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.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo & @McScreamysGhostPants

The fiancée visa is done first by the UK Citizen (sponsor).
This allows for the fiancée to have up to six months to marry.
As soon as the couple are married, the UKC applies for a "spousal" visa for his wife.
The "spousal" visa can indeed be done from inside the UK.
(I did this over 26 years ago)

The only reason I mentioned the OP's son to go over to the US to marry is that it's one visa less and therefore less expense. But I do understand the situation regarding his past, so the fiancée visa is probably the best bet.

I will say that it's not a fast visa and could take many weeks.

OP, post your questions to the UK-Yankee site's forum about the possibility of financial requirements exemptions. I am not well-versed and they know the rules quite well.

While it's lovely that you want to support him, it sounds like you are going to end up supporting her too. It's going to be very hard for a couple to go from living on different continents to living together. Especially if neither of them is working, that's a lot of time together.

She's going to be beholden to him and to you. She's not going to be able to work and make friends for herself through that or have any independence financially as she has no money in the first place.

I should clarify that she fires have friends in the U.K.. whenever she visits they travel around the country seeing people. I think for their generation it's much more common to have a global friend base.

And I do appreciate everything you are all saying. Of course I want to help her. Even if she doesn't come here I can imagine that I will be helping hers little financially for a a while anyway as that's just the person I am.

It's such a complex situation, and your love for both of them shines through. But you need to be the one taking out the emotion and thinking about the worst case scenario. What if she cannot hold down a job? What if the relationship goes sour? What if you can no longer provide the support (financial and practical) that you currently do? Both of the young people are vulnerable, and jumping into living together is a massive step.

@elp30

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.

Highly recommend UK-Yankee forum. I have used it for all of my immigration queries and to get advice in the past.

BTW, I also just want to flag to the OP, that whichever route her son and his GF go for (spouse, fiancee, etc) - that the timelines are going to be LONG. Currently even if she applies from the US, it goes to the primary processing centre which I forget, but may be in Wales. It can take a LONG time to get a response. The son marrying his GF (while commendable I am sure for love reasons) isn't going to help make her less homeless or fix her problems in the US. It's going to take at least six months, and more, just to get the paperwork filled out, all the letters and proof of relationship together, and the waiver done, plus her biometrics, and that's just to get it sent in. Then the wait comes... I just urge the OP to be realistic about this. It's not un-doable. But it's time consuming, and extremely expensive.

Oh that's great, that she knows other people in the UK.

Like some of the other people on this thread Ive had some experience of this. My dh is from Australia and we have lived there and here and it is really hard being an immigrant. It's wearing and you can feel very isolated. This coupled with newly being together and then all the visa stuff sounds like a difficult road, especially financially.

The west case scenario is that they sit up or she hates it. She wants to go home. So we have said that they need to urgently get a "go" fund together so she can get a flight and has a lump sum to go home with. A flight is around £400 and I said that she would need a minimum of £750 . So they need to save that in the initial 6 months before they get married. Then add to it every month with an extra £30-£50 ish.

We are a family that are close but still sensible. We have 5 homes within our extended family that could potentially house her with us if she hated him and needed to split up. They don't live in my house but I have two state runs and have taken in loads of my kids friends over the years. We would make it work but I know at the same time that we are putting HER in a difficult situation.

@McScreamysGhostPants

The west case scenario is that they sit up or she hates it. She wants to go home. So we have said that they need to urgently get a "go" fund together so she can get a flight and has a lump sum to go home with. A flight is around £400 and I said that she would need a minimum of £750 . So they need to save that in the initial 6 months before they get married. Then add to it every month with an extra £30-£50 ish.

We are a family that are close but still sensible. We have 5 homes within our extended family that could potentially house her with us if she hated him and needed to split up. They don't live in my house but I have two state runs and have taken in loads of my kids friends over the years. We would make it work but I know at the same time that we are putting HER in a difficult situation.

I'm truly impressed at your kindness, generosity and deep care for your son and his girlfriend.

My husband and I were penpals for seven years, we wrote to each other every single week and talked to each other often and visited several times before I decided to move to England on a fiancée visa. I had no pressing timelines and I still found it challenging. Even after over eight years of marriage, my husband felt it challenging to move to the US.

Your generosity of putting money into a fund is indeed thoughtful and kind. I will say this though, if things don't turn out well, your son's fiancée/ wife cannot stay in the UK and will need to return to the US. The "fiancée" visa is allowing her to stay until marriage and a "spousal" visa is to remain married. The union ending makes the visa "null and void".

I am pleased that you are such a helpful and supportive person and that is one thing that your son and his girlfriend have in their favor. But as other's have mentioned, it truly is a lot for them to consider and the timing for the visas are long.

Personally, I would emphasize your son's girlfriend to get on solid grounding, temporarily, in the US by any means. Then, they could gather their evidence for the visas and wait out the weeks without too much stress.

Could they get married in another country, not US or UK? Then he could come back a d do a spousal visa? Not sure if it works, but an idea to look into.

Why are YOU paying for this???
How did your DS meet this person?

@McScreamysGhostPants

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.

Right - if they’ve been in a relationship for 2 years then they haven’t seen each other IRL much, if at all, in that time because of that little thing called Covid! Your ds is a vulnerable adult, and he’s falling into a very complex situation that will end up in tears.

