Visa for Japanese wife. Any advice?

[Beansoe]

Hi all. Thanks for looking,

I'm a British citizen and I married my Japanese wife in Japan 18months ago. As of yet the British authorities don't know of our relationship but we have marriage certificates in Japanese. Our status is kind of complicated as I've been back in the UK and she works on cruise ships for long periods of time, so we haven't officially been living together in either country. I've read that for her to get a visa for the UK we have to have been living together for a period and be able to prove it. I also read that for her to apply for a visa she has to stay in the UK for at least 6 months, or something like that. As I said she works on cruise ships so has to go abroad for her work. Would this complicate things or is there some kind of exception?

My second concern is that we are planning to have kids in the next couple of years. Would she be able to get maternity treatment with the NHS easily? Apologies is this question is for a different forum

Thanks again for taking the time to read and I hope someone can help

[AmazonianX]

Hi all. Thanks for looking,

I'm a British citizen and I married my Japanese wife in Japan 18months ago. As of yet the British authorities don't know of our relationship but we have marriage certificates in Japanese. Our status is kind of complicated as I've been back in the UK and she works on cruise ships for long periods of time, so we haven't officially been living together in either country. I've read that for her to get a visa for the UK we have to have been living together for a period and be able to prove it. Where and what have you been reading?[/highlight]I also read that for her to apply for a visa she has to stay in the UK for at least 6 months, or something like that. Wrong As I said she works on cruise ships so has to go abroad for her work. Would this complicate things or is there some kind of exception?

My second concern is that we are planning to have kids in the next couple of years. Would she be able to get maternity treatment with the NHS easily? Apologies is this question is for a different forum

Thanks again for taking the time to read and I hope someone can help

She will require spouse visa. As she travels for work, if the 'Keep your passport' option is available she may go for this so that while application is being processed she can go on the cruise.

When applying, there is the IHS surcharge that will be paid as contributions towards using the NHS services, this will cater for maternity treatment and other health services.

For more details, read below:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

Ask further questions or clarifications.

[Beansoe]

That's very useful information, thanks for your reply. I had read:

"You must be able to prove one of the following:

you’re in a civil partnership or marriage that’s recognised in the UK
you’ve been living together in a relationship for at least 2 years when you apply"

I read again now and realised it's only ONE of the following clauses. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

All the best

[AmazonianX]

That's very useful information, thanks for your reply. I had read:

"You must be able to prove one of the following:

you’re in a civil partnership or marriage that’s recognised in the UK
you’ve been living together in a relationship for at least 2 years when you apply"

I read again now and realised it's only ONE of the following clauses. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

All the best

What you quoted above relates to those applying as civil partnership.

For those who are married, it will be spouse visa and yhere is no requirement to show cohabitation evidence for the initial spouse visa application.