Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Hi guys!

I hope you can excuse some questions that you've probably answered hundreds of times - I get overwhelmed easily when trying to sift through large amounts of information, so thought starting a specific thread may be easier.

I'm an American who studied in the UK for three years on a Tier 4 Student visa which ended Oct 2017, and am now engaged to a British citizen hoping to get married in late February 2019. Is applying for a 'family of a settled person' visa preferable to a marriage visitor visa if we don't want to spend more time apart after being married? He does meet the £18,600 salary requirement, although he has only held that position for about a month and a half now and is still on probation. Will he need to be working there for a full 6 months before we can even apply?

He's part of a house share currently but we're looking at renting our own place once he's had a couple more months of income, do we need to have the address of where we will be living before we make our application?

Also regarding the living situation, we are Christian and would prefer not to live together before actually being married, so if I came over a couple months before the wedding would I be allowed to live separately from him, or would we be required to live together?

Thank you for all your help in advance and any other tips (or direction to an overview of the process here in the forums) would be helpful - we're only just starting out on this process!

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

From the sounds of it you are getting married in the UK. So the process is as follows:

- you apply for a fiance visa (marriage visa) which gives you 6 months in which to get married, then once married you apply for a spouse visa (two sets of visa fees to pay for)
-- yes, husband needs to be in job for 6 months (Cat A) UNLESS, he has had a previous job also earning 18,600 GBP or above and can produce 12 months of payslips and bank statements to prove so, in which case he could be in new job for only two or three months.
https://assets.publishing.service.go...ment_Final.pdf
See section 5.3
- no, of course, you will not be obliged to live together.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

No the FIance visa is not the same as a marriage visitor visa. The first one allows you to come to the uk and marry within six months and intend to settle in the UK , then you can apply for the spouse visa after you marry. re timing for honeymoon/ other reception, you may have to wait for spouse visa to be processed, or check if there is a same day service that costs more.

The marriage visitor visa is for couples who want to marry in the UK but intend to leave after and go back to their own country or somewhere else.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

As far as I am aware you will not be able to leave and re-enter the UK on your fiance visa once you are married. Once you are married you apply to change your fiance visa for a spouse visa.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

It’s a six month multiple entry visa so you can come and go during its validity period. The OP will need to apply for a spouse visa from within the UK before it expires.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

I thought the multiple entry validity of the fiance visa was up to the time of the marriage. After the marriage the fiance visa is no longer valid and one needs to obtain a spouse visa for leave and entry.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Nope, it’s valid for the six month period.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

OK thanks for the correction :cool:

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Looking at another post and noticed you gave me this info in Nov 2017...... !!! Will remember it now :lol:

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

No worries :cool:

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Thank you guys very much for your help! I think if we can afford it we'll go the in-person route anyway, that should make me able to work sooner as far as I'm aware.

I'll probably post soon with more questions haha! I'm not new to visas but it's still a lot of stuff to sort through.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Hi guys, back with a couple more questions regarding the fiance visa.

Can it be denied on the basis of income? I know that for the spouse visa you need 6 months of £18,600, but do the same rules apply for the fiance visa too? My fiance has worked his current job for a month and a half at this point, before that he was self-employed and very far off meeting the financial requirement. Do we have to wait 5 months before applying for even the first visa?

And I have a similar question regarding the accommodation requirements. I was reading this guide at migrate . org and it was talking about accommodation must be owned or occupied exclusively by the applicant and their partner's family. I will likely be staying with friends for the duration of the fiancee visa and we'll move into a rented property once we're married. From other posts I've seen on here it looks like that will be okay?

Thanks again for your help.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

You’ll need to meet the same financial and accommodation requirements for a fiancée visa as you would do for a spouse visa.

Re: Marriage visitor visa or family of a settled person visa?
 

Well, that's frustrating. Sorry, I must have gotten mixed up somewhere.

And I suppose I would not be allowed to use the in-person same-day service for the spouse visa while here on the Marriage Visitor visa?