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Original poster

To ask about spouse visa

31 replies

Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 11:42

Hi,

Long time lurker but this is my first post.
I've been in a relationship with a US national for nearly a year now and being separated by an ocean is getting frustrating. We meet all the financial requirements for a spouse visa (we just actually need to get married).

Has anyone gone through this before and have any tips to share?

OP posts:
etzy · 21/04/2018 12:26

Where do u intend to leave after u get married?

Kokeshi123 · 21/04/2018 12:30

Confused. You want him to come to the UK? Or you want to go to the US?

Sn0tnose · 21/04/2018 13:06

There's a bit more to getting a visa than just meeting the financial requirement.

Who will be moving to which country? Will they be travelling before or after marriage? Will they be applying for a spouse visa in country or from abroad? Do you have evidence of your relationship ready to submit with your application?

UtterlyDesperate · 21/04/2018 13:11

Top tip is to get a lawyer to help you - it's more complicated than the gov UK pages suggest, and it's easy to screw up without assistance. Prepare to produce lots of "proof" of your relationship, including emails, photos, screenshots of texts etc. The above only applies if you are after a spousal visa to the UK, of course!

Bashfulinseduary · 21/04/2018 13:12

I've done the spousal visa process both for my American husband to come to the UK, and for me to live in the USA. Which are you looking to do?

Bashfulinseduary · 21/04/2018 13:17

I didn't use a lawyer in either case.

HazelBite · 21/04/2018 13:17

Watching this with interest, Ds3 is getting married in June (in the US) to his Texan GF (of 9 years) they intend to settle in UK, I understand that they will have to give our "home" address as their principal residence, I don't know all the gory details , but I do know the whole process is expensive and long winded.
My future DIL is a qualified teacher with several years experience as we live in SE she will have no diffculty getting employment as her qualifications will be considered valid.

Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 13:58

Sorry! I realise how scant the information I gave was.

He is going to move here to be with me. He is a writer so can work anywhere and I'm a teacher so need to stay here - did look at moving there but it would take another year training which I can't afford.

Most of our relationship nowadays is conducted over Skype so have records of daily hour long / 2 hours talking. Early days we have emails, but they are mostly random film quotes and one liners. What kind of evidence do they want?

He spent 7 weeks here in the summer. I've just back from two weeks at his. He is comming over for August- Oct this year and then we are going to the states to get married. As I understand it, if we get married Oct half term then I come home on my own, he needs to apply for the visa over there.

OP posts:
ASimpleLampoon · 21/04/2018 14:04

OP, there is a Facebook group called "I love my "foreign" Spouse" where people who are going through the process can support each other. They have all the information in their document lists and can point you in the right direction for anything you need, also if you're unsure about something people who have been in the same situation can help.

Good luck!

Skinnyboneylittlepony · 21/04/2018 14:04

Where is ‘here’ ?

Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 14:07

Actually, just checked the Skype, I reinstalled it after it glitched a while back so intermittent messages but only call records for the last few weeks - although emails going back to last May.

OP posts:
Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 14:08

Asimplelampoon thats great, thanks.

Here is the UK

OP posts:
Sn0tnose · 21/04/2018 14:09

Most of our relationship nowadays is conducted over Skype so have records of daily hour long / 2 hours talking. Early days we have emails, but they are mostly random film quotes and one liners. What kind of evidence do they want? Exactly that sort of thing. And photos of the two of you (absolutely nothing explicit!) together. Have you kept cards with envelopes showing post dates? Basically, anything that shows that you've known each other and been in a relationship for the period of time you say you have.

Inkstainedmags · 21/04/2018 14:15

When you're together, get photos with each of you with the other's friends and family to demonstrate that you're part of each other's lives. Keep receipts of any things you do together when you're together. Maybe send each other some cards by post over the next few months? I think they like stacks of paper - my documentation was at least am inch thick.

Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 14:20

That's great advice, thanks. Given that we are not planning on getting married till October, we have time to create the require kind of evidence. We actually have very few pics together - I hate selfie, although we have a few, most of the pics when we are together are more of the scenery lol

OP posts:
WattdeEll · 21/04/2018 14:28

We had a nightmare with ours, despite being very straight forward on paper. Our first application was refused, based on their mistake and there was no appeal.We got an immigration lawyer involved and it was worth the money. I believe things have since got very strict, they are naturally suspicious of relationships that have mostly been started and continued online. There are also rules now that you must have so much money in savings.
I’d get advice from a lawyer on the best way to do it for your case. In our case I could’ve married him and not been allowed for him to come here or me to go there so only go ahead with a marriage on legal advice.
In the end we got a fiancé visa to get married then a spousal visa after we were married. He now has IDLTR.
At some point we will retire over to his home country but unless he gets British Citizenship we would have to go through the whole spousal visa application again if we live abroad for a while.
Invest the money in a good immigration lawyer to cover yourself.

