LB93

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice on applying for a spouse visa. Im sure this question has been answered 1000 times but im struggling to find answers and the UK gov website isnt very clear.

The situation is that i am a UK Citizen with Australian PR, living with my Aussie Fiance, and we are looking at moving back to the UK.

The problem im having is understanding what actual visa is best for us to apply for?

Is it better to get married before we apply for a visa or apply for a marriage visa then get married in the UK and then apply for a settlement visa afterwards??

Also is it easier to look for a job offer stating that the salary will be more than 18.600 per year?

They really dont make it easy for you do they!

Little bit of info:
I have been working in the same job for the past 4 years here making more than the equivalent of 18.600GBP, we dont have the 60k+ worth in savings.
Have been together for 5+ years


Thanks for any help its much appreciated!

BritInParis

Unless you have a strong desire to wed in the UK then it’s easy and cheaper to marry before you apply as you can skip the fiancé visa. Being married or not won’t make a difference to the financial requirements however. You should also seriously consider applying for your Australian citizenship if you are eligible as your PR will eventually expire whereas citizenship is for life.

LB93

Hi there BritInParis

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah i have looked into getting my citizenship, but im not eligible for it until May next year and apparently its a long drawn out process due to back log of applicants, and we were planning on heading back to the UK before then (after xmas)

So is easier to get married and then apply for a spouse visa? From what ive gathered, if we got a fiance visa, we would need to get married then she would need to leave the UK and apply for a spouse visa as you cant extend your stay on a fiance visa, is this correct?

Is there any visas that would allow my fiance to come to the UK then apply with in the UK to stay there permanently or is best to just apply here in Australia?

Sorry for all the questions its just difficult to understand, we applied for my PR visas here in aus by ourselves and it was so much easier than the UK one lol

BritInParis

Might be worth hanging on. If you really can’t then you can apply for your citizenship from the UK and get any shortfall potentially waived if you are moving abroad with your Australian spouse. I would seriously look into it. Emigrating to Australia is only going to get harder and more expensive as time goes on. An Australian passport would future proof you against that.

That’s a Marriage Visitor visa. A fiancé visa does allow you to marry and apply to stay but you effectively end up applying and paying for two settlement visas in the space of six months. Easier to simply marry in Australia and apply for a spouse visa from there.

If you mean applying from within the UK after arriving as a visitor with no visa then no. It’s not permitted from switch from leave to enter as a visitor to any other category from within the UK.

No worries.

LB93

I had it explained to me that i couldn't apply for it unless i was in Australia, and that while they made a decision i would not be able to leave? Because i was going to wait and then apply, then leave for the UK then fly back for the ceremony but apparently it doesn't work like that.


Ah i see, very easy to get them mixed up with each other as pretty similar sounding visas. Either way do i have to have a job lined up before i apply for the visa making more than 18.600? Or does the fact ive made more than that the past couple years in AUD change things? The financial requirements is the bit in the application that truly confuses me, the rest makes sense.

Again, thanks very much for taking the time to reply to me as i'm sure you get asked the same stuff constantly lol

BritInParis

That’s potentially correct for a non-spouse. Things will change when you marry an Australian citizen. You are able to sit your citizenship test and attend a citizenship ceremony at Australia House in London.

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/...partner-spouse

You will need to have both in order to apply from Australia and for you both to be able to move to the UK together.

Not a problem

LB93

Thanks very much for this information, i had no idea about this! Will definitely look into this in the coming months so thanks again.



God this is becoming a nightmare, we have decided its too much hassle to get married here in such a rush as Australian law doesnt let you get eloped so we would have to have a proper ceremony, which we are going to hold off for till were back home.

So my question is whats the best way to apply for this fiance visa? Is there a guide/checklist that someone has written to use as a self help guide? I've had a look through forums but struggling to find one.

Thanks again!

SanDiegogirl

Surely one can have a simple registry office ceremony in Australia ........... ?

BritInParis

You can.

LB93

This is very true, we went there last week to have a chat with them as you need to book an interview to organize a wedding with them. The nearest possible date that they had available was for 7 weeks away, so my thinking is that rather than wait 7 weeks and then apply for a spouse visa, just apply for a fiance visa. The reason being that we are hoping to head back to the UK in mid January, and knowing that there is a backlog on applications and that the time span of approval could easily be 12 weeks, i thought it better to get a jump start on it than loose 7 weeks.

Is this a silly decision to make? Honestly feeling a bit lost with it now. I should have looked into this a couple of months ago but unforeseen circumstances have made it so time is not on our side. Hindsight is always 20/20 so they say.

We have just started our online application on the Visa4UK website, applying for stay --> settlement --> unmarried partner, is this the correct visa to be applying for?

Thanks

BritInParis

It’s Settlement>Settlement>Marriage for a fiancé visa. It’s a lot of extra time, money and hassle to go down the fiancé visa route so if you can avoid it then I would. Maybe try marrying in a different registry office?

Kiwikaye

Unless I've missed something, you can't apply yet anyway, as you don't yet have a job lined up in the UK. If you don't have the equivalent of £62,500 in the bank, you will need a job earning £18,600 or more, and starting within 3 months of your proposed rival date in order to apply.

So you should have time to sort a wedding in Australia before you go. Another thing to consider is to have a registry office wedding, just for the paperwork, and then have a reception ceremony later with all the trimmings. Lots of people do that when there are immigration issues to contend with.

BritInParis

Sounds like the OP will be relying on the savings route.

LB93

Sorry i should've added into my original post that i do actually have a job lined earning more than the 18.600 required, i just wasn't 100% sure if i needed to be making the equivalent in Australia as well. All i have to do is give them a date that im planning on being back and they will sort out the letter offering the position and start date. Sorry for the confusion about that.

LB93

Looks like i started applying for the wrong visa, good thing i never got too deep into it!


We have re-booked with a different registry for an interview to use theres on your advice, so hopefully the only time we have to wait is the mandatory 4 week period. From the sounds of it pushing our plans back a month may be worth saving the headaches/$$$.

I read that you can get priority application, but it seems like that is only available in the UK, is that true?

I honestly cant thank everyone enough for there help on this forum, thank you all!