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Fiancé Visa - COVID Contingency Query

Family member & Ancestry immigration; don't post other immigration categories, please!
Marriage | Unmarried Partners | Fiancé/e | Ancestry

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ajfox
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Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:57 pm

Fiancé Visa - COVID Contingency Query

Post by ajfox » Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:10 pm

Hi all,

I’ve always found this forum useful and I hope somebody might be able to offer advice on my current situation.

I am a British national and my fiancé is a Brazilian national. We were originally planning to get married last year, but when COVID hit, our plans were delayed.

He is currently in the UK on a standard tourist visa (no application made, leave granted at immigration check upon entry to the UK last year), due to expire early February. His flight back to Brazil has been cancelled twice now, most recently on Monday and we’re struggling to get flights arranged to get him home before his tourist visa expires.

Our intention is to apply for a Fiancé Visa as soon as he arrives back in Brazil and submit all the usual evidence and biometrics via VFS. However, while looking through our options, I noticed a page on the GOV.UK website which seems to suggest that, due to the pandemic, we can apply for the Fiancé Visa from within the UK instead. Link below (section: If you intend to stay in the UK).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents

I called the Coronavirus Information Helpline to check this on Monday and the advisor confirmed that we could apply from within the UK and simply select the option for applying within the UK instead of outside the UK.

It seemed a little too good to be true, so I called back today to confirm and was told by another advisor that actually we couldn’t apply from within the UK, as we wouldn’t be permitted to move from one short term visa (Tourist) to another (Fiancé). However, the above guidance doesn’t draw this distinction and invites all applications. A third call for some clarity resulted in the CIH advisor saying he’d have to send a query email to the Home Office, which I’m now waiting for a response on.

My question is: has anybody been in this position and received any clarity on whether someone in the UK on a tourist visa can, because of the difficulty in getting flights home and the fact that we’d be imminently applying for a Fiancé Visa anyway, apply from within the UK and hopefully simplify what so far has been an incredibly stressful and confusing process?

TODMATT
Diamond Member
Posts: 1497
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:09 pm

Re: Fiancé Visa - COVID Contingency Query

Post by TODMATT » Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:57 pm

ajfox wrote:
Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:10 pm
Hi all,

I’ve always found this forum useful and I hope somebody might be able to offer advice on my current situation.

I am a British national and my fiancé is a Brazilian national. We were originally planning to get married last year, but when COVID hit, our plans were delayed.

He is currently in the UK on a standard tourist visa (no application made, leave granted at immigration check upon entry to the UK last year), due to expire early February. His flight back to Brazil has been cancelled twice now, most recently on Monday and we’re struggling to get flights arranged to get him home before his tourist visa expires.

Our intention is to apply for a Fiancé Visa as soon as he arrives back in Brazil and submit all the usual evidence and biometrics via VFS. However, while looking through our options, I noticed a page on the GOV.UK website which seems to suggest that, due to the pandemic, we can apply for the Fiancé Visa from within the UK instead. Link below (section: If you intend to stay in the UK).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents

I called the Coronavirus Information Helpline to check this on Monday and the advisor confirmed that we could apply from within the UK and simply select the option for applying within the UK instead of outside the UK.

It seemed a little too good to be true, so I called back today to confirm and was told by another advisor that actually we couldn’t apply from within the UK, as we wouldn’t be permitted to move from one short term visa (Tourist) to another (Fiancé). However, the above guidance doesn’t draw this distinction and invites all applications. A third call for some clarity resulted in the CIH advisor saying he’d have to send a query email to the Home Office, which I’m now waiting for a response on.

My question is: has anybody been in this position and received any clarity on whether someone in the UK on a tourist visa can, because of the difficulty in getting flights home and the fact that we’d be imminently applying for a Fiancé Visa anyway, apply from within the UK and hopefully simplify what so far has been an incredibly stressful and confusing process?

Coronavirus helpline are always giving contradicting information.

If you are intending to stay in the UK, you must show your application is urgent.

"You’ll need to show your application is urgent, for example if you need to start a new job or course of study, please provide full details of this in a covering letter with your supporting documents."

The term "Urgent" is not properly explain on the GOV website so therefore it would be treated based on individual merits only. Has Brazil banned applications to the UK?
My opinions should not be constituted as an immigration or legal advice.

ajfox
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:57 pm

Re: Fiancé Visa - COVID Contingency Query

Post by ajfox » Wed Jan 13, 2021 11:17 pm

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it.

As far as I’m aware, Brazil haven’t banned applications to the UK or entry by air. Brazilian nationals can still enter as things stand, subject to a negative PCR test.

The urgency in our case would be the cancellation of flights and increasing difficulty in securing passage back to Brazil, weighed against the impending expiry of the tourist visa and our wedding date (currently scheduled for May, which I don’t imagine the Home Office would consider a matter of urgency anyway).

frenguin
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:40 pm
Chile

Re: Fiancé Visa - COVID Contingency Query

Post by frenguin » Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:45 pm

ajfox wrote:
Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:10 pm
Hi all,

I’ve always found this forum useful and I hope somebody might be able to offer advice on my current situation.

I am a British national and my fiancé is a Brazilian national. We were originally planning to get married last year, but when COVID hit, our plans were delayed.

He is currently in the UK on a standard tourist visa (no application made, leave granted at immigration check upon entry to the UK last year), due to expire early February. His flight back to Brazil has been cancelled twice now, most recently on Monday and we’re struggling to get flights arranged to get him home before his tourist visa expires.

Our intention is to apply for a Fiancé Visa as soon as he arrives back in Brazil and submit all the usual evidence and biometrics via VFS. However, while looking through our options, I noticed a page on the GOV.UK website which seems to suggest that, due to the pandemic, we can apply for the Fiancé Visa from within the UK instead. Link below (section: If you intend to stay in the UK).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents

I called the Coronavirus Information Helpline to check this on Monday and the advisor confirmed that we could apply from within the UK and simply select the option for applying within the UK instead of outside the UK.

It seemed a little too good to be true, so I called back today to confirm and was told by another advisor that actually we couldn’t apply from within the UK, as we wouldn’t be permitted to move from one short term visa (Tourist) to another (Fiancé). However, the above guidance doesn’t draw this distinction and invites all applications. A third call for some clarity resulted in the CIH advisor saying he’d have to send a query email to the Home Office, which I’m now waiting for a response on.

My question is: has anybody been in this position and received any clarity on whether someone in the UK on a tourist visa can, because of the difficulty in getting flights home and the fact that we’d be imminently applying for a Fiancé Visa anyway, apply from within the UK and hopefully simplify what so far has been an incredibly stressful and confusing process?
I have been going through the same process; switching from a visitor stamp to a fiancé visa. I called the CIH helpline earlier today and the guy on the phone said there shouldn't be any problems with the application. However, I have been struggling with the online form since it is intended for the unmarried partner/spousal visa.

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