website not clear about visit rules for foreign spouse

My wife is from philippines, I'm British but we both live in Norway. We have plan to visit family in the UK, but the visa process seems a lot more complicated that I anticipated. Getting a spouse visa is a lot more difficult than just getting her a tourist visa. but there is also a visa for family members of British citizen living outside of the UK (surinder singh visa). Some of the requirements seem like grey areas too

If she is just coming to visit as a tourist, getting a visitor visa will be far less cheaper and quicker compared to a spouse visa which is used if she plans to migrate to the UK.

johnglow wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:58 pm

My wife is from philippines, I'm British but we both live in Norway. We have plan to visit family in the UK, but the visa process seems a lot more complicated that I anticipated. Getting a spouse visa is a lot more difficult than just getting her a tourist visa. but there is also a visa for family members of British citizen living outside of the UK (surinder singh visa). Some of the requirements seem like grey areas too

The stated purpose of journey differs from the options you have checked and listed. A visit and return to Norway or relocating from Norway to UK? Your answer will aid greatly in the direction you will be pointed.

purpose is visit, but if she qualifies for any kind of spouse visa, then that will allow multiple entries, so could be worth it.

The spouse visa is not a visit visa.

johnglow wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:08 pm

purpose is visit, but if she qualifies for any kind of spouse visa, then that will allow multiple entries, so could be worth it.

If visit the apply for visit visa. Usually they are multiple entry. If first time it will be 6 months validity, you can them subsequently apply for longer duration visit visas I.e. 2yrs, 5yrs etc. Note that despite the long validity, each visit not exceed 6months and she must not be seen as staying in UK more than her habitual country of residence.
Spouse visa will be If your intention is to move back to UK.
Hope this clarifies

Surinder Singh families where the relationship existed before 31 January 2020 (unless a child) have until 29 March 2022 to move back to the UK and apply.

Hi, I was recently checking whether to get a visitor pass or a spouse visa, but then I went through the process of entering my spouse's nationality, and length of stay will be less than 6 months, and she will be staying with family (me), and it says the following:

If you’re staying 6 months or less
You do not need a visa if you’re visiting family or a partner for 6 months or less.

But I still had some questions, so I paid £2.74 to email them and they sent me a stock answer telling me to check the website.

Assuming we follow covid protocol, and she enters the country with return flight tickets...
The things I want to know which are not on the site are:

1. do we need proof of marriage, residence etc or any other documents
2. do we need proof we are visiting family members, e.g. letter of invitation, or do I count as the family member in this situation?
3. do we need to give accomodation details for our stay.

You should have continued with your previous post which was on the same topic and not start a new post.

MODERATORS PLEASE MERGE

From your previous post it seems that you are British, your wife is a Phillippines national, both of you live in Norway and want to come to the UK for a family visit not exceeding 6 months.

Your wife needs to apply for a visit visa in Norway.

The primary concern of UKVI will be that your wife returns to Norway at the end of the visit. She should provide evidence of her residence status in Norway and her or your job in Norway, of property rental or ownership and of cohabitation. As part of the application copy of your marriage certificate and your British passport should be submitted together with a cover letter about the purpose of the visit and where you will be staying. For other documents see https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-vis ... -will-need

Note that she could also apply for a long term standard visitor visa (2, 5 or 10 years).

well if that's the case the website is giving very confusing advice.

You can enter the same info as mine and you will get that answer. Which leads me to my follow-up quetsions in my second post.

johnglow wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:20 pm

well if that's the case the website is giving very confusing advice.

Can you provide a link to this page?

The link to the gov website where it can be checked if one needs a visa is:
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa

To get a result 3 pieces of information have to be provided:
1
Nationality
2
What are you coming to the UK to do? - one choice from the following list

Tourism
Work, academic visit or business
Study
Transit (on your way to somewhere else)
Join partner or family for a long stay
Get married or enter into a civil partnership
Stay with your child, if they’re at school
Get private medical treatment
For official diplomatic or government business (including transit through the UK)
3
a Yes/No answer to the following question:
Will you be travelling with or visiting either your partner or a family member in the UK?

The OP provided the following information in answer to the 3 questions:

1 Philippines
2 Join partner or family for a long stay
3. Yes to the question "Will you be travelling with or visiting either your partner or a family member in the UK?"

The response from the gov.uk site was:
You do not need a visa if you’re visiting family or a partner for 6 months or less

Apart from the OP'a actual intentions re. his wife's visit to the UK, or the possibility of the Surinder Singh route, the gov.uk website doesn't seem to yield the correct answer.

So you're saying the result is wrong? I'm very confused. I would like to clear this up because applying for visitor vista involves flying to Oslo and is quite costly and time consuming. The purpose of our trip is a visit under 6 months. Forget the surinder singh if its irrelevant.
If the site is correct and visa is not required, i find it hard to believe she will walk through immigration with no questions asked. This is what I emailed them about, and they told me to just check the website.

She is a visa National.

so the same website has 2 different answers to one question, and any enquiry results in a copy/paste message to check the website

My last email

The problem is that your website gives contradicting advice.
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/philippines/family
here is says a family visit under 6 months does not require a visa
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... ional-list
here it says phillipine nationals requrie a visa
You keep referring back to the website, but the website is not clear.

their reply

Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Contact Centre.


You will need to seek advice from trained immigration advisor.
Regards,

xxxx
UK Visas and Immigration

the website has now changed and no longer includes the paragraph about not needing a visa.

Seems unlikely this is a coincidence, but instead of just advising me of any error, they quietly changed the website and told me to seek a professional for advice. Class act.

you should get a refund!

johnglow wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 25, 2021 8:28 pm

the website has now changed and no longer includes the paragraph about not needing a visa.

Seems unlikely this is a coincidence, but instead of just advising me of any error, they quietly changed the website and told me to seek a professional for advice. Class act.

Dude this is incredible I checked it when you posted and you were right! Even with other countries like Pakistan it had that paragraph

johnglow wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:13 pm

so the same website has 2 different answers to one question, and any enquiry results in a copy/paste message to check the website

I think the appropriate purpose of stay would be tourism. The answer then appears to match your situation.

https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/phil ... ourism/yes