Apply for spousal visa here or abroad?

[CommodoreTech]

Hi everyone.

Not sure which section to post this in so please change if i've posted this is in the wrong section.

My situation is this:

My partner, to whom i'm not married (yet!), is in Brazil. He wants to come here to get married but i'm confused about a few things, namely the Home Office website. So, my understanding is this, mostly two options of whether to marry here and move away (Option 1) or marry here and stay here together (Option 2)

Option 1: He can apply for a marriage visitor visa, stay for 6 months (no employment, no public funds etc), and then we both would leave. But to apply we need to prove a relationship. (Cue invasive Home Office probing into our private lives etc etc). However, I'm potentially getting a job that would carry me way over the income threshold, which therefore brings me to...

Option 2: He applies for the join family visa, which requires us either to get married or to be married, or prove we've been in a relationship for two years (probs impossible as he's lived in Brazil for that time and i'm sure they'd refuse). We can't marry in Brazil (conservative Catholic country if you catch my drift), and hence it would have to be 'intend to get married'... But, how do I prove this? There's no form I can see that has the criteria to prove 'intent to marry', nor a list I can find.

I've looked at giving notice etc, but to do that, the GOV website says you must have a fiance visitor visa to give proper notice at a registry office, and he should prove he's paid a part of it? But then, i've read that if you apply for the fiance visitor visa, it's impossible to swap into the spousal visa category and refusal is certain (or so it appears on some pages on the website?). So he would have to come here on the visitor visa, get married, go back, apply again as my husband, return (hopefully) with a proper visa?

Basically, what visa should I begin to consider telling him to start considering, if hypothetically the plan is to get married here, in the UK, and then live together (for 6 years until the UK gets another citizen), in the UK?

Should he apply for settlement as my 'prospective' husband in Brazil before coming here?

Or is it possible for him to come here on a fiance visitor visa, swap into the family reunion and start that whole process, and its just the Home Office being their usual evasive difficult selves?

Thanks for reading, please tell me if someone has had the exact same problem and I didn't find it on the forum.

Many thanks

[noajthan]

Regarding Marriage visa: just to be clear, you don't both have to leave UK. Juat the visa holder has to leave.

What you want to do is actually very usual and quite straightforward and achievable (if quite expensive)...

Get fiance visa.
Fiance comes here, you marry within 6 months;
Switch to spouse visa;
Shoot for citizenship after 5/6 years;
Live happily ever after;
etc etc.

PS Don't get visitor visa.

Good luck.

[Wanderer]

1. Marriage visit visa, marry, he goes home, apply for spouse visa meeting the criteria.

2. Fiance visa, switch to Spouse visa, again meeting the criteria.

3. Marry in Brazil (or third country), apply for spouse visa, again meeting the criteria.

The criteria is to have earned £18,600 for the last six months in UK, or have £62,500 in savings, or a combination of both, subject to a weird formula. His earnings or any third party support won't count.

[Casa]

You're off the mark on so many of your 'options' that it's difficult to know where to start! Instead of correcting each one, it's easier to start afresh.
Options:
1. Apply for a marriage visitor visa, marry in the UK within 6 months and then you both leave the UK to live life wherever. Visa fee £85
2. Marry in Brazil and apply for a spouse settlement visa. £1195 visa fee + £600 NHS Surcharge
3. Apply for a fiance visa, marry in the UK within 6 months and then switch to a spouse visa from within the UK on a FLR(M) application.
Fiance visa fee £1195. FLR(M) spouse visa £811 (postal) or £1311 (premium submitted in person). + £500 NHS Surcharge

You don't need to have been in a relationship for 2 years. That's only required for an unmarried partner visa.

A spouse visa will initially grant 2.5 year limited leave to remain, after which your husband will need to apply for another 2.5 year extension before qualifying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after 5 years.
As your fiance's sponsor you need meet the minimum annual income level of £18,600 and have been earning this pro rata for the 6 months prior to submitting the application.
Your fiance needs to pass A1 level English from an UKVI approved test provider.
You can't switch to spouse while on a visitor visa.

