LPR

Hi
Has anyone here had any experience of applying for a marriage visitor visa? My fiancée and I have twice applied for a standard visitor visa and both times it has been refused. Both times the reasons they gave did not make sense, it was as if they hadn't actually read the application properly!
We would now like to get married in the UK, purely because my father at 93 years old would find it difficult to travel to the Philippines. My partner and I are of similar age, she has never been married and does not have any children. One would think that it would be a straight forward process to get a visa for 3 months especially as at the end of the visa we will both be retiring to the Philippines.
Sorry for the rambling, the point of the post is to see if anyone knows of any sites that give information on filling in the application or if anyone on here can give pointers on things to avoid or common mistakes.
Thanks in anticipation.
LPR
PS I do meet all the financial requirement and have my own house.

BritInParis

What were the reasons given for the two previous refusals?

LPR

The first time they claimed she had insufficient ties to her home country and also she did not supply wage slips (which she does not receive).
The second time they said she did not have enough money in her account to cover all the costs for her trip, even though I clearly stated that I was covering all the costs.

BritInParis

Remember it’s your fiancée applying for the visa, not you. You offering to pay for everything doesn’t mean that you will. Likewise you promising to go back to the Philippines at the end of your trip doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen. The Philippines is a relatively high risk country so you need to provide hard evidence that she will be a genuine visitor.

LPR

What would they consider hard evidence? We have just bought a plot of land there on which we are hoping to start construction at the end of the year. Even if I transferred all the funds she would need for the trip I'm not sure they would accept it as genuine! Also she is not happy about having large sums of money in her account.

BritInParis

That will depend on your circumstances. Your fiancée will need to show that she is a genuine visitor to the UK, i.e. that she is coming to the UK for the purpose that she claims and that she will return to her home country at the end of her visit. The first part will be relatively easy to accomplish - she's coming to marry you so she should provide evidence of your wedding plans, reservations, etc.. The second part will require her to provide ties to the Philippines, e.g. employment, family, property, etc.. Having two previous refusals won't help so you'll need to take a belt and braces approach.