Getting married

[Bloody Rose]

Hello. Me and my significant other are engaged and we are currently in different countries. At least one of us is younger than 21 and it may take too long for us before they turn 21, which means that it would be hard to wait for it to happen. How do I move to the UK and stay there until we can get married? What kind of visa should I go for? Will I have to change the type of visa before we get married? Is it possible to change the type without leaving the country in the first place? What is the best solution in this case?

[Wanderer]

Hello. Me and my significant other are engaged and we are currently in different countries. At least one of us is younger than 21 and it may take too long for us before they turn 21, which means that it would be hard to wait for it to happen. How do I move to the UK and stay there until we can get married? What kind of visa should I go for? Will I have to change the type of visa before we get married? Is it possible to change the type without leaving the country in the first place? What is the best solution in this case?

Work visa (tough criteria) or student visa (vvv expensive) are just about the only options. You can change visa in country though it's not clear what to since you haven't divulged your nationalities so it's impossible to help without more info...

[Bloody Rose]

What about a tourist visa? Can I enter the country as a tourist, get married and switch the visa to the one that allows me to stay as the spouse of a UK citizen?
As for your other words, I'm a citizen of Russia and my partner is that of the UK.

[Wanderer]

What about a tourist visa? Can I enter the country as a tourist, get married and switch the visa to the one that allows me to stay as the spouse of a UK citizen?
As for your other words, I'm a citizen of Russia and my partner is that of the UK.

No, switching from Tourist visa is expressly forbidden. If one of you is under 21 there's no option but to wait, or if you are really set on it, there is another way, basically;

1. The EEA National moves to another EEA State

2. He 'exercises a treaty right' by living/working/studying there for say six months while you marry and join him as his EEA Family Member.

3. Then you can return under 'Surinder Singh' ruling.

But it's a tremendous uplift especially for someone so young for someone they hardly know......

Google the above terms and come back to us, it's been gone over a dozen times on this very forum, I doubt anyone will want to type it all out again!

Davai poka i udachi vam.......

[Bloody Rose]

Thanks for the reply. Can I get a tourist visa to spend some time in the country, leave it and then go for a visa allowing me to enter the UK to get married? Is that possible?

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the reply. Can I get a tourist visa to spend some time in the country, leave it and then go for a visa allowing me to enter the UK to get married? Is that possible?

Yes. And you can apply for a Marriage Visit Visa to marry in the UK but 1) U'll not be able to remain in the UK on it and still be unable to apply for marriage visa till both parties are 21, and 2) it's unlikely to be granted if one of the parties is resident in the UK, the presumption by the Home Office in all these cases is the applicant will attempt to switch or seek to remain, and that will be construed as dishonesty and there will be a possible 10 year ban as a result.