Certficate Of Approval

[kp86]

Hi there,

not sure if anyone will have any advice about this, haven't seen many topic about it. My fiance is applying for a Certificate of Approval to allow us to get married whilst he is here in the UK now on a family visitor visa. However I am stuck on what to answer for question 5.8:

5.8 If your application for a COA is granted, do you intend to apply for permission to remain in the UK on the basis of your relationship with your partner after getting married or entering into a civil partnership? If not please state what you intend to do.

We plan on getting married in the UK and then he will return to thailand before his visa expires. Once back in thailand, he will apply for a settlement visa. Based on this plan do we answer yes or no to question 5.8? We will not be asking for permission to remain, as he will be leaving but then we will be applying for settlement so we will be asking permission to re-enter and remain?

If the COA is rejected I will return to Thailand with my Fiance and we will marry in Thailand, we would prefer to marry in the UK as my family cannot fly out to Thailand at the moment due to work and health issues. If it were to be rejected, would this add any diasdvantages to our application when we apply for a settlement visa?

any advice will be appreciated!

thanks

Edited November 8, 2009 by kp86

[learningcurve]

I think you will find that he is not allowed to get married in the UK if he is on a Family Visitor Visa. To be able to marry in the UK the applicant should be issued with a Visitor Visa Marriage, or Fiance Settlement. I am sure someone with better knowledge of the system will enlighten you further. In the mean time have a look at the UKBA website where you can download the Visitor Visa application forms and you will find the appropriate form there to enable an applicant to marry in the UK whilst on a Visitor visa. Good luck.

[Eff1n2ret]

The answer to Q 5.8 is 'no', because as you yourself have stated, he won't be applying for leave to remain.

There is nothing to prevent a visitor applying for a CoA, but your problem may well be that he isn't granted it before his visa expires, in which case he'll have to leave the UK anyway.

[Laganside]

Alternatively, you could always dispense with the State's approval and get married by the Church of England. Pop round to your local vicar or to the Church where you may have been christened and discuss. Some do insist that you are a parishioner and actually attend services but others are more flexible and simply look for sincerity and a modicum of faith.

No need to involve the UKBA.

[alyx]

Alternatively, you could always dispense with the State's approval and get married by the Church of England. Pop round to your local vicar or to the Church where you may have been christened and discuss. Some do insist that you are a parishioner and actually attend services but others are more flexible and simply look for sincerity and a modicum of faith.

No need to involve the UKBA.

Out of interest, Does this mean that, unlikely other European countries, the religious wedding has the same weight as the one officialised by the British Government?

thanks

[Laganside]

Until the divorce, yes.

[7by7]

Out of interest, Does this mean that, unlikely other European countries, the religious wedding has the same weight as the one officialised by the British Government?

The simple answer is that it depends; the rules are slightly different dependant on which part of the UK you are marrying in.

For more details see Marriage - Legal Requirements.

Wherever one marries, and whether one needs a CoA or not, if one is in the UK with a visit visa then one cannot apply in the UK for settlement but will have to leave the UK when, or before, the visit visa expires. If one then does then wish to apply for settlement this must be done in one's country of normal residence.

Kp86, having an application for a CoA rejected should not have any effect on a later settlement application.

If you don't get a CoA but still want to marry in the UK then once he is back in Thailand your fiance can apply for a fiance visa. This is a form of settlement visa which is valid for 6 months. During that time your fiance travels to the UK and you marry. After the wedding he applies for a two year extension known as further leave to remain.

The evidence needed is almost exactly the same as that for a spouse visa; the only real difference is that for a fiance visa you need to show that you will marry within the life of the visa, while for a spouse visa you need to show that you are already married.

The fee is the same for both (£600 paid in baht) but with a fiance visa you do have an extra application, the FLR, to pay for.