Visit for marriage help needed

[Think~Pink 0]

Hi everyone

I posted a while ago about our situation and after considering all our options, we decided to go down the visit for marriage route.

My fiance is coming over here to get married, then I will apply for the spouse visa to go and join him in the US.

Our wedding is booked for June 5th 2009

My fiance is coming over this Christmas, December 20th, and during this time, we are hoping to give notice of marriage.

The thing is, I know the visa is only valid for 6 months, so our timing is going to be critical and basically,the visa will have to be issued after December 5th in order to still be valid 6 months down the line.

Does the time of the visa start from the moment you apply, or from the date it is approved?

Obviously, he needs it before travelling over here in December, so would anyone be able to advise me of real time, processing times..ie, how long it takes to arrive on average, if you can request it to start from a particular date and and if there is a fee you can pay to rush it through once approved.

Does anyone also have any advice as to when he should apply for it so our visa doesn't run out before we get married.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

[Think~Pink 0]

Sorry, I can't seem to see an option to edit my original post.

I just came across this information:

How long will my visa be valid for?

With a visit visa you can usually enter and leave the UK any number of times while the visa is still valid. You cannot stay for longer than six months on each visit. Visit visas can be valid for six months, one year, two years, five years or 10 years. You can apply for a visa valid for any of these periods. The Entry Clearance Officer may decide to make your visa valid for a shorter time than you have asked for, for example if you are not a regular traveller or have never visited the UK before

Does this apply to the visit for marriage visa and does this mean he can get the visa for 1 year, then use it to come over in December and again in June next year and it will still be valid, as long as he isn't staying for longer than 6 months at a time?

So confusing.

Edited September 13, 2008 by Think~Pink

[English Muffin 59]

Hi there. Most of the people on here are dealing with moving to the US, not the other way around, so I'm not sure if many people will be able to help you - I know I can't!

This forum might be better for your needs http://talk.uk-yankee.com/

Good luck with everything.

[Think~Pink 0]

Hi and thanks for replying and the link

He is not moving over here, just visiting in order to be married, then going back home to the US..I will then be moving over there to live with him.

I just wondered if anyone else had any experience of this or any legal information that may help..sorry if I posted in the wrong place, it's hard to find anywhere that has this information.

The website you linked to doesn't really help, but thanks anyway

[Boiler 43,436]

Hi and thanks for replying and the link

He is not moving over here, just visiting in order to be married, then going back home to the US..I will then be moving over there to live with him.

I just wondered if anyone else had any experience of this or any legal information that may help..sorry if I posted in the wrong place, it's hard to find anywhere that has this information.

The website you linked to doesn't really help, but thanks anyway

Well you need a Visa to marry in the UK, all that is on the UK Embassy web site, can not see any issues there.

Once you are Married and want to both move to the US then it is the usual CR1/K3 options, pleny of info elsewhere on that.

The rest of your post confuses me, guessing the time line is tricky, but usual procesing guesstimate would be 6 to 9 months so you should have the visa early 2010 and then 6 months to use it.

Edited September 13, 2008 by Boiler

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

OK, the first thing that you need to know (and you may already) is that the visit for marriage visa will be required for giving notice of marriage. Your notice is then good for 12 months. The visa for marriage mostly comes in to play when giving notice. They will only ask to see it then. Once they have accepted your notice, they won't ask for it again - the registrar that is. Of course the visa will still have to be valid to re-enter for the marriage itself.

I'll look in to it more, cos I'm planning to write up a wiki for this, but that's all I got for now

[Think~Pink 0]

Hi Poiteen,

Thanks for that info. I knew about the validity of the notice of mariage, but it's the actual visa that I need to know about. Is the visit for marriage visa valid for more than a six month period.

Basically, apply for visa that is valid for 12 month, come over in Dec, give notice, leave end of Dec, come back over in June, get married, leave again, then I start the process of moving over there.

If the visa can be valid for more than 6 months, then we won't have a problem applying for it, as the timing will not then be crucial.

From what I understand of the paragraph I quoted in the above post...the visa can be valid for as long as you like, as long as the person holding it spends no more than 6 months at a time in the country. I am wondering if I am reading that right, because elsewhere, they all say you can only get a visit for marriage visa for 6 months.

Sorry if it sounds confusing..it's confusing for me too, which is why I need help lol

Good luck with the Wiki

Edited September 14, 2008 by Think~Pink

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Think Pink, where did you see that the visit for marriage visa can be for 12 months? I have only ever seen it as being a 6 month entry permit: like here

Furthermore I know I've said it before, but the path your going down, you two will be separated until at least March 2010. If you made a quick trip to the US, it would only need to be 3 days if you like, you could be legally married, start the spousal application, and have another ceremony at your planned June 2009 date. If you did it that way, you might even be ready to move shortly after. Are you really sure that you want to continue with the visit for marriage option?

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Ok I found the link where it says it can be valid for up to 12 months:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/chapter10/#point%20eleven

And this is the pdf version of the online application that you would do:

https://ukvisas-stage.ukvisas.gov.uk/resour...cs/1903073/vaf1

and the guidance relating to it:

https://ukvisas-stage.ukvisas.gov.uk/resour...03073/vaf1guide

Edited September 14, 2008 by Poiteen

[Think~Pink 0]

Thanks so much Poiteen for taking the time and trouble to find the links.

That is indeed where I saw you could have it for 12 months and also the ONLY place I have seen this since, so I had to ask.

Being able to apply for a multiple entry visa, solves all our problems and so this is the way we are going to go.

Thanks also for your concern about our situation..we have weighed up all of our options and had a lot of discussion about it. Although it isn't the quickest route, it is ultimately the best route for us to go down...TBH, we have waited so long to be together, we figure a few more months won't make that much difference and give us both time to sort things out...especially at my end.

Once again, thanks so much for your help..no doubt I will be calling on your expertise once my spousal visa application begins

Edited September 14, 2008 by Think~Pink

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

It won't be a few more months, it will be a full year. And let me tell you, once you know you're moving, time goes a lot more slowly.

I don't know how long it takes these days for the entry permit, but when we applied for an unmarried partnership entry permit from the NY Consulate it took about a 2 weeks to process. From my understanding the time that you're allowed starts counting down from when the visa is stamped at entry at the border. But you should check that with the embassy.

The Border and Immigration Authority website looks like it's been re-organised since I was there last, and not for the better. They seem to have removed a lot of detailed info. To find out more up to date processing and first hand experience I'd advise that you use forums that are specifically indended for UK immigration issues.