Fiancee Visa Troubles

[ceemoo]

Hi, I am a British national living in Scotland and I am planning to get married in Bolivia at the beginning of March 2020 to my fiancée. I am a PhD student with a stipend of £1236 per month plus a little extra income from tutoring, a part time job I had until recently and a reasonable amount of savings in the bank. She and I met when she was studying in the UK for a masters degree in Renewable Energy Engineering on scholarship from her government and was obligated to go back and fulfil a two year contract for the state owned energy company. We have not been living together, but talk every day at least once by video and I have lived with her in Bolivia for a period of 8 weeks in 2018 and 3 weeks in 2019. We also briefly lived together in the UK for the month before she was due to go back to Bolivia.

I am having some difficulty figuring out what the best route to eventually get settled status for her in the UK. Ideally, she would be able to come back with me to the UK when we are married. I would expect that we would need a marriage certificate or have been living together for 2 years to apply for a spouse visa, but equally a fiancée visa does not seem appropriate since we will also be married at that point and will not be married in the UK. Also, if we apply for a fiancée visa and then a spouse visa, presumably we would have to pay £1500 or so for each application with the chance that the second would be denied? Is there a better route I don't know of?

Secondly, am I right in assuming there is some change to the £18600 financial requirement due to the PhD stipend? I have a meeting with my funders every 6 months to update them on what I have been doing, with the next one due 23rd April 2020.

Thirdly, what is the best way to provide evidence to boost our chance of getting a successful application? I was thinking some statements written by us and perhaps some summary of her professional qualifications and standard of English would be useful. When it comes to proof of income, are my bank statements sufficient? Does her pay/savings need to be included too?

Thanks for any help, I am just becoming anxious as I want to be as organised as possible. Combining the getting married abroad with non-standard means of income is troubling me, especially as we are not living together. Is the best situation to allow for some time between us getting married in Bolivia and then coming to the UK?

[geoeng]

Is there a better route I don't know of?

If you are getting married in Bolivia and not applying for a visa until after you get married, the spouse visa is probably the easiest route. The fiance visa would typically be for those wishing to get married in the UK and wanting to bring their partner over first.

Secondly, am I right in assuming there is some change to the £18600 financial requirement due to the PhD stipend?

Yes. The requirement ends up being calculated on a tax-free/post-tax basis rather than on gross income. Additional details and examples from page 43 of the document linked below.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

Thirdly, what is the best way to provide evidence to boost our chance of getting a successful application? I was thinking some statements written by us and perhaps some summary of her professional qualifications and standard of English would be useful. When it comes to proof of income, are my bank statements sufficient? Does her pay/savings need to be included too?

Statements will help. It would also usually be recommended to provide photos of you together, proof of correspondence (chat/call logs, etc.), evidence of any time spent together as you will have to demonstrate a genuine and subsisting relationship. She will have to provide proof of meeting the English language requirement (if she obtained a masters degree in the UK that would probably meet the requirement. For a spouse visa application only the income of the British citizen will be considered; however, if she has any cash savings, that could usually be included. Additional details on the financial requirement and the required evidence in the document linked above.

Is the best situation to allow for some time between us getting married in Bolivia and then coming to the UK?

No need to wait, she would be eligible for a spouse visa as soon as you are married and you don't really gain anything by waiting. Can take up to 12 weeks or longer to process the visa application anyway.

[ceemoo]

Thanks for the reply and the extra resource! The government website is a bit of a maze and hard to assess what the best option is. I don't want any nasty surprises and I want to have a thorough plan of action before the end of the year.

No need to wait, she would be eligible for a spouse visa as soon as you are married and you don't really gain anything by waiting. Can take up to 12 weeks or longer to process the visa application anyway.

Is it a viable suggestion for her to come to the UK on a different type of visa and then apply for a spouse visa when we get here or should she stay in Bolivia until the spouse visa is approved? My concern is that a visitor visa implies that you must intend to leave at the end of the designated period - does that forbid us from making an application to extend to a spouse visa?

[geoeng]

Is it a viable suggestion for her to come to the UK on a different type of visa and then apply for a spouse visa when we get here or should she stay in Bolivia until the spouse visa is approved? My concern is that a visitor visa implies that you must intend to leave at the end of the designated period - does that forbid us from making an application to extend to a spouse visa?

She would not be able to extend a visitor visa to a spouse visa and some who have made a spouse visa application first and then try to enter the UK on a visitor visa get refused entry so the usual advice is to stay until the spouse visa is granted. There are some countries where you can pay extra for priority processing, not sure about Bolivia specifically. I think it's usually only work, study or other family-related visas that could be extended to a spouse visa from within the UK.

Further to what I said on the fiancee visa, the quote below from the immigration rules (Appendix FM) confirms it would really only be applicable if you were intending to get married in the UK.
"E-ECP.2.8. If the applicant is a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner they must be seeking entry to the UK to enable their marriage or civil partnership to take place."

[ceemoo]

I suspected as much. Understandably we don't want to be paying thousands for two applications to get into the country and then a later spouse visa. If we have to, she can stay in Bolivia and get her affairs in order for moving and hopefully start job applications too. If it take an extra 2-3 months it is not an ideal way to start our marriage, but we have been together 3 years and 2 of those were apart except for the stays I had in Bolivia. The flights are not cheap either so she cannot book last minute as soon as the visa is accepted. I would hope this would not be a problem and worst case scenario I will emigrate there.

[Casa]

After marrying in Bolivia, your wife will have 30 days to enter the UK from the spouse visa issue date.

[seagul]

she was studying in the UK for a masters degree in Renewable Energy Engineering on scholarship from her government and was obligated to go back and fulfil a two year contract for the state owned energy company.

Although spouse visa option is better and should preferably be used but there is another option of tier 2 if she can fulfill its requirements. Tier 2 and spouse visa both leads to settlement after 5 years.

https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-general/eligibility

[ceemoo]

After marrying in Bolivia, your wife will have 30 days to enter the UK from the spouse visa issue date.

Are there any documents giving more information about this time limit?

[Casa]

After marrying in Bolivia, your wife will have 30 days to enter the UK from the spouse visa issue date.

Are there any documents giving more information about this time limit?

The entry vignette will be valid for only 30 days. Once in the UK, your wife will have to collect her 2.5 year BRP from the designated Post Office within 10 days of arrival.

If you applied from outside the UK
Collect your BRP once you’re in the UK.
You must do this before the vignette sticker in your travel document expires or within 10 days of arriving in the UK, whichever is later.
Check your decision letter. It will tell you to collect your BRP from either:
a named Post Office branch
your sponsor, if you chose this option when you applied
You must be over 18 to collect a BRP.

You can get a fine of up to £1,000 if you do not collect your BRP.

https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits/collect