Urgent Advice needed for Family visa application/Marriage visa....about to marry!

[John996]

Hello all

I’m confused about the next steps I need to take and don’t have any info from immigration.

My situation is as follows:

My non-European fiancé has entered the country with a 6 month ‘marriage visa’. I have paid all fees including the NHS supplement, etc. Biometrics were taken during the process.
We are registering the marriage next week (30th Jan 19) and getting married on 20th April 19.
All that is sorted out and I know what I’m doing.

My question is this:
After we get married, what happens next?
I expect to have to send her passport off to get the visa updated but when she received her passport it contained the 6 month marriage visa but no info on what to do next and no follow up email explaining either.

Can someone with experience in this please let me know what I need to do straight after we get married? Forms/send passport/etc.....

Thanks in advance

John

[CR001]

Just to be clear, you applied for the fiance visa costing £1523 and not the marriage visitor visa costing roughly £85??

Note that IHS is NOT payable for a 6 month fiance visa.

[John996]

Hi All

Could someone help us please.....

Background:
I met my partner 3.5 years ago, we lived together in Indo for over a year then she came to the UK with a 6 month visit visa. I travelled back and forth to Indo over the next 18 months, proposed (she accepted), filled in family visa paperwork and paid the £1500, (paid IHS (3 years), TB medical, biometrics taken, English, etc, etc), waited 12 weeks and a 6 month Marriage Visa came through the post to my partner. She is now in the UK (since end Dec 19)and we get married in 4 weeks time (End April). There was no email to accompany the visa so I have started looking into what to do after the wedding to switch out from the 6 month to the 33 month visa.

What do we do after the wedding to 'swap' the visa for the 33 month one???
It mentions that we can but doesn't signpost a form or route to do this....

Please help....

Thanks in advance

[Casa]

You need to apply for a FLR(M) visa (2.5 years) before the current visa expires.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... form-flr-m

[CR001]

IHS is not payable for a fiance visa (seems this is what you applied for costing £1523).

Once you are married, you have to apply for a spouse visa on form FLR(M) which is an online form. You have to pay the visa fee of £1033 plus £1000 IHS.

Edit : beaten by Casa this time

[John996]

Just to be clear, you applied for the fiance visa costing £1523 and not the marriage visitor visa costing roughly £85??

Note that IHS is NOT payable for a 6 month fiance visa.

Yes. I applied for the Fiancé visa costing £1523, Paid the IHS charge (I have the reference number for the payment). We had to get the English test in Jakarta, TB test and Biometrics were requested in her home city so she went into the office to give them.

[CR001]

You did not need to pay IHS, was the point I am making, as it is not payable for visas that are valid for 6 months or less. Not sure why this way paid and you should have got a refund.

[JB007]

Your fiance needs private health insurance to pay when she uses the NHS unless it is a free service, 50% is added to the bill if there is no insurance. Unpaid NHS debt of £500 plus affects future visas to enter or stay.

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... -needs-pay

Visitor visas and short-term visas

You do not need to pay the surcharge or get an IHS reference number if you’re applying for a:

visitor visa
visa for 6 months or less from outside the UK

You will need to pay for any NHS care you get at the point you use it - unless it’s a service that’s free.



NHS services that are free-
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-entitle ... alth-guide

[John996]

You did not need to pay IHS, was the point I am making, as it is not payable for visas that are valid for 6 months or less. Not sure why this way paid and you should have got a refund.

Thanks for the above.
I will sort the IHS refund.

What I am confused about is why we have to go through the whole process again, costing £1523 first time and another £1000+ this time? - (Understand I will get IHS refund, but have to pay it again and also that it has gone up from £600 to £1000 as it is now 2019)
We did the TB test, Biometrics, English Exam and a massive amount of paperwork for earnings, texts, photos, etc, etc. Does this not cover us for the whole process to 2.5 year visa?

[CR001]

What I am confused about is why we have to go through the whole process again, costing £1523 first time and another £1000+ this time? - (Understand I will get IHS refund, but have to pay it again and also that it has gone up from £600 to £1000 as it is now 2019)

As you only applied for a short term visa to enable you to marry in the UK, you unfortunately have to go through the process and cost gain to extend her visa as a spouse once you are married. It would have been far simpler to marry abroad and apply directly for a spouse visa.

We did the TB test, Biometrics, English Exam and a massive amount of paperwork for earnings, texts, photos, etc, etc. Does this not cover us for the whole process to 2.5 year visa?

She does not need the TB test. But she will have to enroll biometrics again, will likely need A2 English (might be A1 if switching from fiance) and all the paperwork relating to financial requirements and accommodation. You do NOT need the texts, photos etc again!

Note that after 2.5 years on a spouse visa, you have to go through the process again for another visa extension. And then once she has 5 years on the spouse visa (FLR M), the same process applies to get Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) - (except IHS is not payable at the ILR step).