5 replies to this topic

[applicant1]

Hi there,

I am preparing to get married in the UK in the not too distant future to my fiancé who is not a British Citizen. I myself am a British citizen.
We looked over the choices for going to the UK, and we decided that a longer term stay isn’t possible for us under the current requirement to have £18,600 per year/other financial routes. We therefore opted for just staying in the UK for (up to) 6 months, get married, and return overseas before the visa expires. This is the category “Visitors for marriage or civil partnership” (I hope I have the correct forum section!).
The standards for the short term visit seem to be quite a bit lower than for a long term stay, but we are still uncertain about some of the requirements, especially financially.

• What exactly are they looking for in terms of seeing that she is financially able to provide for herself during her stay in England? Is there an approximate amount they are looking for in her bank account statements?
  
• My parents have written a supporting letter saying that she will stay with them during her stay in England. Is it worth also having my Father send bank account statements with the application showing that he is able to provide financially for her during her stay? Or is it just from her personally that they are looking for evidence of financial stability?
  
• One of the requested documents for the application is “evidence that you have given notification of marriage to the registry office in the UK where your partner lives” and “details of the marriage or civil partnership and evidence of money paid towards costs related to it”. It seems to me that these two documents are part of the same thing? The evidence of your booking the marriage and payment of it can all come together. Or am I mistaken in this?

Many, many thanks for your input.

[Gentleman of Leisure]

For a marriage visit visa, they want to see evidence that the visit is affordable (not a tangible sum but a steady cash-flow in historical bank statements should be sufficient) and that the person will leave the at the end of six months.   So, strong ties to their homeland that motivate their return are important.

You can't actually book a ceremony (yet, as she is not in the UK) but any evidence of enquiries to registry offices of the CofE would also help.

[applicant1]

Thanks, that's helpful.

A problem then is that she will likely be leaving her job after (hopefully) getting the visa to go and get married in the UK. We have every intention of leaving the UK after marriage, but proving that is quite difficult without evidence of the fact. Just how much of an issue is that likely to be? She does have a covering letter already from her organisation she's currently employed by, but it's unlikely that she'll be able to return to that job because of the length of leave needed to get married in the UK.

To add, she was previously issued a 6 month visit visa when only 2 weeks were requested, which was a nice surprise. We were also under the impression that we needed evidence of payment for the marriage registration, and so we are planning to pay for it and send the receipt as a supporting document even though visa application success is not guaranteed.

[Mutly]

Evidence of an intent to leave is very important but as you say, difficult to prove. If you're employed where you live now and that's ongoing, you can show that. Same if you're self-employed or a student. If it appears likely that you'll leave the UK then your wife has a good reason to leave to remain with you. In addition you can show any family connections either or both of you have outside the UK. Not distant relatives, but anyone in your household and any relatives including any children who you provide ongoing care for. You can also show any community involvement which is ongoing, charities, clubs etc., and anything which indicates that your economic base is there, property or investements. Also that you maintain a home there and will continue to do so to return to, for eg. title deeds or lease or mortgage documents and if rented a letter from the landlord that the lease is ongoing may assist. If you have an ongoing residence permit you can show that as well, it shows that there's no impediment to you returning to where you now live.

None of those are sufficient on their own and it depends on the entry clearance officers being satisifed with the overall application. It may be worth having an advisor assist with what points to cover and what documents to use to show them, there is no conclusive list.

Visas are normally issued for six months, however if she stayed significantly longer than the two weeks indicated, that may be an issue. On the other hand if she stayed for around two weeks, that itself is an indication that she intends to leave after the visit, though again not sufficient on its own.

[Gentleman of Leisure]

applicant1, on 23 December 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:

To add, she was previously issued a 6 month visit visa when only 2 weeks were requested,

That's normal.  The standard validity of visit visas are for six months.

[applicant1]

Again, thanks for the input.

We only used less than 2 weeks of the 6 month visa for her on her last trip.