UK Fiancé Visa - Notice of Intention to Marry ?

[Jakers]

My fiancé is Indonesian and therefore according to my research needs to prove her knowledge of research by taking an IELTS A1 test and showing evidence of her certificate indicating that she passed the test.

Thankfully there is a really great website (https://ieltsonlinetests.com/) where you can take free IELTS practice tests. I took the test myself and was scored out of 10, however I can't find any information indicating what score is required. IELTS state that the only requirement to acquire the qualification is to 'Pass' the test, but makes no reference whatsoever to the score threshold required to achieve such a grade?

[Moon Lantern]

There are only 2 results to the A1 IELTS Life Skills test: Pass or Fail. It's a speaking and listening test.
Your fiancee will be with a partner and an examiner. They will talk for 1 or 2 mins and ask each other some questions and then be given a listening exercise.

Hope that helps.

[Jakers]

Thank you that's very helpful - do you know of any guidelines as to how we can be sure she will pass?

Her English is very good as she's worked in Tourism for over two years dealing primarily with English people, but we can't afford to pay for her to take the price twice should we fail on the initial attempt.

[seagul]

Her English is very good as she's worked in Tourism for over two years dealing primarily with English people, but we can't afford to pay for her to take the price twice should we fail on the initial attempt.

If you are still scared that she can't pass the test despite working in English atmosphere then get her degree assessed/compared under red route from naric.
https://www.naric.org.uk/visas%20and%20 ... /FAQs.aspx

[Moon Lantern]

Thank you that's very helpful - do you know of any guidelines as to how we can be sure she will pass?

Her English is very good as she's worked in Tourism for over two years dealing primarily with English people, but we can't afford to pay for her to take the price twice should we fail on the initial attempt.

If she can hold a basic conversation in English and understand someone speaking in English to her, that should be fine. If she does that job, she should pass with flying colours.

You and her can try to just speak English for 3 hours and if you two can do that, that gives a good indication that she'll pass. Have a look on YouTube for IELTS A1 Sample Tests. It really is that simple!

[Jakers]

Thanks all, that's really helpful - I'm feeling much more confident now her English is awesome, she sometimes corrects MY grammar..! I think I'll have her look at a few more practice tests and then have her enrol in the near future many thanks

[Jakers]

We are looking to apply for a fiancé visa soon (just waiting on IELTS results) - and I've been using this time to nitpick the legislation paragraph by paragraph, but the guidance in respect of 'Proof of Relationship' seems somewhat vague and yet many websites suggest that using chat logs are accepted as evidence (as well as photographs, attested letters from family/friends, travel itineraries/hotel bookings and proof of marital arrangements).

I'm desperate not to fall at this hurdle because we are limited to the other evidence we can provide (as we have never lived together we have no cohabitation documents, e.g. household bills, shared bank accounts or joint purchases).

We have a lot of chat history via WhatsApp and Facebook and some via Instagram, plus hundreds of (non-recorded) phone calls evident on my phone's call history, I'm just a bit unsure how to effectively provide this information in the application.

Will screenshots suffice? Or do they want an exported .xml file or something of the like? I'm happy to export this but my only concern is that our conversation history, to put it bluntly, contains explicit language and photographs. I want this visa to be granted more than anything, but some things should be kept personal and neither of us feel comfortable with that degree of exploited privacy.

I'd prefer to pick and choose the sections of our chat-logs that we include in our application if possible, but from various refusal letters I've found, it seems that the adjudicators are indifferent to evidence that is provided with gaps or missing information..

[walio]

We are looking to apply for a fiancé visa soon (just waiting on IELTS results) - and I've been using this time to nitpick the legislation paragraph by paragraph, but the guidance in respect of 'Proof of Relationship' seems somewhat vague and yet many websites suggest that using chat logs are accepted as evidence (as well as photographs, attested letters from family/friends, travel itineraries/hotel bookings and proof of marital arrangements).

I'm desperate not to fall at this hurdle because we are limited to the other evidence we can provide (as we have never lived together we have no cohabitation documents, e.g. household bills, shared bank accounts or joint purchases).

We have a lot of chat history via WhatsApp and Facebook and some via Instagram, plus hundreds of (non-recorded) phone calls evident on my phone's call history, I'm just a bit unsure how to effectively provide this information in the application.