Grasslands · 21/04/2018 14:29

Is your October trip as a visitor? I’m of the impression visitors are not allowed to marry.

reddressblueshoes · 21/04/2018 14:31

You need to be very careful with your plans. As mentioned, you need to get mArried on a fiancee visa in the U.K., and I think something similar could be the case in the US. It is really not as straightforward as meeting the criteria and going ahead- I know a couple who were together seven years and the process of them getting married so he could move to the UK took almost 18 months. Would agree with others you need specialist legal advise.

Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 14:41

Visitors in the UK are not allowed to marry without a visa, but from what I can see ..... and I've done a reasonable ammount of research, we can get married in the US without any visa restrictions and the marriage is legally recognised in the UK.

OP posts:
NK493efc93X1277dd3d6d4 · 21/04/2018 14:51

I'd say ou absolutely do not need a lawyer! You just need to be methodical & start preparing the evidence that you are a couple. Put it all in a folder in date order so they can follow it easily. Link your scenery photos to letters/emails mentioning the holiday. Put everything you have in - however vague and put a summary or index type thing including dates at the front explaining what it all means.

Photos, letters, plane/train tickets, write a statement stating why him coming here is better for your work etc.

There are a few immigration boards which can be helpful to register on & read. You will quickly become aware of the problems people have encountered )although some of them do seem rather far fetched and give cause to wonder whether these marriages are actually genuine).

Once you know of the possibly difficult questions (such as why don't you move there) you will be able to prepare properly for them.

In a nutshell it is all designed to check that you are a real couple & can afford to support yourselves here.

They will certainly ask him when he last saw you. Could you go out there to go with him when he has the interview? Non genuine spouses never do this. They won't let you into the room but he can say that his wife is with him.

Original poster
Farcry66 · 21/04/2018 15:17

Probably wouldn't be able to go with him to the interview unless it happens to fall into a school holiday - there is no way I'd get time off for that. Everything else is eminently doable though.

OP posts:
VladmirsPoutine · 21/04/2018 15:24

Hi OP, I've not much advice to offer you on this. My parents were also international spouses-to-be and had to show evidence of their relationship being genuine even though they had the financial resources to support themselves and each other.

I wish you both well! And congratulations!

Inkstainedmags · 21/04/2018 16:09

Agree a lawyer shouldn't be necessary and that the key is to be methodical and as detailed as possible. We also got married in North America and dh came back to the UK while i applied for the visa.

Scenery shots aren't going to be useful unless they're you in the US/ him in UK. If you are lacking physical evidence, start building up a written timeline of how your relationship has evolved so far, and make a point of building up evidence now. In addition to pictures, start emailing or sending each other cards from time to time. They want to see that you are genuine and integrating into each other's lives.

mindutopia · 21/04/2018 16:30

Yes, I’m an American who moved to the UK to marry my now dh. No idea if times have changed (I know the income requirements have) since then, but 7 years ago when I did it, it was really straightforward. I completed the application in the US and then had to go have my photo and fingerprints taken at a biometrics agency in the US and that was it. I got my fiancée visa within about 2-3 months, we were married a few months later when I moved to the UK and I applied for leave to remain in the UK shortly after.

Getting into the UK to marry is still pretty easy as long as your relationship is legitimate. We had to supply lots of evidence of our relationship but it wasn’t hard. It’s a bit more challenging to settle here permanently, but still doable. I’m in the process of seeking indefinite leave to remain now (permanent settlement).

My advice would be to jump through all the hoops. If they ask for 6 months of bank statements, give them 12. And seek out a solicitor who can act as an immigration adviser. I hired one for my ILR application and she was amazing! She told me so much that they don’t explicitly state in the application that they want to see. She cost me £260 for one appointment and all the phone and email advice I needed and it was well worth it!

I wouldn’t advise going to get married in the US unless you plan to move there. The US immigration process is much harder and move expensive. It will be much easier for him to come here.

Anna275 · 21/04/2018 16:56

I'm American and married my British husband in 2016. Getting married in the US isn't an issue as long as you don't intend to settle their after. The issue is if you try to circumvent the visa process by getting married in the US and refuse to leave after and try to apply for a US spouse visa from within the country. But getting married in the US and then returning to your home country is fine.

You only need to apply for a UK fiance visa if you want to marry in the UK and then apply for a spouse visa while continuing to live in the UK. If you plan to get married in the US, he can apply for the spouse visa from the US after the wedding.

In terms of evidence of your relationship, photos, plane tickets, and skype/whatsapp/facebook messages/emails with dates is more than enough. We communicated mostly over Facebook Messenger and I sent a screenshots of messages for every 3 months of our relationship (screenshot from May, then August, then November, etc). That, combined with a few photos and boarding passes was acceptable. They just want to see that you have been in constant contact throughout the length of your relationship.

We did ours without a lawyer but I had gone through the visa process before as a student. The biggest mistake people make is thinking the guidelines are suggestions, and that surely the home office will make an exception if they're just under the income threshold, or a few months short with bank statements. They won't. You need to follow every instruction to the letter.