UK Fiancé Visa – 5 Tips While Applying For It

Table Of Content

1. Plan For The Visa In Advance.
2. Know The Eligibility Criteria.
3. Keep Your Documents Ready
4. Prepare For The Interview.
5. Wedding Planning
   

If you are a non-British national and engaged to a partner who is either a British citizen or has a settled status in the UK, such as indefinite leave to remain, you can apply for a UK fiancé visa to join your partner in the UK. The UK fiancé visa is valid for 6 months only, and during this period, you must marry your partner to continue living in the UK or else leave the UK before your visa expires.

UK fiancé visa can be easy to apply if you know important tips for UK fiancé visa application. Here are 5 tips while applying for it.

1 Plan For The Visa In Advance

If you want to join your fiancé in the UK and marry him/her in the next 6 months you should plan for the visa in advance. This is required because if you fail to plan and prepare in advance you and your partner may lose a chance to stay together in the UK. Planning early allows you to know important things like whether or not you need a fiancé visa which depends on the country you come from, finding a visa application center in your country, keeping your current passport or other travel document ready, and keeping your Tuberculosis test certificate prepared if required. As part of planning you should also go through the details of a UK fiancé visa yourself or consult an experienced immigration lawyer who can guide you about this.  

2 Know The Eligibility Criteria

Knowing the eligibility criteria is one of the most important tips for a UK fiancé visa application. You can always seek an expert’s service to know this but it is always good to know key eligibility criteria. Here are the key eligibility criteria that you must know:

• Your partner must be one of the following:
  1. A British or Irish citizen,
  2. Settled in the UK such as having indefinite leave to remain,
  3. One with Settled status under the EU settlement scheme,
  4. Someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme that means they have started living in the UK before 1 January 2021;
  5. Have limited leave to remain as a Turkish Businessperson or Turkish Worker or
  6. One with a protection status such as refugee leave or humanitarian protection;
  7. One with permission as a stateless person
• You and your partner must be over the age of 18;
• You both must have met in person;
• Your relationship is genuine and subsisting;
• You must intend to marry your UK partner within six months after you arrive in the UK;
• If any previous marriages or civil partnerships you and/or your partner were in must have broken down permanently;
• You intend to live together permanently in the UK;
• You and your fiancé must be able to support yourself financially without recourse to public funds;
• There must be adequate accommodation for you and any dependents;
• You must meet the English language requirement.
  
  You may have to meet other conditions depending on your circumstances

3 Keep Your Documents Ready

Keeping documents required for the visa and keeping them in proper format is also one of the most important tips for a UK fiancé visa application. Below is the list of documents that include but are not limited to the following:

• A valid passport
• Two passport-sized color photographs
• Documents such as shared bills, bank statements, divorce certificates if applicable, and details of how, when, and where both of you met. These documents will act as evidence to show that your relationship is genuine.
• Documents such as bank statements, savings statements, etc. to prove that you meet the financial requirements
• Documents as proof that you have adequate accommodation in the UK
• Your Biometric information

4 Prepare For The Interview

If you were looking for more tips for UK fiancé visa application here is the one. Though the interview does not take place for each applicant of a UK fiancé visa. But if it does in your case which will be decided by the Home Office you need to be prepared for it.

The Home Office usually calls you for an interview if they have doubts about your relationship with your partner based on the information provided by you. So, you should be ready with information related to how you both met, your engagement, and your plans to marry your UK-based partner within 6 months after you arrive in the UK.

For a successful interview you should be ready with supporting documents, review your visa application thoroughly, be honest and consistent, and be ready to give detailed answers.  

5 Wedding Planning

Well after all your intention to apply for a UK fiancé visa is to get married to your UK-based partner within the prescribed 6 months because otherwise you will have to leave the UK. So, while on hand you are happy that you have got leave to enter or remain you should simultaneously prepare for your wedding ceremony. This includes giving marriage notice 29 days before your scheduled marriage date and thus securing a marriage date with the registrar in time. Other equally important things like booking essential services such as wedding venue, registrar, and catering also need to be done in time.