curry_laksa

Hi everyone ,

New here and would like to gather more information/information sharing on British citizen marrying a Malaysian Muslim in Malaysia to the stage of applying for spouse visa. Have gone through the UK Border Agency website and read through the latest changes on the family/spouse visa (settlement)

Need advice/guidance from fellow members

Thanks in advance

ajw

Are you trying to obtain a UK spouse visa or a Malaysian one? Where do you want to settle?

curry_laksa

Thanks for responding.

We would like to obtain UK Spouse Visa for my Malaysian fiance/wife to-be once we are married through Muslim wedding ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. We would like to settle in the UK.

We have thought of applying for fiance visa. However, after reading through the UKBA site, blogs and experience faced by others, we decided to get married in Malaysia.

I am a British citizen non-Muslim Caucasian. I understand Malaysia being a Muslim country that I will have to convert in order to marry my fiance.

My fiance works as a Market Research consultant in Malaysia and has more than 10 years of experience in the industry. Our worries is that she is self employed since March 2012. Her fear is that she won't be able to show her cash flow when she was away in the UK (April-mid June 2012)

She is in the process of selling her apartment and hoping that she could provide strong evidence that she is self sufficient and able to support herself with no expectation from the public funds. She is still working until her visa is approved, hopefully by then, will join and settling with me in the UK

I am self employed carpenter/joiner (sole proprietor) and able to comply with the new minimum income threshold of £18,600 for sponsoring of her settlement in the UK. Able to provide accommodation and comply with other requirements.

Following list of documents that we've gathered so far:
1) My Official divorce paper
2) My fiance's Official divorce paper (in Bahasa Melayu)
3) My fiance's Official English translated divorce paper
4) Supporting letter from my mother
5) Supporting letter from my brother
6) My 6 months original account statement from the bank(s)
7) My fiance's 6 months account statement from the bank(s)
8) Fiance original passport
9) Copy of my passport bio page
10) Pictures of our holidays/family functions
11) Fiance's passport photos with blue background x 2
12) Fiance's Resume
13) Fiance's original degree, certs etc
14) Original receipts of venue booking for UK reception
15) Original receipts for catering service
16) Wedding/Reception invitation card
17) Fiance's Travel Itinerary
19) Bank draft/online payment receipt TBC
20) anything else???

KIV
1) Official marriage cert/Nikah from local religious department
2) anything else ??? Help..


We would like to know what other document that we need to prepare in order for us to expedite our application. I understand it could take max. 24 weeks for the whole visa process and the amount of fees that we need to pay.

Another question, do we need to go through a civil marriage when we are back in the UK?

Thank you in advance

TravellingKate

Hi there,
I think you've got unnecessary info, and not some crucial things. You don't need venue booking notices and the like when you're already married. You DO need proof of adequate accommodation for two people (mortgage papers or lease), proof of income (pay slips or accounts if self employed). I only needed to supply 3 months of bank statements, not 6 - but that may be different now? If not, when do you plan to apply? because perhaps there is no need to supply statements from April to June? Be careful here - lack of funds is a strong reason for refusal.
If applying from Malaysia, you're lucky - from what I read the turnaround is a matter of weeks, not months.
As well as my CV, I also supplied photocopied ads for jobs I could do. I was in the position of having worked in the UK for 4 years already, so that helped.
This board is not really the best place for this kind of thing - you need somewhere like immigrationboards.com
They were great in helping me.
Do the new rules apply to the spouse visa too? I knew they affected ILR (they are affecting me badly!) but didn't realise it was the spouse visa.
Best of luck.

TravellingKate

PS - re your fiance's travel itinerary, if by this you mean her flight to the UK to settle, you really shouldn't book travel until you've got the visa.

Pollyana

Big changes for the spouse visa. Have a read of the sticky thread at the top of the UK forum.

Hesione

Hi there,

All those on the list may be useful BUT you ought to have a sole proprietorship registration paper somewhere to prove that she has set up a legitimate self-employment 'company' so to speak. Would be useful to set up a similar one in the UK before all the visa application is put in.

About cash flow, just back-date a couple of invoices and stick some money in the account. A whole lot of people do that.

You don't have to embrace any religion if you both just get married in Singapore. That way you don't have to go through another civil marriage in the UK. Just go to the Registry of Marriage at Fort Canning Rise in Singapore, nobody has to convert (or revert) to any faiths and voila! Two foreigners getting married in Singapore? They will pull all the stops for you to make it a seamless and painless process! Good luck.

bakedbean

As Pollyanna says, look at UK forum. This isnt really a Malaysia issue? best of luck

Nemodot

Hi if you are marrying in Malaysia you need a Muslim conversion card to prove you a Muslim, attend the marriage course and get cert, your fiancée needs her parents marriage certificate to prove she was not born out of wedlock (if she was born illegitamate you need a court to marry you), a letter from embassy to say there is no objection to getting married and a Malaysian government hospital aids test.

curry_laksa

Thanks Hesione, yes she has an official registration paper with the SSRM. Should not be a problem with the receipts as she kept all the Quotation, Invoices etc. We are looking into Singapore as well. Thanks

curry_laksa

I have a few friends that converted to Islam, and if you have been married and divorce (with decree nisi absolute) you don't have to attend the marriage course. She has checked of the document needed for the marriage procedure with JAWI

curry_laksa

Thanks Pollyana. Been advised by the moderator of this forum to go to Malaysia forum. BTW, waiting with anticipation of the new new immigration law that changing effective 9th. July

curry_laksa

Thanks Kate, this is really helpful.

Bluenose1

If your fiance is a muslim then the chances are she will want to retain her faith and also get married at home. To do this, you will have to convert as muslims are not allowed to marry non-muslims.

I converted to Islam and we got married in Malaysia. We did not have to go through a civil ceremony in the UK although that was in 2008 and I appreciate requirements may have changed since then.

I returned to the UK after our marriage and my wife applied through the British High Com in KL. She may have to attend an interview at the High Com, which will be in English. The visa back then was a page stuck in the passport but now it is a card. Your wife will have to provide biometric details (fingerprints and a retina scan) and may have to have a TB X-ray (my wife had hers done on arrival at Heathrow, but it may be required before departure now, I don't know). She will also have to provide details of a hospital near where you will live.

She should apply to take The Life In The UK Test as soon as possible after arrival in the UK. This will be required to apply for either ILR or Citizenship. Should she be unlucky and not pass it before the visa expires, she will have to re-apply and you will need to provide the same set of documents as the original (and fork out more money!). She should then get permission to remain for a further 2 years. If she subsequently passes, then she needs to keep the certificate safe until applying for either ILR or Citizenship just before her next visa expires.

One important thing regarding your passport - it is not just the bio page of your passport that you need (despite what the guidance notes say) - you will need to have every page of your passport photocopied and signed by a Notary Public. I actually got mine done with the bio page and every page that had entry and exit stamps on it, but she was told at the Visa office that her application would be rejected unless we provided every page. I then had to go through the process again (it cost about £100 back then because I had the full 48 page passport) and post it off to her.

bakedbean

Great post Bluenose. How does that work for you re retirement in Malaysia? Will you have to get Mm2h or can you get in as spouse of a Malaysian citizen?