I am sorry to sound harsh but this sounds like a nightmare. They have been apart since covid, they both have some special needs. He doesn’t work.

Taking the emotion out of all of this. Why would the UK want to take on someone like this? They will cost either in benefits or medical issues, let alone the bills you will pay. What if she needs medical care. Are you going to fund that? .

It will cost you and the UK £1000’s and as others say what if they split up? Who and where would she go back to?

As someone who was frog marched back onto the plane from the airport and returned to my home country because I did not have a fiancé visa, yes, she must get it in advance before she comes, and then get married within six months.

“The fiancée visa is done first by the UK Citizen (sponsor).
This allows for the fiancée to have up to six months to marry.
As soon as the couple are married, the UKC applies for a "spousal" visa for his wife.
The "spousal" visa can indeed be done from inside the UK.
(I did this over 26 years ago)

The only reason I mentioned the OP's son to go over to the US to marry is that it's one visa less and therefore less expense. But I do understand the situation regarding his past, so the fiancée visa is probably the best bet.”

I just want to clarify the above. Yes if the immigrant comes to the U.K. on a fiancé visa and then marries in the U.K. within the 6 months, they can immediately apply for a partner visa from within the U.K. so long as they apply before their fiancé visa expires.

However, if the British citizen flies abroad and marries abroad, the partner must apply for and get a UK partner visa BEFORE coming to the U.K.

The best support you can give them is an immigration solicitor. Many have reasonable fixed fees of around £1k to do the visa application and then handle any appeals if the visa is denied.

Don’t forget too that as well as the visa fee, she will have to pay the NHS surcharges as well!

@Franklin12

I am sorry to sound harsh but this sounds like a nightmare. They have been apart since covid, they both have some special needs. He doesn’t work.

Taking the emotion out of all of this. Why would the UK want to take on someone like this? They will cost either in benefits or medical issues, let alone the bills you will pay. What if she needs medical care. Are you going to fund that? .

It will cost you and the UK £1000’s and as others say what if they split up? Who and where would she go back to?

She does normally work, but she lost her job the week before her grandmother died. She had to empty the apartment and hand back the keys. She WANTS to work. She could walk into a carers or factory job in our town no worries at all. She last visited over Christmas just gone so they really haven't been apart for the last two years.

Thank you to everybody that has offered advice, I've looked at some of the links suggested and I've got a much better idea of what is what and also the (eye watering) costs. Thank you!

If they've only been together for 2 years she is not going to get the visa and you will have wasted your money. They will be asked to prove they have a long lasting legitimate relationship.

Are you aware they will both have to have an interview and you won't be able to attend with your son? Will he cope with all the quick questions? He'll be asked quite random things about his relationship.

If you do (foolishly) decide to go ahead then you need to know that it will probably take around a year if it all goes smoothly.

As someone with personal experience in this area, I would say that it is complex enough for you to get proper legal advice.

I wouldn't do this through a web forum. No one there is licensed to give legal advice (just like here, where you see disclaimers on legal forums). There are charities for low cost advice.

If they've only been together for 2 years she is not going to get the visa and you will have wasted your money. They will be asked to prove they have a long lasting legitimate relationship.

Rubbish. Two years is a long relationship. They will have proof that that they have had a long and legitimate relationship. We submitted emails about a fridge for ours.

Are you aware they will both have to have an interview and you won't be able to attend with your son? Will he cope with all the quick questions? He'll be asked quite random things about his relationship.

I didn't have an interview about my relationship and I don't know anyone who has.

Where did you get the information from that people who receive DLA can't have someone with them in the interview.

They will be able to answer questions about their relationship as they do actually have a relationship.

If you do (foolishly) decide to go ahead then you need to know that it will probably take around a year if it all goes smoothly.*
Probably.

A lot has changed due to Covid. For example, you scan and submit much of the documentation electronically due to Covid. There is no submitting of original marriage certificate, original passports etc.

Get an immigration solicitor. That’s insurance it will go smoothly.

@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.

Coming in without a return flight will be a dead give away.

@IzzyD0ra

If they've only been together for 2 years she is not going to get the visa and you will have wasted your money. They will be asked to prove they have a long lasting legitimate relationship.

Are you aware they will both have to have an interview and you won't be able to attend with your son? Will he cope with all the quick questions? He'll be asked quite random things about his relationship.

If you do (foolishly) decide to go ahead then you need to know that it will probably take around a year if it all goes smoothly.

They don't have to attend an interview.

The only in-person thing the US citizen has to do is attend a biometrics appointment in the US for the visa.
The visa is a "tick box" application. They give a checklist of needed documentary evidence and you check the boxes when you have the paperwork. That's it but it's a lot of paperwork.

That’s interesting Elp30. It had been many years since I came in a fiancée visa. I had to go a few times, in person, to consulate in NYC to get the visa. Then after we were married, here, we both had to attend the home office (back when it was in Croydon) where they separately asked us questions. It was at a window but was still like an interview as there were a number of questions. As well as evidence to be provided. Was quite stressful and we were a dating couple in USA when my DH lived there as well as a few years of us both flying back/forth seeing each other once he moved back to UK.