Spouse visa help needed

[David4444]

Hello
I am hoping to marry my fiancée from the Ukraine and would like to know the best way to do this.
Also is there a fee to the U.K. Government of £1494 I have to pay?
If I used a good visa company how much in total would I pay including and visa fees.
Thanks for any help on this

[CR001]

Are you planning to marry in the UK or in the Ukraine?

Have you met in person?

Do you meet the financial requirement of £18,600pa income?

She needs English A1 test from an HO approved test provider.

A visa agent is not really needed no.

The visa fee and extra cost of IHS depends on the answer to my question above.

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview

[David4444]

Hi cr001
We have not decided where to marry yet, we are looking for advice on which place would be better to marry so we are not apart
We have met in person many times and I have visa stamps to show this and holidays etc.
I earn £32500 per year so that should not be a problem

Thanks for your help

[SimonS]

Hi David,

I've more or less just gone through this process myself this year. I married my wife (Russian) in Russia in April and we have submitted the application straight after the wedding. Currently waiting on a decision.

You may find a lot of useful information in my original post on this board. It's called.....Spouse Visa For My Russian Wife - Please Help...............it's the last post on page 5 of this board at the moment.

We decided to marry in Russia because it's faster, much less complicated and less expensive than getting a UK marriage license and Visa etc. I expect it will be a simlar process to marry in the Ukraine if that is what you choose.

Cheers
Simon

[David4444]

Simon, thanks I will have a look at the post

[CR001]

To options then, which I will list the process and costs.

Fiance visa - to marry in the UK
* Validity 6 months
* Partner won't be allowed to work on this visa
* This visa allows you to give notice to marry in the UK
* No Immigration Health Surcharge is payable so partner will need decent travel insurance.
* Cost of visa is £1464
* Once married in the UK, partner applies for a spouse visa on FLR(M) in the UK and pays the visa fee of £1464 again and £500 immigration health surcharge. Once visa is granted, partner can work.

Spouse Visa - if you marry abroad
* Once married, partner applies from the Ukraine
* Visa fee is £1464 PLUS £600 Immigration Health Surcharge
* No travel insurance required
* As soon as partner is granted a visa and arrives in the UK, partner will be allowed to work once NI number is applied for.
* Initial visa will be for 30 days and partner will have to collect their biometric residence card from the nominated Post Office within 10 days of arriving in the UK.
* This visa is valid for 33 months which is renewable after 2.5 years or residence for another 2.5 year visa, partner can apply within the UK for this and the visa fee applicable at the time is payable plus £500 immigration health surcharge.

For either option and each step in the process, you need to prove you meet the requirements.

Shortly before 5 years residence, partner can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain and as soon as this is granted, partner can apply for British Citizenship if all requirements are met.

[ukrainian2017]

Hello!
I am Ukrainian and my husband is British

We got married in August 2016, applied for visa on 25th January 2017 (yeah, took a long time), and we've been put on hold due to court case (read here immigration-for-family-members/uk-spous ... 26494.html)

It's way faster to marry in Ukraine. You need to come to Ukraine, translate your passport and get notary approval (just go to any translation office). Then you go to ZAKS (registration office). We got married in Kiev, in ZAKS on Pechersk (your fiancee should know; website - http://zags.kiev.ua/pecherskij). It's really fast there. They proceed your application within 1 month and you can get married. Total cost of this around £10-20.

If you want to get married faster, I've heard about document-service in Kiev "Gotovo" https://gotovo.net.ua/ , they can register you within 24 hours, but charge around £150 (and I'm not sure is it applicable for foreigners).

Anyway your fiancee should contact those places and find out ("Gotovo" is very friendly and they will provide you with any information).
If she isn't from Kiev, so ZAKS (government registration office might be a problem, as they are not used to foreigners).