Fiance Visa For Thai Living In The Uk With Current Student Visa...

[taned]

My Thai workmate currently has a UK student visa. She has met a British guy with whom she plans to engage. I had to deal with a visa for my boyfriend before and asked on here for advice. I'm pleased to say the advice was all good and we had success in our application, we're now together in the UK so a late thanks to all that helped me.

So, the questions we need to answer is... can she apply for a fiance visa whilst currently in possession of a student visa from inside the UK? All the information we can find so far talks of bringing a fiance from Thailand to the UK. Should they become engaged whilt residing in the UK, can a student visa be upgraded to a finance visa or will my workmate be expected to apply from Thailand at the Visa office only?

Thanks for any advice!

Taned

[vinny]

She cannot apply for a Fiancé(e) visa from within the UK (295).

Currently, she must apply for a certificate of approval before she can marry, unless she plans to get married at an Anglican Church in England or Wales, after marriage banns or with a religious licence.

However, the UKBA's policy of compelling people to apply for certificates of approval has been fundamentally undermined in the House of Lords' judgement

It's not yet apparent whether the UKBA is still going to require foreign nationals to apply for certificates of approval, but this would certainly seem otiose when the Lords have ruled the requirement as being an infringement of the right to marry.

If possible, I'd hang on a month or so and see what materialises.

Immediately after marriage, if she has valid leave to enter/remain and had been last admitted for longer than six months, she may switch to FLR(M) (285) and subsequently apply for SET(M) (288).

Don't forget to KOL requirements and collect the expected documents for SET(M).