Married in UK/Canada to live in UK or Eire. + EEA Route?

[phoenixuk]

Hi all,

We are wondering what the best route for us to take would be.
There are a few options we could go via but I would like to know from experience what would be the best for money saving.

We want to get married and live eventually in the UK. Where we get married to us is not important, more than anything it is the money issue and saving for visa's and the financial requirements we need to meet.

He is Canadian, currently living there and I am a UK citizen, living in England. (I could get my irish passport also through my parents, I am half Irish....but unfortunately I do not use my right to reside there, I visit a few times a year. Tried to look into the EEA route but as I don't live there I don't think I can use it but thought i would pop it in there anyway, just in case..cover all ground etc).

Anyway, I do not need a specific visa for us to get married in Toronto..I can just go on holiday and we can do it over there and it doesn't seem to cost too much.
After we have done this, I can come home and he can apply for the husband, wife, civil partner of a settled person visa (£826) then after 33 months Further leave to remain (£561) then finally after 5 years apply to settle (£991).

Our other option is for him to apply to the UK before we get married under the fiance visa (£826), then get married over here. Under that visa, after we are married, he can stay for 2 years before applying to settle (£991).

Have I understood them options correctly? If anyone has been through the same on a budget I will really like some advice on your own experiences.

On the EEA route...It is something I have been considering to maybe leave England and go live with my family back in Ireland for a few years, making him a Non-EEA member married to an EEA member. Then if we both live over there maybe. It sounds like it could be a massively cheaper option for us with far less restrictions and "financial requirements" from what I have read so far but...Im still reading lol.

Thank you!

[MPH80]

You're almost right on a lot of this ...

Firstly - keep in mind that prices go up over time ... so the figures you're seeing now don't apply so much.

Second - the fiancee visa leads requires a switch to a spouse visa (further £550 whatever it is) ... then the spouse renewal at 2.5 years before ILR.

BUT - what you have to trade that off against is the flight costs.

So - if you go to get married in Toronto - you're going to have to fly over there, then BOTH of you fly back ... let's say £500/seat/direction ... that's £1500.

On the other hand - a fiancee visa involves just him flying here - so £500.

So that additional renewal cost of the fiancee visa might pay for itself. However, you need to think about relatives and any upset you might cause by having a wedding in a particular location (we had to hold a separate party in Peru for my wife's relatives and friends to prevent any bad feeling).

As for the EEA route - you're right - that is a lower cost route and it's on the same timescale now (5 years) to permanent residence, but it involves uprooting yourself to Ireland for a period of time before returning.

The only question I have in my mind (and I genuinely don't know the answer) is whether, because you're entitled to irish citizenship you would automatically be Irish too ... and therefore subject to Ireland's immigration rules for your husband to be if you moved there ... not sure on this.

M.

[wiggsy]

you could renounce your british citizenship and be purely irish... and then use EEA movement to move your fiance directly to england? [im pretty sure i read something about somebody taking this move whilst googling for my wifes case]

also read that you are IRISH so therefore enter on irish passport into the uk with your husband and they have to treat you as irish, whether or not you are british, you are also irish and excersising your EEA right as an irish citizen.