Maybe someone can help me out on this as at the moment I'm totally confused and overwhelmed. I'm a US citizen whose South African fiance has been residing in the UK on an ancestral visa since the end of December. If we were to marry in South Africa could we go the DCF route there even though he hasn't been living in RSA for a few months? Does anyone have any info on this they'd care to share? Thanks in advance!

Hello,

Are you asking if you can file DCF in RSA when neither of you reside there? I think the answer to that would be no. Or do you mean you would both be residing in RSA when you file?

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with which visa your fiance is in the UK on, unless you mean you want to marry in RSA then return to the UK where you both reside and file DCF from there?

Oh, you don't mention where you reside at the moment either. More info?

Edit: Unsure how I managed to post a dozen blank lines here the first time :/

Yes, I'm asking whether the two of us could get married in SA and go the DCF route there if neither of us are currently living there. He is a citizen of that country and has lived his entire life there up until just a few months ago when he moved to the UK on an ancestral visa. I am a US resident and currently live in the US and I'm trying to get him to the States from the UK. and I know we couldn't do the DCF in the UK so I was wondering if perhaps we could do it in SA, especially since we really want to have the wedding there anyway. Thanks, and sorry for any confusion.

Does the SA citizen still have a permanent residence in SA? Like a parent's house? If s/he has been only temporarily resident abroad (in the UK), I could see making a case for it.

Remember: our job is to make it easy for them to say "yes".


Consider what will happen if they say "no".

You want a wedding in SA, regardless. If you get married there, take your paperwork through their system and see what happens.
If they will not accept the case in SA, you file your I-130 stateside. If SA beneficiary has sufficient long term stay allowed in the UK, you can choose which 'residence' you want to use for the visa application.