Will screenshots suffice? Or do they want an exported .xml file or something of the like? I'm happy to export this but my only concern is that our conversation history, to put it bluntly, contains explicit language and photographs. I want this visa to be granted more than anything, but some things should be kept personal and neither of us feel comfortable with that degree of exploited privacy.

I'd prefer to pick and choose the sections of our chat-logs that we include in our application if possible, but from various refusal letters I've found, it seems that the adjudicators are indifferent to evidence that is provided with gaps or missing information..

We had tons and tons of pages of chat logs from whatsapp/fb and plenty of skype calls in the log. We submitted them all with fiance visa.

On our visa refusal we had supplied everything, with explicit language and private conversations, but seems that they didn't not care about any of that and clearly didn't want me in the UK with my future husband, even overlooked / ignored marriage booking certificate, which was clearly indexed as number 1 on the paperwork which had all the documents listed of what we are supplying and stamped/signed by visa processing agent to Home office in Philippines (I think it as VFS).

When we re-submitted evidence of our relationship (chats, calls, screenshots) to tribunal for appeal we hand picked chat logs where we discuss our future plans, feelings towards each other, where you clearly can see that there is interest in each other's life and events happening in each others life (to prove genuine and subsisting relationship). That was 3.5kg of evidence, most of it was printed on A4, piles and piles of papers with all sorts of evidence and about 100 pictures printed that we pulled from FB and our synced online storages. We lost a lot of photos due to theft, gopro and phone got stolen during one of fiance's visit and both gadgets had a lot of good evidence. Thankfully managed to pull little, but some very important pictures from other fb chat stories (like sending pictures to friends of us visiting family, having family dinners and so on).

We had thousands of pages on fb messenger and had to go through all the pages and pick out the best what we could supply to show it is genuine relationship. This was extremely long process as we had to go through everything with a fine tooth-comb and hand pick the best/most relevant.
Exported Skype Logs and extracted only calls and duration times, printed that too.
Extracted call logs from fb messenger and also printed that too, viber calls also.
Printed out fb posts where we are together visiting various different places on different visits and times, proof of gifts, proof of ring purchase and so on.
Screenshots of skype calls where call duration is visible as well as date/time clearly visible on the whole screenshot. We supplied a lot of those too. Even until now, when we are away from each other (business trips) we screenshot skype window closer to the end of the call to keep evidence of genuine relationship. With home office screwing us over so badly and costing me half a year non-productivity and pile of stress (I quit well paying job as I qualified for fiance visa just so that later to get unlawful rejection from Home Office) we no longer want to be in the same situation where we have to fish for evidence just to prove that we really are family. Every trip we travel somewhere together - we picture boarding passes, then pdf them and immediately archive to onedrive/dropbox for safekeeping.
Same with ferry tickets, attractions and so on. All getting documented.

When we meet friends/family abroad or now in UK we go with a mandatory selfie / family picture for our records, when we have guests over for dinner - the same, selfie during/at the end of dinner, just in case home office come up with some nonsense again.

Fail to prepare - prepare to fail

[Jakers]

We had tons and tons of pages of chat logs from whatsapp/fb and plenty of skype calls in the log. We submitted them all with fiance visa.

On our visa refusal we had supplied everything, with explicit language and private conversations, but seems that they didn't not care about any of that and clearly didn't want me in the UK with my future husband, even overlooked / ignored marriage booking certificate, which was clearly indexed as number 1 on the paperwork which had all the documents listed of what we are supplying and stamped/signed by visa processing agent to Home office in Philippines (I think it as VFS).

When we re-submitted evidence of our relationship (chats, calls, screenshots) to tribunal for appeal we hand picked chat logs where we discuss our future plans, feelings towards each other, where you clearly can see that there is interest in each other's life and events happening in each others life (to prove genuine and subsisting relationship). That was 3.5kg of evidence, most of it was printed on A4, piles and piles of papers with all sorts of evidence and about 100 pictures printed that we pulled from FB and our synced online storages.

Thank you so much for your post, it's infinitely helpful and it sounds like we need to pull all the stops and sift through our chatlogs to find some quality evidence of our relationship.

