uk fiancee has question

lizzysb · Post by **lizzysb** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:34 pm

I have british fiance who wants to get married there in the uk. Is there anything he can do there in the uk to speed up the process of my visa??? He lives there in the uk. IS there anything that can be done from his end to take care of my paper work?

stedman · Post by **stedman** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:39 pm

It's hard to say without knowing more about your circumstances.. is there anything that is holding, or may hold things up? Is it a straightforward application? Do you need a CoA? What visa are you applying for - fiancee or spouse?

lizzysb · Post by **lizzysb** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:42 pm

As far as I know it's straightforward...we've just got engaged and are now learning the ropes of what we need to do. What is a COA?

stedman · Post by **stedman** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:48 pm

Cerfificate of Approval - if one of you has limits on their time in the UK (i.e you) you need to get one of these which will allow you to get married here. Otherwise you're better off getting married in the US and then applying for a spouse visa.

lizzysb · Post by **lizzysb** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:52 pm

I don't have any time limit on how long I can stay there in the UK. We wanted to get the visa and then I would travel to the uk for a couple of months and get married and apply for the spousal visa there. We are on the correct path right?

stedman · Post by **stedman** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:02 pm

If you have no time limit on how long you can stay in the UK, why do you need a spouse visa?

ball1333 · Post by **ball1333** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:13 pm

lizzysb wrote:I don't have any time limit on how long I can stay there in the UK.

Errr, the time limit question is not about your personal plans, it's about your *visa status*. When you go through immigration they stamp your passport saying you have "leave to remain" ( = "permission to stay") for a certain period of time. This is usually 6 months if you're an American citizen *visiting* the UK. Look at your current valid US passport, where they stamped it the last time you visited the UK, and you will see the stamp I am talking about.

If you are go to LA to get a fiancee visa, you better believe your visa will have "valid from" and "valid until" dates on it!!!

lizzysb · Post by **lizzysb** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:43 am

thank you for clairfying that point. We are hoping to get things sorted by end of summer and all the information being thrown at us is confusing times 10.

Am I correct on reading that you can't travel to the uk and then decided to apply for the visa(s) there?

ball1333 · Post by **ball1333** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:52 am

lizzysb wrote:Am I correct on reading that you can't travel to the uk and then decided to apply for the visa(s) there?

CORRECT. If you get to the UK as a vistor and want to change visa categories (say, "visitor" to "spouse" because you decided to get married in the UK) you have to return to your home country (in your case, the US) to apply for the different visa category + go through Entry Clearance.

If you are a US citizen in the UK on a visa that has an expiration period beyond 6 months (basically, anything other than the "visitor" category) you may be able to switch visa categories without returning to your home country (this is called "further leave to remain" = FLR). But you would have to get a visa that you applied for within the US and go through Entry Clearance before going to the UK in order to be eligible for FLR as far as I know!

[I'm looking forward to the moderators' feedback on this post - I think I am getting up to speed but I have a lot to learn]

lizzysb · Post by **lizzysb** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:49 pm

My fiancee has read through everything and he's chosen to hire immigration lawyers to get all the papers and information correct on his side. I'm still going through mounds of papers and information as it seems to change kinda quickly and many places have varying info.
Still fingers crossed that this can all be done by end of summer. He's coming over end of this month and he's going to be going with me for the filing.
Thank you for your response and time to my question(s).

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uk fiancee has question

uk fiancee has question