Edit: Beaten by Wanderer...but I posted more.

[Casa]

Just to qualify...noajthan's correct that you don't both have to leave the UK after marrying on a marriage visitor visa...I just assumed you'd want to be together.

Edit: There's no requirement for your fiance to pay for half the wedding...at least not from the UKVI

[CommodoreTech]

Ahahahahah yes of course, and by the looks of some of their requirements i'll have to pay for some big grand ceremony with many people to prove its not some sham marriage...

(xi) The circumstances of the wedding ceremony or reception, e.g. no or few
guests and/or no significant family members present.

So just to make sure its clear in my own head: in pure and simple terms, there's a 'fiance/marriage' visitor visa, which is 6 months and goodbye, and a 'fiance/marriage' settlement visa, which allows you to come here as a proposed partner, then transfer into the 2.5 + 2.5 year visas upon marriage and a few thousand pounds later?

[Casa]

Ahahahahah yes of course, and by the looks of some of their requirements i'll have to pay for some big grand ceremony with many people to prove its not some sham marriage...

(xi) The circumstances of the wedding ceremony or reception, e.g. no or few
guests and/or no significant family members present.

So just to make sure its clear in my own head: in pure and simple terms, there's a 'fiance/marriage' visitor visa, which is 6 months and goodbye, and a 'fiance/marriage' settlement visa, which allows you to come here as a proposed partner, then transfer into the 2.5 + 2.5 year visas upon marriage and a few thousand pounds later?

In simple terms, you've got it.

No need for a lavish ceremony, but it's crucial to submit strong evidence of a genuine relationship...contact between you while you're apart, proof of time spent together. It's been assumed that you've met in person...?

[CommodoreTech]

Yes, we've met in person, in the UK in fact. We've been together in person three times, once here, once in Europe and another time in Brazil. The only reason we've been apart (for more than a year now) is that we've both been studying, both finishing under/post grad degrees. Hopefully the long period apart (flights to Brazil are rather expensive) won't seem too ridiculous? I mean I feel like there's a reasonable chance they'll see it sceptically, and given any chance it seems they'll deny a visa if they can... Or will this mean sending them many millions of whatsapp and facebook messages? ( ahah :/ )

[Wanderer]

Yes, we've met in person, in the UK in fact. We've been together in person three times, once here, once in Europe and another time in Brazil. The only reason we've been apart (for more than a year now) is that we've both been studying, both finishing under/post grad degrees. Hopefully the long period apart (flights to Brazil are rather expensive) won't seem too ridiculous? I mean I feel like there's a reasonable chance they'll see it sceptically, and given any chance it seems they'll deny a visa if they can... Or will this mean sending them many millions of whatsapp and facebook messages? ( ahah :/ )

That's not really true, you just need to tick the boxes that they ask for. Spouse visas are rarely denied, and those that are are usually because people don't read the visa forms and guidance notes properly. There is no conspiracy.

[Casa]

Don't overlook the condition that you need to be earning £18,600 p.a for the 6 months prior to submitting the application. 6 months of pay slips + 6 months of corresponding bank statements.

[CommodoreTech]

Good to hear about spousal visas! I'd really gotten a bad impression from my research (and reading forums haha).

As per the earning threshold, i've read and researched that a lot as well. I'd researched all of this (and gotten confused, evidently) because hopefully soon i'll be above the threshold which means I can now actually consider living here, avec (after much paperwork) spouse.

[Wanderer]

Good to hear about spousal visas! I'd really gotten a bad impression from my research (and reading forums haha).

As per the earning threshold, i've read and researched that a lot as well. I'd researched all of this (and gotten confused, evidently) because hopefully soon i'll be above the threshold which means I can now actually consider living here, avec (after much paperwork) spouse.

You need to above the threshold for six straight months if salaried, that's £1550 pcm or more each month. Otherwise it's a 12 month path.