Many couples dream of a lavish ceremony a cosy ancient castle in England or exchanging vows of loyalty to the chimes of Big Ben. If you have decided to get married in the UK, obtaining a British visa will be the starting point in the process of preparing for this romantic event.
Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for a marriage visitor visa or a fiancée/fiancé visa. This article will explain the difference between these two visa categories and help you decide which one you need.
Video overview of the features of British family visas and the intricacies of obtaining them.
It is a sub-category of the tourist visa or Standard Visitor Visa. This visa is suitable for those who want to get married in the UK but do not plan to live in the country.
It allows you to enter the UK for wedding ceremony. It is issued for up to 6 months, after which you must leave the country.
You may qualify for a wedding visa if you meet the following requirements:
A marriage visitor visa requires the following documents:
Please note that you will need to contact the Register Office in advance to organise the marriage ceremony. This is a separate process and is only indirectly related to the visa application.
This is a type of family visa. Designed exclusively for couples in which one of the partners is a citizen or permanent resident of the United Kingdom.
This visa is issued for 6 months to give you time to get married or enter into a civil partnership. It allows you to apply for a Spouse Visa without leaving the UK.
A wedding visa doesn’t allow you to study or work in the UK.
You may qualify for a fiancée/fiancé visa if you meet the following requirements:
Show that you know each other well, have met in person and spent a lot of time together. There is no exhaustive list of evidence to provide to the Home Office, but it is common for applicants to attach to their application for a UK fiancée or fiancé visa:
If you and your partner have been together for a long time and you only need a visa to England to officially register your relationship in the UK, you can show proof of your relationship:
You also need to prove your intention to get married within 6 months. This can be proved by booking a venue for the ceremony.
All documents must be provided with a professionally certified English translation.
The minimum income requirement for your partner to receive a Fiancé/Fiancée Visa is now £29,000 per annum. To fulfil this financial requirement, you can use:
If regular income covers only part of the necessary financial requirements, personal savings can cover the rest. In order to calculate the required amount of personal savings, it is necessary to:
Therefore, if your partner does not have a regular income, personal savings of £88,500 will cover all the financial requirements needed for this type of visa.
Calculation example
Let’s imagine that your partner’s income is £20,000 a year.
So, in addition to your regular income, you will need to provide £38,500 in savings.
Exceptions to the financial requirements are possible if the sponsor of an applicant for a UK fiancé / fiancée visa receives income from the following sources:
If the host party’s income is derived from these sources, the UK partner may not have to prove that they earn more than the minimum income. However, even if the sponsor has the right not to declare his/her income, the applicant for a fiancée visa to England must still demonstrate his/her financial solvency as well as the availability of accommodation in the UK.
Even if you are unable to meet the government’s financial requirements, you may still be able to apply for an English fiancée visa subject to the following exceptional conditions:
The house or flat where you and your partner intend to live in the future must meet all current UK housing standards. Your partner must show that they can accommodate you, themselves and any dependants moving in with you.
The UK Home Office will ask for the following details:
The following assumptions are used in the calculations:
The difference in the price of the two visa solutions is quite significant: a wedding visitor visa costs £115 (the same as a normal tourist visa), while a UK fiancée visa costs £1,846.
It should be realised that a fiancée visa to England is much more difficult to obtain than a wedding visa. As mentioned above, you will need to provide evidence of sufficient income to support yourself financially during your stay in the country.
Another thing to note is that if you switch to a wife/husband visa in the UK, you will have to pay the visa fee again. In addition, the fiancée/fiancé visa does not require you to pay the IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge), which is a charge for the right to use the British health care system. If you switch to a spouse visa, you will also have to pay this fee.
You can apply for a UK fiancée visa online – on the official government website. The process can be divided into 7 stages:
In exceptional situations, visa officers may request additional documents or invite you to a telephone interview, so you should prepare your visa application as thoroughly as possible. If the application is well-prepared, all details are checked and supporting documents are provided, it is less likely that there will be additional questions and delays.
The next logical step for the bride/groom is to obtain a spouse visa, which will guarantee a residency in the UK for an extended period of time.
The consideration process for both a fiancée visa and a spouse visa to England takes 2-3 months if the applicant is overseas. And about 8 weeks if the application has been made directly from the UK, for example, when a foreign partner who has entered on a fiancé visa changes immigration status immediately after the marriage. Only in the most complex cases can the application process take up to six months.
It is worth clarifying that the first spouse visa is valid for 33 months (if obtained outside the UK) or 30 months (if issued in the country). At the end of this period it can be extended for a further 30 months. Most foreign spouses then apply for permanent residency (ILR – Indefinite leave to remain), with which they can stay in the UK without any further restrictions.
For an additional fee, you can request an accelerated application processing procedure. In this case, you can receive a decision within 1-2 working days.
However, the processing time for your application can take weeks or even months, as the time taken to make a decision varies considerably depending on many factors. Errors in the application or supporting documents, additional queries and clarifications, the overall volume of applications in the queue and other circumstances can all delay the process of obtaining a UK visa. If immigration officials contact you to provide additional supporting documents, the entry clearance process will inevitably take longer.
Legal support of reliable immigration advisers of our company will help to minimise the probability of mistakes.
The following categories can invite a fiancé / fiancée under UK immigration low:
Most popular articles on the topic only look at the first three categories as the most common.
It will take you 1 to 2 weeks to gather the necessary documents and fill out the application correctly. With the help of experienced immigration advisers, the preparation will take minimum of your time.
Then, it takes about 3 weeks for the British embassy to make a decision on your application, provided that you have completed your application correctly, confirmed your identity, provided all the necessary documents and paid the fee on time. Once your application has been approved, you can collect your passport from the visa centre.
Thus, it takes about 4-5 weeks to obtain a short-term marriage visitor visa for applicants with good legal support.
Yes and no – that’s the short answer to this question. To explain in more detail: if your intention when applying for a tourist visa was to marry in the country, this will mean to visa officers that you have not stated all your objectives on the application form, and this will then be treated as a breach of immigration law.
If you decide to get married after you have applied for an English tourist visa, you are entitled to apply to the Registry Office for a marriage ceremony. In this case, the Registration Office must send the request to the immigration authorities and wait for a response within 70 days. If the immigration authorities have not responded or have indicated that they have no objection, the marriage ceremony can take place. If the immigration authorities say no, you will have to leave the country.
In any case, if you would like to get married to your British partner, contact our immigration advisers so that you don’t make any unfortunate mistakes that could be costly.
We will work with you to find a customised solution for your immigration, second citizenship, business, tax and other needs.
UK Family Visas: Spouse and Fiancé/Fiancée Visas
Visas to the UK
Citizenship by Investment