UK spouse settlement visa - marriage within 6 months?

[wix]

Hi All

My wife's spouse settlement visa was accepted, and she arrived with me in the UK in August 2018. My wife seems to think we need to get married in the UK within 6 months of arrival. I believe i might have read this also, but can't find anything about this online. We are married in her native country Vietnam, but the marriage hasn't been legalized/apostled by the embassy there. Do we need to get married in the UK? Can we somehow use our Vietnam marriage certificate instead if marriage proof is necessary?

Thanks in advance.

[Casa]

Did you apply for a Spouse Settlement visa or a fiance visa? Was you marriage certificate submitted with your application

What is the date of expiry on your wife's BRP

[wix]

Hi All

Has anyone any experience of how to get a bank account for someone on a visa here? My wife's name isn't on our tenancy because the landlord won't allow it as she wouldn't show up on a credit report, and i can't add my wife's name to our utility accounts either. The water company told me that if i had a council tax letter with her name on, that they would add her name to the account. That's my only option at present, but wondering if anyone else had any advice?

Thanks

[CR001]

Did you apply for a Spouse Settlement visa or a fiance visa? Was you marriage certificate submitted with your application

What is the date of expiry on your wife's BRP

OP applied for a spouse visa and is already married.

by wix » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:32 pm
Dear All

My situation is that i have a Vietnamese wife (married in Vietnam 2 years ago), and we have a daughter together (who has a British passport).

immigration-for-family-members/question ... l#p1597353

[CR001]

Hi All

My wife's spouse settlement visa was accepted, and she arrived with me in the UK in August 2018. My wife seems to think we need to get married in the UK within 6 months of arrival. I believe i might have read this also, but can't find anything about this online. We are married in her native country Vietnam, but the marriage hasn't been legalized/apostled by the embassy there. Do we need to get married in the UK? Can we somehow use our Vietnam marriage certificate instead if marriage proof is necessary?

Thanks in advance.

You cannot marry if you are already married. There is NO requirement to register a foreign marriage in the UK or to have an apostilled marriage cert. Your marriage cert was clearly accepted for the spouse visa, so nothing else you need to do. Your wife is wrong.

The only time you need to marry within 6 months is if your partner got a 6 months validity Fiance visa.

[CR001]

Hi All

Has anyone any experience of how to get a bank account for someone on a visa here? My wife's name isn't on our tenancy because the landlord won't allow it as she wouldn't show up on a credit report, and i can't add my wife's name to our utility accounts either. The water company told me that if i had a council tax letter with her name on, that they would add her name to the account. That's my only option at present, but wondering if anyone else had any advice?

Thanks

Letter from the GP stating her address??

Please also keep ALL your questions in the same topic.

[wix]

Thanks. That's good to know about the marriage situation.

A GP letter isn't accepted apparently, that's what i was told by Halifax Bank.

[wix]

It was a spouse settlement visa, and yes we provided our Vietnamese marriage certificate.

[CR001]

Add her to council tax and ask them to send you a letter.

A utility should have no issue adding her and their response is very odd too.

[wix]

Yes, i am going to contact the council tomorrow.

Npower won't add her name unless she becomes the main account holder and pays the bill.
Yorkshire Water require a council tax letter to add her name.

Frustrating!

Thanks for your advice.

[TanJL]

You can use a NI number letter to open some bank accounts (we went with TSB for this reason) & later use those bank statements to open a different bank account if necessary.
https://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/faqs/identity/
We had a bit of trouble on the day but showed them this on their website & they over rode the "computer says no". We also opened it as a joint account because otherwise they would only give my husband a really basic account without full facilities because he didn't have a credit score.

Apply for the NI number ASAP as it takes a while to get an appointment if you need one and then several weeks to get the letter come through.
We were also advised that a NHS registration letter was not accepted.

Bit naff of your landlord imo, she has a right to rent & since you are still going to a named tenant and be paying the rent, what's the problem if she doesn't have a credit score?!

[seagul]

You can use a NI number letter to open some bank accounts (we went with TSB for this reason) & later use those bank statements to open a different bank account if necessary.
https://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/faqs/identity/
We had a bit of trouble on the day but showed them this on their website & they over rode the "computer says no". We also opened it as a joint account because otherwise they would only give my husband a really basic account without full facilities because he didn't have a credit score.

Apply for the NI number ASAP as it takes a while to get an appointment if you need one and then several weeks to get the letter come through.
We were also advised that a NHS registration letter was not accepted.

Bit naff of your landlord imo, she has a right to rent & since you are still going to a named tenant and be paying the rent, what's the problem if she doesn't have a credit score?!

Easiest & fastest although little costly is to apply provisional driving license or TV lincence which are almost accepted by everyone.

[TanJL]

We were living with my parents initially who already had a TV licence / bills / council tax in their names etc. (Though TSB website does not list TV licence as an acceptable proof of address)
At the time, we interpreted the DVLA guidelines and believed we couldn't apply for a drivers licence until my husband had been in the UK for 6 months. I have been advised recently that isn't the case and we could have applied for the drivers licence when he first arrived but I haven't verified that information at all.
So we ended up waiting for the NI number; which was a long time for us since my husband came initially on the fiance visa and couldn't get an NI number until he had FLR(M) & the right to work.

But may still be an option for the OP as his wife is on a spouse visa and already has the right to work.

[Londoner007]

Not to Panic - almost anything that is addressed to the applicant and sponsor can be used