Fiance Visa Query

[The Captain]

Me: British Citizen
My fiance: Brazilian

My fiance was issued a fiance visa by the UK embassy in Brazil for 6 months.
We are going to marry here in the UK then she will apply for a spouse visa.

What I would like to know: is there a minimum amount of time required to be left on her fiance visa for her to:

a) enter the UK
b) get married
c) apply / be issued with a spouse visa

Thank in advance

[John]

Well, pushing this down to the bare minimum, first have a read of this webpage from Birmingham Register Office. (But the same law applies throughout the UK).

Notice that each person has got to be resident at an address for 7 clear days before giving the notice, and the notice needs to be posted at the Register Office for 15 days.

For realistically the fiancée needs to enter the UK no later than 5 months after the visa start date. 7 clear days later they go to the Register Office. 15 days later they can legally marry. Get married. And then get the application for the spouse visa in before the expiry date of the fiancée visa.

[The Captain]

Many thanks for the reply John.

Lets say my fiancée plans to come back to London about a month and a half before the visa expires, will she be able to leave Brazil and enter the UK with a single ticket, or will a return ticket be required like with a tourist visa?

Thanks!

[John]

If she has a fiancée visa then a one-way ticket is sufficient.

[The Captain]

She's back in the UK now and we're waiting for the 7 days to clear before we can give our notice of intention to marry.

Once we've married and need to apply for the 2 year spouse visa, if we go to the office in Croydon, pay the £500 or so and apply in person, can the Visa be issued there and then?

Thanks in advance!

[John]

if we go to the office in Croydon, pay the £500 or so and apply in person, can the Visa be issued there and then?

If you go along to the PEO with all the required evidence, as per form FLR(M), you can expect the visa to be granted on a same-day while-you-wait basis.

Clearly the marriage certificate is an important part of the evidence to be produced. But once you know for certain exactly when the marriage is going to happen, there is nothing to stop you phoning the Croydon PEO and making the needed appointment for a date after the marriage date.