry that you will wait 6 months, receive a refusal and then have to go through the appeals process.

Feel free to ask me anything about my case.

[beaver545]

A marriage visitor visa (costs around £85) is ONLY for the purpose of marriage and then she would have to leave the UK and apply from India for a spouse visa. A spouse visa from India can take up to 6 months, sometimes longer.

For the Spouse visa, is it possible to fast-track this from India? My partner has done some investigation in India, and this seems to be the case, but I wanted to double check?

Well, I can speak from personal experience here. My wife and I did exactly the same thing as you are considering with the MVV, although she is from Vietnam. We applied for the MVV since it was supposed to take only 3 weeks to get, but were refused (I won't go into the reasons, there is a thread, but suffice to say it was entirely the H/O's fault), and I had to fight them to get decision overturned and that took months, so lost that advantage over the Spouse Visa.

This is very useful, and thanks for the insight, is it possible to link to the thread for me to read through?

It was a lot less expensive to take the route we did take, but we were then apart for a long time, after I returned from the ceremony there, as her spouse visa failed and we had to fight that. Just got positive results yesterday.

May I ask what was the reason for failure? What bits and pieces should we look out for?

You need to make sure you lay your plans out up front for this visa

I assume this is the MVV? when you say upfront, do you mean to give them our full intentions of her going back to India before me and my family go there to have a celebration and then apply for her spouse visa? My worry with this route is that if everything goes to plan, will it look dodgy that she's coming over here to marry and then return to India in a month or two? It would be great to have her in the UK over Xmas though to spend with my family! It makes you wonder whether it's easier to apply for a visit visa and then we do the full wedding ceremony out in India! My thinking was that if we were to marry in the UK then that would make validating the marriage easier for the HO.

If the visa (either MVV or spouse) is refused, how much does it cost to appeal, are then any other fees applicable?

Many thanks for all the information so far, it's extremely useful!

[CR001]

A marriage visitor visa (costs around £85) is ONLY for the purpose of marriage and then she would have to leave the UK and apply from India for a spouse visa. A spouse visa from India can take up to 6 months, sometimes longer.

For the Spouse visa, is it possible to fast-track this from India? My partner has done some investigation in India, and this seems to be the case, but I wanted to double check?

There is a priority option but a quick decision is not guaranteed and many members who paid for priority are still waiting after 60 days.

[THO]

Hi Beaver,

immigration-for-family-members/marriage ... l#p1648452 is the link. Basically the visa was refused because the ECO did not read all the evidence provided. He refused us because we did not prove we would be getting married and she did not prove she had enough savings.

However, included in our information was at least 6 months of bank statements from the wife's bank showing she has a large amount of savings, certainly enough to sustain her for 6 months. And a signed letter from the registry office stating sent to them by the HO, stating they are aware of the fact that NOTHING can be done about booking a place in the registry office until she has been in the country for 8 days. They are not allowed to take this into consideration when making the decision.

I made a serious complaint, stating I wanted answers as I was going to take them to courts as there was nothing more I could provide to demonstrate the validity of the marriage. I said read the letter provided from them to the registry office and asked how much she needed since $KKKK was not enough? Simply saying not enough is not good enough.

30 days later the reply was, we should have done something like make an appointment with the registry office, and that they had not seen the bank statements. So, I replied, once again read the bloody letter I have attached again, as I can't make an appointment, I can't do anything. Besides how does an appointment prove we will be getting married, nothing can, the World might end tomorrow? Try reading all the other evidence supplied, such as photo's, chat history etc etc, letters from people coming to the wedding in VN.
Took over two months for this process to happen. But got it overturned.

And yes, in my MVV application I spelled out our plans to marry here and then she would leave and I would go later for a ceremony there for her parents/ family. I would return, while she applied for spouse visa. When making the spouse visa application, I referred to the covering letters, (we both wrote the same things in each of ours) stating we are now applying for the SV in accordance with the plans we had set out, and which the MVV was granted. So they could not turn around and say you got the wrong one to start with.

Spouse visa refused as I did not provide a document I should have done. Got it, appealed and got that refusal overturned.

Hope that answers all questions, but ask if you need more help.

[THO]

Beaver.

Visa refused

I have refused your application for a marriage visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the
requirements oi paragraph(s) V 6.3 of Appendix V. lmmigration Rules for Visitors because:
o ln your application you state you are travelling to the UK for 6 months in order to marry,
following whicr, you will return io Vietnam .Although you submitted a number of documents in
support-of your ipplication you provided nothing that confirms arrangements have been made
for your marriage.
o I also note the documents submitted do not demonstrate either your own or your fianc6s
financial ability to fund this trip
. ln the absence of the documentation mentioned above I am not satisfied that you intend to visit
the UK in order to marry or form a civil partnership'

Solicitor said they have obviously not read the supporting documents, since I sent my contract of employment, and my fiancé sent her bank statement which shows plenty of savings. She said there is a very good chance that the pre-action protocol will work in this case. It's just more expense and delay. As I said, I did my own Pre-Action and that worked.

[THO]

Beaver

immigration-for-family-members/marriage ... 30-20.html

[beaver545]

Many thanks THO and everyone for the information, after reading through the threads, etc. I think we're coming to an agreement that it would be best if I was to go to India for a legal marriage sooner than later followed by applying for the spouse visa for her which hopefully we'll fast track to get her here to enjoy Xmas with my family.

We are then free to have the formal celebrations at a later period in time when there is less stress and time-critical elements that are controlled and rely on the HO playing ball (from what I read, extremely unlikely!).

Now to look into what is required under Indian law for a foreign national to get married to an Indian! From what I've heard, a lot easier and less hassle!

[THO]

Actually Beaver, when I think about it, IF the original ECO had done his job right, then we would have had our MVV within 3 weeks. It was his reluctance to actually look at the information provided and refuse the visa that caused the delay.

The Spouse visa would have been successful had I realised the importance of the unaudited accounts, so that would have been a lot less time to get too. No fast track from VN, so would have been within the 3 months.

Total cost would have been a lot less, and time spent apart exactly the same, but just at different times in the process, i.e. not before the wedding, but in the middle after the wedding here.

So, if you apply for the Spouse visa, and don't get it first go, then you certainly won't make Xmas.