Fiancée Visa - Should we have more than vignette?

[dph]

My fiancée in the US applied for the fiancée visa at the end of August, had her biometric processing about a week later, and received a text saying a decision had been made yesterday morning (23rd October). Later the same day (UPS tracking showed it had actually been dispatched the day before we received the text, strangely enough) she received her passport, with a vignette sticker in saying D MARRIAGE, valid between late November and late May.

Should there have been an approval letter with it? I thought I'd heard most people talk about one of those (I referred to this forum repeatedly for advice on the application although this is my first time posting since this is the first time I've been unable to figure out an answer by searching), but we don't seem to have one of those. Might it come later? Are we supposed to collect a BRP when she arrives, or is that only for visas longer than 6 months? (Of course, without the letter, we wouldn't even know where to collect the BRP anyway.)

And one other thing - some sources (https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits/collect for instance) say that you should travel within 30 days of receiving your vignette sticker. But that seems to contradict the wording on the vignette itself, which says it's valid from 24th November (just over 30 days from now). We're assuming she shouldn't travel before 24th November as the vignette seems to suggest - but then why does gov.uk say the opposite?

[Zerubbabel]

Hello

The visa is to get married in the UK. You can't do anything before you get married.

So your fiance needs to come to the UK and get married within the validity of that visa. That's why it's important that she comes to the UK asap as getting married takes time especially during the Covid crisis.

Only when you are married, she can apply for a Spouse Visa from within the UK. She will get 30 month + the right to work.

It's not possible to work with the Fiance visa and if no marriage happens within the validity, she may have to leave the country and apply again. There are options for extensions for exceptional circumstances but I wouldn't count on it.

[seagul]

Should there have been an approval letter with it?

Maybe not as not everyone receive it but still check your email spam folder.

Are we supposed to collect a BRP when she arrives, or is that only for visas longer than 6 months? (Of course, without the letter, we wouldn't even know where to collect the BRP anyway.)

When will I receive my biometric
residence permit?
If you are granted leave to enter the UK for
more than six months you will receive a
biometric residence permit after arrival in the
UK.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... y_2016.pdf

[dph]

When will I receive my biometric
residence permit?
If you are granted leave to enter the UK for
more than six months you will receive a
biometric residence permit after arrival in the
UK.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... y_2016.pdf

That PDF is very helpful, thanks for the link. I wasn't really sure what the BRP was for until now, only that it was something people had to collect after arriving here, but if it's just for applying for employment etc. it now makes sense that it isn't included with this visa. Since the gov.uk statement about travelling within 30 days was on a page about the BRP, I'll assume it also doesn't apply in this case, and we should indeed wait until the 'valid from' date on the vignette before travelling.

(For the benefit of anyone who searches through information here while figuring out how to fill in their own application, I believe the reason we've ended up having to wait an extra month to be together is due to a particular question on the application form. At one point it asks when you plan to travel. We didn't know why it was asking this, but on the basis that one can't plan to travel without knowing when we'll have the visa, we put a date of 3 months after the application, with a bit of leeway for booking. In retrospect, I think the visa was only made valid from a later date than it was granted because that's when we said we planned to travel, even though we'd happily have travelled earlier, and if we'd have said she planned to travel a month earlier the visa would probably have been made valid from that date.)

On closer inspection there was also a little sticker with a barcode in the box we received (apart from the passport and our returned paperwork). We don't know what it's for. The code (written underneath the barcode) is the one that was used to identify our application on VFS Global, so I'm guessing it was just meant for some internal purpose and isn't needed anymore. To be on the safe side, are we supposed to do anything with this sticker? (There's actually already an identical barcode stuck on the back of the passport, along with a yellow sticker saying 'if found return to New York visa processing', which I assume can be removed now it's reached its destination.)

[seagul]

On closer inspection there was also a little sticker with a barcode in the box we received (apart from the passport and our returned paperwork). We don't know what it's for. The code (written underneath the barcode) is the one that was used to identify our application on VFS Global, so I'm guessing it was just meant for some internal purpose and isn't needed anymore. To be on the safe side, are we supposed to do anything with this sticker? (There's actually already an identical barcode stuck on the back of the passport, along with a yellow sticker saying 'if found return to New York visa processing', which I assume can be removed now it's reached its destination.)

These stickers are most likely to identify and differentiate your documents including passport as part of internal admin mechanism. But I will still keep them intact/unremoved until will accomplish my journey, just in case.