Sorry to hear of all the trouble you went through. This process and the seemingly desperate attempts the adjudicators make to separate us from our soulmates is wholeheartedly sorrowful, to the point where I am honestly ashamed of my country. I know it's their job to prevent any immigration breaches and effectively disallow ineligible applicants, but the whole system feels like borderline power abuse and don't know how they sleep at night.

With home office screwing us over so badly and costing me half a year non-productivity and pile of stress (I quit well paying job as I qualified for fiance visa just so that later to get unlawful rejection from Home Office) we no longer want to be in the same situation where we have to fish for evidence just to prove that we really are family. Every trip we travel somewhere together - we picture boarding passes, then pdf them and immediately archive to onedrive/dropbox for safekeeping.
Same with ferry tickets, attractions and so on. All getting documented.

When we meet friends/family abroad or now in UK we go with a mandatory selfie / family picture for our records, when we have guests over for dinner - the same, selfie during/at the end of dinner, just in case home office come up with some nonsense again.

Fail to prepare - prepare to fail

Many thanks for this too - it seems like a great habit for people in our situation to get into. The last time I was in Indonesia, in December 2019, I made sure to have a lot of pictures taken of us, with the upcoming visa applicaion in mind; and it's a habit I'll undoubtedly continue in future, in case of any subsequent visa applications (i.e. the spousal visa).

[Moon Lantern]

We are looking to apply for a fiancé visa soon (just waiting on IELTS results) - and I've been using this time to nitpick the legislation paragraph by paragraph, but the guidance in respect of 'Proof of Relationship' seems somewhat vague and yet many websites suggest that using chat logs are accepted as evidence (as well as photographs, attested letters from family/friends, travel itineraries/hotel bookings and proof of marital arrangements).

I'm desperate not to fall at this hurdle because we are limited to the other evidence we can provide (as we have never lived together we have no cohabitation documents, e.g. household bills, shared bank accounts or joint purchases).

We have a lot of chat history via WhatsApp and Facebook and some via Instagram, plus hundreds of (non-recorded) phone calls evident on my phone's call history, I'm just a bit unsure how to effectively provide this information in the application.

Will screenshots suffice? Or do they want an exported .xml file or something of the like? I'm happy to export this but my only concern is that our conversation history, to put it bluntly, contains explicit language and photographs. I want this visa to be granted more than anything, but some things should be kept personal and neither of us feel comfortable with that degree of exploited privacy.

I'd prefer to pick and choose the sections of our chat-logs that we include in our application if possible, but from various refusal letters I've found, it seems that the adjudicators are indifferent to evidence that is provided with gaps or missing information..

Look, take this with a pinch of salt as my wife's visa response hasn't come yet, but we did not screenshot all Whatsapp messages: a) Many are private and personal (she tells me things that she hasn't even told her parents (bless her!); b) There's too much! You want to make the job easy for the Immigration Officer; I don't think they're interested in policing your relationship, but they're underpaid and have a checklist and want to see if you meet it. I put in my sponsor letter that these message screenshots are to give a snapshot as to how often we talk to show our relationship is genuine and subsisting.

I will let you know what happens, but I'm not 100% comfortable in exposing every little detail about our relationship.

[Jakers]

Look, take this with a pinch of salt as my wife's visa response hasn't come yet, but we did not screenshot all Whatsapp messages: a) Many are private and personal (she tells me things that she hasn't even told her parents (bless her!); b) There's too much! You want to make the job easy for the Immigration Officer; I don't think they're interested in policing your relationship, but they're underpaid and have a checklist and want to see if you meet it. I put in my sponsor letter that these message screenshots are to give a snapshot as to how often we talk to show our relationship is genuine and subsisting.

I will let you know what happens, but I'm not 100% comfortable in exposing every little detail about our relationship.

Thank you for this - it's refreshing to know someone going through this process is having the same concerns about this.. you're right regarding the checklist, hopefully just hand-picked screenshots of chat logs will suffice as long as we provide other forms of evidence e.g. photos and hotel bookings etc. too -

I wish you both all the best of luck on the result!

[Moon Lantern]

Look, take this with a pinch of salt as my wife's visa response hasn't come yet, but we did not screenshot all Whatsapp messages: a) Many are private and personal (she tells me things that she hasn't even told her parents (bless her!); b) There's too much! You want to make the job easy for the Immigration Officer; I don't think they're interested in policing your relationship, but they're underpaid and have a checklist and want to see if you meet it. I put in my sponsor letter that these message screenshots are to give a snapshot as to how often we talk to show our relationship is genuine and subsisting.

