Getting Engaged / Married

[lorddaverichards]

My gf is over in the UK on a student visa which expires in January 09- her father passed away recently and she has returned to Thailand to attend the funeral, and is returning next week. While she has been away i have decided that this is the girl for me and i want to marry her.

My question is if i decide i want to marry her in the UK - Can I ?

I have been looking on various sites and forums and i cant seem to find where if this situation has occured before so any information would be appreciated.

If we do get married in the UK then we will return to Thailand and do the Thai / Buddist marriage as it will satisfy her family.

I know that you require a fiance visa if coming from Thailand but do i have to apply for one of those before we can get married in UK

Many thanks

Dave

[CharlieB]

If you want to be entirely legal about it, you have to have your girlfriend apply for a fiance visa in Bangkok. I think you can get married in the UK on her other visa, with the correct permission to marry, but she would then have to return to Thailand and apply for a settlement visa as your wife, so whatever way you go about it she will have to apply for a visa in Thailand at some point if she wishes to settle in the UK as your wife.

Edited September 10, 2008 by CharlieB

[the scouser]

As the rules currently stand, you girlfriend can re-enter the UK in order to resume her studies and then apply for a certificate of approval to marry. Ideally, she should have entered the UK with a visa valid for in excess of 6 months and to have at least three months of its validity remaining. However, the whole certificate of approval process has recently been undermined by a court judgement and such a document may in the future no longer be required.

Scouse.

[the scouser]

Just to clarify CharlieB's comments, if your girlfriend were to obtain a certificate of approval and then marry, providing that her permission to stay as a student had by then not expired she would not have to leave the UK in order to extend her stay as a spouse.

Scouse.

[Spartacus_m]

You can marry your girlfriend in the UK but she will need to leave after her student visa has or is about to expire to gain the necessary spouse visa in BKK.

If she didn't need to do this then many Thai ladies would enrol as students at 2nd rate English Schools for this reason.

The system is in place to quantify that marriages are legal and that not just a visa is wanted although I am sure that some slip through the net.

Your girlfriend will not be entitled to settle in the UK just because of marriage. She will need the necessary visa first and then go through the process of indefinite leave to remain in the UK and the UK citizenship a number of years down the road if you both so wish.

Please do not use any Visa company that 'guarantees' her a visa - they are not real and no one except the British Embassy can say yes or no to a visa.

If your girlfriend marries you and then does not leave the UK and as an example her student visa expires and you go to spain on holiday for a romantic weekend she will not be let back into the country. Make sure that after you marry her in the UK you then inform the British Embassy in BKK and Thai Embassy in London as they will be happy to assist you with obtaining the necessary visa legally.

I hop ethat this assists you.

[the scouser]

You can marry your girlfriend in the UK but she will need to leave after her student visa has or is about to expire to gain the necessary spouse visa in BKK...

That's a bold statement.

The reality is that if the OP's girlfriend's visa was for in excess of six months and she has married before the expiration of that permission to stay, she can then legitimately seek an extension on the basis of the marriage without having to leave the UK.

Scouse.

[Spartacus_m]

Negative Scouse.

It is to much of a risk.

You know I am sure that no one can have residence in the UK just bacuse you are married to a UK Cit.

The only way to do this is to get a settlement visa and then all is above board, if you try to cut corners an dthen apply for another visa. i.e settlement etc. it will not look good as tey will see what you are trying to do,

I must disagree.

Geta visa in BKK or face the problems.

[the scouser]

Why is it a risk? I'm simply citing the law, rather than some visceral inclination.

Quite unequivocally, the Immigration Rules (para 284) state that an individual who was granted permission to enter the UK for in excess of 6 months may, following his/her marriage, make an application for permission to stay longer from within the UK.

That's not an opinion: that's a legal fact.

Scouse.