MattSmith77

Hi, first time poster. Looks like an great forum and i was hoping those more knowledgeable than myself can provide some much needed advice.

I have been doing a fair bit of reading and research and we've spoken to UK immigration on a couple of occasions regarding our situation - but it would be great to get others opinions.
Myself, my partner and our two young children are moving back to the UK from Australia. I'm British (born in the UK), my partner is Australian and our two children will have British passports. Our plan is to attempt to get to the UK before the start of the school term in September so our 4 year old girl can settle in and start at her new school with all the other kids, were hoping to achieve a smooth transition. We have savings in an account in the UK (luckily helped by family to get to the magic number of over 62,000 gbp) which will have been untouched for 6 months as of the end of this month, so we can submit the spouse visa application for my partner at that point.
But we are slightly concerned that there wont be enough time, the visa may end up not being granted in time, delaying our arrival and the knock on effects from there.

My partner and I are planning on getting married and i had read that it may be possible for us to travel to the UK with my partner on a visitor visa and then apply for a fiancee/civil partner visa once we are in the UK. Do you think this is a viable option for us?
If this is not an option can we go down the spouse visa route and travel to the UK (retaining passport) while the visa is being processed and then when required post the passport back to Brisbane for the visa to be finalised. I spoke to UK immigration last night and the adviser seemed to suggest this was possible.

If anyone has any advice that would be very much appreciated or if there are any gaps in the above that i don't know about.

Many thanks
Matt

BritInParis

The magic number is £62,500. You can’t apply for a fiancée visa from inside the UK. Like a spouse visa you need to apply from Australia. Yes, technically you can retain your passport and head to the UK whilst awaiting a decision but your partner would need to fly back to Australia to have the visa inserted into her passport. You can’t just post it back.

SanDiegogirl

One cannot visit the UK and then apply for any visa while in the country; you must apply for the spouse visa from Australia

You cannot remain in the UK while your visa is being processed. If and when approved the applicant must be out of the UK.

If you have a tight schedule I would suggest paying for priority service.

As you have the necessary savings you are in the best situation of being able to apply for the visa in Australia and travelling to UK together.

You immigration advisor is incorrect I'm afraid.

Pulaski

You can apply for a visa (from outside the UK), visit the UK while the visa is being processed, and return to (in this case) Australia to collect the visa when issued. In what respect do you think that the person he spoke to was wrong?

MattSmith77

Yes thats it, we have that amount luckily. Okay, thanks ever so much for that information. I think we were slightly confused by what the GOV.UK website stated regarding switching visas, that all makes sense.

Thanks for that information, much appreciated. I have seen the priority service is 800 -500 gbp for a decision within 1 or 5 working days. This might need to be our best course of action as i dont think we will make the beginning of September if we submit our initial application at the end of the month. Or is it possible?

Many thanks for your responses.

BritInParis

Those prices are for the UK.

The Keep My Passport service in Brisbane is A$110 and the priority settlement visa service is A$1116.

MattSmith77

Okay thanks. So to confirm it will be $2967 (for the visa app) plus $1116 (priority service) = $4083 total

Many thanks BritInParis

Pollyana

Maybe this bit "then when required post the passport back to Brisbane for the visa to be finalised." which, as BiP has said, is not possible.

Pulaski

But that isn't anywhere in SDG's post #3.

spouse of scouse

Hi Matt. The priority service has a stated aim of providing a decision within 30 days of the applicant providing their biometric information. If an application is considered to be not straightforward (due to issues such as an adverse immigration history etc), then that timeline may not be met. https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/au/en/pr...for-settlement

These are the fees in pounds (better get used to that)

• Visa application fee £1,523
• Priority visa fee £573
• International Health Surcharge (IHS) £1,000 (£400 per year, the £1,000 covers the 2.5 year validity of the first visa)
• Total £3,096

MattSmith77

Thanks for that info Scouse.

Wow, i didn't know about the surcharge!! Moving back to the UK isn't a cheap process

spouse of scouse

You're telling me mate! Did it ourselves in 2015 (husband's a Brit, I'm Aussie). Husband couldn't settle so we moved back to Oz last year - an expensive experiment!
We were fortunate enough to avoid the IHS, at the time of my application Australian nationals were exempt.

MattSmith77

Ouch! Hope we make it a bit longer.

spouse of scouse

Me too My husband had lived in Australia for 25 years, I don't think he'd realised how much he'd miss it. Me, I'd have stayed in the UK forever, I loved it. But being back home is good too. Best of luck with the visa and the move back, BE's always here if you need a hand.

MattSmith77

Nice one, thanks.