I will let you know what happens, but I'm not 100% comfortable in exposing every little detail about our relationship.

Thank you for this - it's refreshing to know someone going through this process is having the same concerns about this.. you're right regarding the checklist, hopefully just hand-picked screenshots of chat logs will suffice as long as we provide other forms of evidence e.g. photos and hotel bookings etc. too -

I wish you both all the best of luck on the result!

Hey man! How are you? have you put in the application? Do you have an update?

Just to let you know, my wife's non-priority application was granted within 4 weeks of the biometrics (I know right?!). We only included a few screenshots for each day that we talked, we left out the month of November completely (the month of the wedding) because we thought it only confirmed what the messages from the other 10 months would confirm. We included screenshots of phone call times and dates and some photos of gifts and letters that we have exchanged with one another.
We also included wedding photos and post wedding photos, including just us two and our families.

So you just need to prove that on a balance of probabilities your relationship is genuine and subsisting.
I would just include the most affectionate, most comforting and appreciative messages between you two, rather than the whole chat history with every explicit message and every fight.

Let me know how you do.

[Jakers]

Hey man! How are you? have you put in the application? Do you have an update?

Just to let you know, my wife's non-priority application was granted within 4 weeks of the biometrics (I know right?!). We only included a few screenshots for each day that we talked, we left out the month of November completely (the month of the wedding) because we thought it only confirmed what the messages from the other 10 months would confirm. We included screenshots of phone call times and dates and some photos of gifts and letters that we have exchanged with one another.
We also included wedding photos and post wedding photos, including just us two and our families.

So you just need to prove that on a balance of probabilities your relationship is genuine and subsisting.
I would just include the most affectionate, most comforting and appreciative messages between you two, rather than the whole chat history with every explicit message and every fight.

Let me know how you do.

Thanks so much for this! I'm so happy for you guys !

We are yet to apply - sadly my fiancé's IELTS test centre have delayed all bookings for one month due to the coronavirus pandemic - it was booked for 16th April so just a bit more waiting I guess but it gives us time to gather evidence for the application..!

Thanks again, this helps so much !

[Jakers]

My fiancé is from Indonesia and we are trying to apply for the visa to get her here so that we can get married and apply for the Marriage Visa. We had a couple of bad experiences with her Visitor Visas being declined last year, so this time we decided to go to a solicitor to give us the best chance.

They supplied us with a document checklist and we've managed to tick off every document (even the A1 IELTs which we had to wait over 4 months for) - and now the final document we need is the 'Notice of intention to marry'.

I feel like I'm going in circles with this document - my solicitor initially told me that I would need to contact certain eligible register offices in the UK to give notice and obtain a certificate that will be part of the fiancé visa evidence.

I contacted 6 register offices that appeared on this list - 3 of them were not accepting appointments until further notice due to the pandemic, and the other three gave me similar responses, along the lines of 'both you and your partner must be in the UK in order to make an appointment to give notice'.

The information they provided was consistent with what I later found when checking the guidance on www.gov.uk .

I went back to my solicitor and told them this via email, and did not receive a response for a week - and was not able to make contact via phone call. I've since sent another email and voicemail to prompt them, but I'm yet to receive a response after 3 working days.

Although I'm concerned that my solicitor seems to be darking my communication, I haven't paid the full fee (just a small deposit) as yet, and thus I am more concerned that this one document is the only piece of evidence that is preventing me from applying for this visa - and therefore just delaying the process until I can see my fiancé again (last together 29th December 2019).

Although I'm disappointed that my solicitor has not been proactive, I don't want that to stop me from making progress so I thought I'd post here to ask if anyone else has any clue how to obtain this document - or if it's even required? It's starting to feel like a catch 22, whereby we need the document to apply for the visa, but we can't apply for the document until she's here?

Please help !

[CR001]

You cannot give notice to marry until your partner is in the UK for at least 7 days with the correct visa.

For intent to marry, you can submit documents such as enquiries correspondence with he registry office, reception venues, receipt of engagement ring, etc etc.