Immigration/fiancé visa

[McScreamysGhostPants]

I'm really hoping somebody in here can help me as I'm absurdly lost.

My adult sun is in his early 20s and has autism. He receives full mobility and care on PIP and doesn't work. He gets UC . He lives in our rental flat around the corner from and we keep a close eye on him living independently. I receive carers.

His girlfriend is from the USA . Same age group and has additional needs but not enough to qualify for any support in America. She works low paid/carers jobs. She lived with her grand mother until she died a few weeks ago and is now facing homelessness and is out of work.

They have decided to get married and she wants to come to the U.K. this is where it starts really confusing me.

I've seen about fiancé/ spouse visas bit it's very vague. We can't afford a solicitor and so I'm going to have to try to figure out out on my own. I am great at form filling in. I have tried over various websites and some say as his partner, and he is in receipt of PIP he doesn't have to meet the minimum income. That's great.

It says he may be able to get fee remittance for her visa. She is broke so that's help. But I'm really confused. Do we apply for the fiancé visa BEFORE she comes to the U.K.? Or can she come and get married then apply for a spouse visa? If she applies from America, can she still get a fee waiver? If refused for the waiver, Do we have to pay two sets of fees totalling almost £3k for fiancé and THEN a spouse visa?

If anybody knows how to break this down into steps or has done this before I would love to know.We are not a well off family. We would be paying for her flights and the registry office and they can repay us when she starts work. She would be able to walk into a job at any of the local care homes so that's not a worry. We just need to get to that point.

I came on a fiancée visa, which I did myself. However, my fiancé (now DH) had to illustrate that he could support me without recourse to public funds. Loads of paperwork, payslips, mortgage statements etc. it was a single entry visa. I could not work until we were married and then went to home office once we were married at registry office to change to spouse visa, which enabled me to work.there’s a fee for that visa too. This was years ago. Now you also need to pay an NHS surcharge. When I first came, strictly no access to NHS.

If his fiancée is on Facebook, have her look for anerican women in the UK or Americans in UK pages to see out some advice. Within those groups are people who have gone through all sorts of processes to come over and they can also help to realistically understand the chances of the fiancée coming over if your son had no income to support her other than public funds.

Is it vague? I have done this and I found it really clear what the requirements were. It's harder than people think I found. It's all about money.

When I was doing it I had to earn over a certain amount and it had to be a permanent job and you couldn't count overtime or anything like that.

I'll see if I can find the forum I used for help.

@McScreamysGhostPants
Ask at britishexpats.com
Loads of information there.

I would stay well clear from the Facebook groups because they do give out false information.

I have a great deal of confidence with the website forum called,

talk.uk-yankee.com

The people in that site are knowledgeable and can help your son and his fiancée.

Because my son gets PIP, he doesn't have to have a minimum income, he just needs to show that he has money to support her when she arrives (after bills are paid etc) which is fine as we pay 80%the utility bills.

What I specifically want to know ( and what I can't find information on) is if we need to apply for the fiancé visa BEFORE she arrives out of she can just come over, they get married and then apply for a spouse visa. If they have apply for a fiancé visa, can she get a fee waiver as she is absolutely broke from paying for her grandmothers funeral, has lost her job, and from next week won't have any fixed abode either as she has to hand the keys back.

The rules for people that are disabled and trying to bring a fiancé/spouse over are very sparse and this mates it much more complex. Especially when you add in that my son is autistic and she has additional needs too..... it's very complex trying to get information from them both across the internet and time zones etc.

I will have a look at the suggested site. Thank you!

I wouldn't risk coming as a visitor in this situation. Visitors should be intending to leave and Border Control pick up that she's intending to stay she could be sent back to the US which would make the visa process more difficult.

Yes, she needs the visa BEFORE emigrating from US to UK.

So, I think he has to prove that he has £120 a week after all of the bills and housing costs are paid in order to support her.

www.gov.uk/marriage-visa

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

I wouldn't risk coming as a visitor in this situation. Visitors should be intending to leave and Border Control pick up that she's intending to stay she could be sent back to the US which would make the visa process more difficult.

It would. Entering as a tourist/visitor when intending to stay is illegal immigration and will make her ineligible for a fiancé/partner visa when caught.

She must apply before she comes to the UK.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

I wouldn't risk coming as a visitor in this situation. Visitors should be intending to leave and Border Control pick up that she's intending to stay she could be sent back to the US which would make the visa process more difficult.

Absolutely this. OP - you and your son need to get up to speed on this. It's like learning a new language and can be a minefield. The UK Yankee forum is a good one - check it out.

She must apply before she arrives to get married, it can take quite a while

Has your son ever met her?

