Au pair marriage query

[mikesmith79]

Hi all, I am new to the board and am hoping for some advice. I have checked the FAQ's and searched the forum but can't find anything directly relevant to my situation.

I have been dating a Turkish girl for 6 months who is currently in the UK on a 2 year au-pair visa (valid until Sept 08 ). We're very much in love and are planning to get engaged next month after visiting her family in Turkey.

I was wondering what the process would be for getting married? I have information on applying for a CoA - would this alone meet the government requirements, bearing in mind Turkey is not in the EU?

Would there be any other potential issues arising from her au-pair status? I understand she would no longer be able to continue working as an au-pair if we were to get married, but would us getting married immediately qualify her to apply for jobs and work in the UK?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Mike

[Docterror]

What is your current immigration status? Are you a British/EEA citizen or ILR holder? or any other category with restricted immigration status?

Your fiance will have to apply for the CoA to be eligible to marry you as Turkey is not currently a part of the EU and the au-pair should not be a determent for the application. Once the marriage is done, she will have to apply for the spouse/dependant visa depending on your immigration status. Once she has the visa she will be free to take up any employment without any restrictions if she is eligible for it.

[mikesmith79]

Thanks for the reply...sorry, yes I'm a British citizen - born here and I've always lived in England.

Once we are married, what is the process for her applying for the spouse visa? Are there further costs involved, in addition to the £295 for the CoA? Thanks again.

[Docterror]

Once you get married, your fiance will have to apply for the spouse visa using the FLR(M) which will be valid for 2 years. Unfortunately this means that you will have to fork out another £750/950 depending on the postal/Premium application for the spouse visa respectively.

But the question here is whether she will be allowed to switch in-country from the Au-pair to the spouse visa or whether she will have to make an application for it from Turkey. I will let someone else get to you on that. But do enquire about it to the BIA, even though they can be notoriously undependable in accuracy while imparting such information.

[Wanderer]

Once you get married, your fiance will have to apply for the spouse visa using the FLR(M) which will be valid for 2 years. Unfortunately this means that you will have to fork out another £750/950 depending on the postal/Premium application for the spouse visa respectively.

But the question here is whether she will be allowed to switch in-country from the Au-pair to the spouse visa or whether she will have to make an application for it from Turkey. I will let someone else get to you on that. But do enquire about it to the BIA, even though they can be notoriously undependable in accuracy while imparting such information.

The FLR visa fee is £385 isn't it - not £750

[Docterror]

Oops..my bad! Yes it should have been £395/595 for the postal/premium FLR(M) applications. Thanks for the correction, Wanderer!

[mikesmith79]

Thanks again...it appears the FLR (M) is £395 and then the SET (M) form (after 2 years on the spouse visa) is now £750.

I'd really appreciate any further info you could find on switching from the au-pair visa to spouse visa status in the UK. My girlfriend has a useful contact in Turkey who may be able to advise her/speed things up if going back to Turkey is necessary, but if she could switch visas without the need to go back home again it would help us. Otherwise we'll have yet more flight money to fork out and an unknown period we'd have to spend in different countries. It's certianly not going to be straightforward!

[Wanderer]

Actually yours is fairly straightforward, you should
see some of the hoops some of us have to jump through!!