Fiance visa

A UK Fiancé visa permits a settled person in the United Kingdom (UK) to bring in their prospective spouse to the join them in the UK; there has to be a marriage intention under this immigration route. The rules on fiancé visa in the UK changed on the 9th of July 2012. The new rules allow for applications to be made for entry clearance to either the British Embassy, British High Commission or British consulate (as the case may be) as a fiancé of a settled person for the purpose of joining them and getting married after their arrival in the UK.

After a successful fiancé visa application, the applicant will be granted a leave to enter the UK valid for 6 months. During which the applicant must get married as per the initial propositions of the visa application. Having registered the marriage, the applicant would then be able to apply for a further leave to remain in the UK on the basis of the marriage.

It is important the further leave to remain application is made before the expiration of the initial 6 months leave to enter. If successful, this new provisional spousal visa is usually granted and valid for 2 years.

Where the initial 6 months’ fiancé visa entry clearance is unsuccessful, the applicant is usually granted a statutory right of appeal. This means that the applicant is usually allowed to appeal against the decision of the entry clearance officer. Where an appeal is to be lodged, a notice must be filed within 28 days after the receiving the refusal letter.

To qualify for the UK fiancé visa, applicants must have to meet the requirements as stipulated in the Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. Below are some basic requirements to be met in order to have a successful fiancé visa application.

You must demonstrate an intention to live together
There must be an intention to get married within 6 months of receiving the visa
You must be able to demonstrate that you are in a genuine relationship
You must be able to show that you can support yourself financially as well as in terms of accommodation either by yourself or by your partner without recourse to public funds.
The sponsor must be a settled person in the UK
You and your fiancé must be able legally get married. That is, there are no pending legal injunctions against your marriage, there is no previous marriage which is yet to be fully dissolved by a decree absolute, and any other such thing that can make or render your new marriage illegal.

The UK has a route set out in the Immigration Rules for a fiancé or proposed civil partner of a British citizen settled and present in the UK to enter or remain as a family member.

In order for this visa application to be successful, the foreign national (the applicant) will need to meet a number of requirements, where their British partner (the sponsor) will be very much involved with the process.

Financial requirement

The sponsor will need to meet a certain financial threshold in order to bring their fiancé/proposed civil partner to the UK. There are a number of ways to reach this requirement:

Under the current rules, sponsors will now need to be earning at least £18,600 for at least 6 continuous months prior to the visa application. They should also be with the same employer for the full duration of the 6 months; or
Sponsors who have worked for less than 6 months with the current employer will need to demonstrate earnings of at least £18,600 for the last 12 months; or
Sponsors who have held savings of £62,500 (assuming they are not in active employment), for at least 6 continuous months prior to the visa application can solely rely on the savings; or
Sponsors can have a combination of earnings and savings to make up the financial requirement.

There are a number of other ways to reach the financial requirement with the process for those who are self-employed also being slightly different. Financial requirement is one of the most common grounds for refusal, if you are not sure not sure whether you satisfy the financial requirement, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Accommodation

The applicant will need to demonstrate that they have adequate accommodation in place for them when they are in the UK.

The size of the property will depend on the size of the family, as well as the number of people living there.

In order to demonstrate that the property is available for the applicant, a number of documents will need to be provided, such as tenancy agreement, mortgage statements or title deeds amongst a number of other documents.

Genuine Relationship

The fiancé/proposed civil partner visa is for applicants who intend to get married in the UK to their British partner. As such, applicants will need to demonstrate that the wedding will go ahead within 6 months of the visa being granted.

As well as demonstrating that the wedding will go ahead, applicants will often need to prepare tailor-made documents, such as reference letters from friends and family, personal statements and other similar paperwork with which we will assist when preparing for the client’s case.

English Language

For applicants who are nationals of a majority non-English speaking countries, they will either need to pass an external English Language test at level A1 or above which is approved by the Home Office, or need to have completed a UK bachelor’s degree (or equivalent according to NARIC) taught in English.

At KSP Solicitors, we will help you devise a detailed Action Plan in order to ensure that you and your partner are fully aware of the time-scales involved in the visa application process, as well as the costs to prepare and submit a visa application at the British Embassy or relevant UK government body.