I feel like I've spent years jumping through visa hoops of fire! You just have to do it one step at a time. It can be quite laborious I have to say and I can hardly imagine doing it on limited funds.

As an aside it took me 18 months to get my dh in the country and we had been married for 13 years and we had two children. That was a different visa though.

These are the steps.

www.gov.uk/apply-marriage-visitor-visa

Right ok, so she has to apply first. I thought it might be that way but it was muddled by the "apply for a visa from within the U.K." section.

Yes he has met her. She's been to stay a few times. They had planned to do this at a much more leisurely rate but her grand mother dying has really screwed up the time line and she now has no family at ash in the states. I can see why she wants to speed things up. He can support her and she is keen to work as soon as she possibly can.

Looking at the guidance it would be a spouse visa not a fiancé visa that she needs. The fiancé visa specifically says that you can use it to come get married but it cannot then be changed to another type that then allows for a longer stay.

There is financial guidance here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/1039148/1.77-Financiallrequirement.pdf

If applying for a spouse visa then you have to evidence that the wedding is planned to take place within 6 months.

Section as per image seems to be most relevant

This is the bit that says a marriage visitor visa shouldn't be used if you plan to stay after the wedding.

www.gov.uk/marriage-visa

In the overview

@McScreamysGhostPants she needs the fiancé visa before she comes to the UK. It’s illegal to get married in the UK on a tourist visa. I actually saw an American lady & her parents get taken away for questioning at Manchester airport back in 2016 as she arrived carrying a big wedding dress & didn’t have a visa.
Once you apply for the fiancé visa you can apply for the spouse visa whilst she is in the UK. They will be also need to be interviewed before the get permission to get married. The visa also takes months to be approved as she needs to attend a biometrics appointment within the US. Not sure about having the visa fee waved but I assume it’s very hard to get it for free. The home office loves to take peoples money! She will also have to pay the NHS surcharge when she switches to a spouse visa which is currently £625 per year. On the fiancé visa she won’t be able to work but when she switches to a spouse visa she can get a job as she isn’t able to claim any type of benefits.
As your son has disability it might be worth paying for an initial consultation with an immigration expert.
I’ve recently become a British citizen after living here on a spouse visa so let me know if you have any other questions.

The marriage visitor visa is to come to the UK to get married, but then to leave again.

The issue with a fiancée visa is that there's the your son's fiancée cannot work, even volunteer, or receive any NHS care until they get married and get approved for the spousal visa. She would need to have her own insurance.

Is it possible for your son to go over to the US very soon?

It's totally possible for your son and his girlfriend to marry in the US as it's faster and cheaper and easier than the UK.

He would have to return to the UK and THEN apply for a spousal visa for his wife.

My son can't travel to America, he has a conviction that means he would need to apply for a visa and new passport and he can't travel alone due to his autism. With his fights, visa, etc I'd be looking at £1400 minimum for just a few days and I'd rather spend that getting her here. That's the goal. But I can totally see that if this was my OTHER Neuro typical adult kid in this situation I would absolutely be telling them to do that. It would be much more straight forward.

@elp30

The issue with a fiancée visa is that there's the your son's fiancée cannot work, even volunteer, or receive any NHS care until they get married and get approved for the spousal visa. She would need to have her own insurance.

Is it possible for your son to go over to the US very soon?

It's totally possible for your son and his girlfriend to marry in the US as it's faster and cheaper and easier than the UK.

He would have to return to the UK and THEN apply for a spousal visa for his wife.

You can't come as husband and wife on a visitor visa (or non visa), and then turn up to apply for a spousal visa. It has to be done out of the country.

@CraftyGin

That's why I wrote:

"He would have to return to the UK and THEN apply for a spouse visa for his wife."

I wrote that "he" could apply from the UK for the spousal visa. I did not indicate that his wife could come over with him, at all.

@McScreamysGhostPants
Maybe take a step back and reassess whether this is a good idea - especially right now? Is it possible that this relationship is driven by unusual circumstances - her being without family support, and your son perhaps finding it difficult to form relationships in the way neurotypical young people tend to do?

Are you sure that their relationship has the solid foundation that emigration needs to survive? I've been through this and I'm all too familiar with the tremendous pressures associated with settling in a new country. Plus they are so young!

They are very young I agree . But they've been in a relationship for two years. At this point I've got to kind of support them and make sure they go about this legally instead of getting into any issues. We have already said that they would need to save up an emergency "go home fund" for her in case she wanted to back to the USA. We would obviously help with this and make sure she has sort from us.

They don't want anything fancy wedding wise, this isn't driven by idealised young love in that sense. They have astray find a very cheap local registry office that does morning spots etc. I really feel for both of them. She's so lovely and they clearly care massively about each other. It's a very difficult situation.