Marrying in Thailand and applying for UK visa - questions about timing

[fbf]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a while and tried to read and search as many topics as possible.

I plan to marry my Thai girlfriend and for her to live with me here in the UK, and would really appreciate some advice on a few questions.

Firstly, am I right in thinking I need to use the visa section for "Apply to join family living permanently in the UK"? Is this effectively a "settlement" visa?

Main question: can the application be made (and hopefully approved) before the wedding itself takes place? Or to ask another way, is it possible to marry in Thailand and take my wife home with me after the wedding and/or honeymoon? Has anyone ever managed this, or do you always need to get married before submitting the application? (I know it's different if marrying in the UK, you get something like a fiancee visa.)

One more thing - if we have an engagement lasting 6-9 months, will this interfere with getting a general visit visa for her to stay with me for a few weeks in the interim? If we mention the engagement in the application for this, will it arouse suspicion?

I realise there are many other factors to the application, which I am also researching and planning for, but she's already visited here once without a hitch so I'm hopeful that I'm in with a decent chance at least... but feel free to ask me questions if interested.

Thanks!

[7by7]

To take your questions in order.

Yes, Apply to join family living permanently in the UK is the correct visa if her intention is to settle in the UK with you.

She cannot apply as your spouse until she is your spouse; i.e. after the wedding.

Remember that for a marriage to be legal in, and recognised by, the UK it must be legal in the country where it took place. For Thailand that means the marriage must be registered at an ampur; a ceremonial marriage alone is not a legal marriage in Thailand and so not recognised as such by the UK.

However, if you have been living together outside the UK in a relationship akin to marriage for at least two years prior to the application she can apply as your unmarried partner.

There is no reason why a fiancée, or a spouse, of a British citizen cannot obtain a UK visit visa; provided all the criteria for same are met. One being that she will have to satisfy the Entry Clearance Officer that a visit is all she intends at this stage and she does not intend to remain in the UK with you. Remember a visit visa cannot be converted to settlement in the UK; she will have to return to Thailand and apply there.

You may find UK settlement visa basics and UK visit visa basics helpful.

[fbf]

Hi 7by7, thanks for such a helpful reply!

I don't know if they are distinctly different visa types, or different ways of applying for the same visa, but it looks like the section "Apply to join family living permanently in the UK" covers either a fiancee or a wife (mentioned in 'Overview' and 'Eligibility' pages).

Originally I considered two scenarios:

1. She gets a "fiancee visa", arrives in the UK and we marry here within 6 months

2. We get married in Thailand, and then she gets a visa to come here

But I wonder if there is a third option:

3. She gets a "fiancee visa", we marry in Thailand and she comes here after the wedding/honeymoon

Not sure if these are really different visas, or just different answers/circumstances on the application type?

Assuming the above are all possible (or correct me if I'm wrong), I'm not too keen on (1) because of personal preference for where the wedding ceremony takes place, out of (2) or (3), is (2) a safer bet/easier to prove/less likely to be rejected?

I know I've probably got a lot wrong, but better to make mistakes on here than in the application.

PS. Thanks for the other answer too!

[7by7]

It's not so much a different visa type as different categories of the same visa.

Your options:-

1) As explained in UK settlement visa basics, this is the expensive way of doing it as she will need to apply for FLR after the marriage and then FLR 30 months after that. Two FLR applications, at a current fee of £601 by post or £1001 in person each, instead of just one if she enters as your spouse.

2) Unless you have definite reasons to marry in the UK, this is what I recommend.

You could marry in the UK while she is there as a visitor; but she would then have to return to Thailand to apply for settlement as your spouse.

3) You could do this, but she would have applied as a fiancée and so the extra FLR application in 1) would still be required.

As to which is the 'safer bet' there is none.

The only difference in the requirements for a spouse visa and a fiancée visa is that for a spouse visa you need to show that you are married, for a fiancé visa you need to show that you will marry within 6 months of the visa being issued.

Other than that, all the requirements are exactly the same.

[fbf]

Again, many thanks!

I managed to find the application form "VAF4A-Appendix2.pdf" (financial requirements part of the family settlement form) and run through the various scenarios. If my "option 3" is allowed at all, it seems the form is not designed with this in mind:

"1.9 Are you seeking permission to come to the UK as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner to enable your marriage or civil partnership

to take place in the UK?"

"1.10 Are you married/in a civil partnership with your sponsor?"

Neither of these would apply at the time of application if she applied before both the wedding and the move to the UK. 1.19, about living together as though married, would also not apply in our case.

To be honest, I don't want to be going against the grain here; better to make the application as clear and straightforward as possible, apply right after the wedding, and accept Skype as part of married life for a short time.

Edited September 20, 2014 by fbf

[7by7]

Indeed; as I said at the beginning, she cannot apply as your spouse unless she is your spouse.

You can, of course, prepare the application online and get the supporting documents, apart from the marriage certificate, together prior to the wedding, then as soon as your are married submit the online form and make the appointment for her to submit the hard copy and her supporting documents and have her biometrics taken.

After which it is, I'm afraid, a matter of waiting for the result; which, depending on how busy they are, could take up to three months.

Click here for the latest processing times in Bangkok. Note that when they say most applications are processed within 60 days, they mean working days.

All settlement applications are processed the same and in the same timeframe; applying in one category rather than another wont change how long it takes.

[fbf]

Ok got it... so 60 days is 12 weeks (slightly more if public holidays fall), with a chance of it taking longer... is there a fast track option available? If not, so be it!

Thanks!

[7by7]

No fast track for settlement applications; sorry.

12 weeks may seem like a long time now; but you are planning for the rest of your lives.

My wife's application took about that long (applied October, came to the UK January, and no Skype in those days; just the phone); looking back over the last 13 plus years she's lived in the UK with me, it now seems like nothing.

Edited September 20, 2014 by 7by7

[fbf]

Yes, you're right... it's a small wait in the grand scheme of things. I think so long as we know about the wait in advance, then it's easy enough... so thanks again for so much help and advice!