Fiance Visa UK - NEW 2021 Requirements & Guide

You can apply for a UK family visa when you decide to enter the UK to live with your family member for more than 6 months. When you lodge an application as a fiance or fiancee and your partner is based in the UK, the required visa is called a fiance visa. You can visit the UK using a fiance visa so that you may marry or enter into a civil partnership with your other half who is settled in the United Kingdom. The person settled in the UK can be a UK-born individual or someone who has obtained the right to live and work in the country.

What Are the Requirements for a UK Fiance Visa?

The list of requirements to apply for a UK fiance visa is extensive. Let’s check the requirements one by one:

Age: To qualify for a UK fiance visa, you need to be recognized as a legal consenting adult in the UK -- which means you should be at least 18 years of age or above.

Partner Requirements: Your partner in the UK must be a British citizen OR is settled in the UK (has indefinite leave to remain, settled status, or possesses evidence of permanent residence) OR has obtained a refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK. Additionally, both the partners must prove that they intend to stay permanently in the UK once the foreign-based individual gets his/her visa. UK-based individuals with a ‘settled status’ can also ask their foreign partners to lodge an application for the EU Settlement Scheme or a family permit.

Relationship Proof:You should be able to validate your relationship and please remember that word of mouth is not considered as proof. You will need to submit original paperwork, which proves that both of you have been seriously involved since and plan to marry within 6 months of the foreign partner landing in the UK. You must have met one another in-person (not virtually) and the UK-based person must have arranged the required accommodation for the fiance in the UK. The partners should agree to live permanently once the application is accepted. If you fail to marry within the said 6 months, there is a strong chance of you being deported.

Financial Proof: Individuals who enter the UK using a fiance visa are not allowed to engage in any paid employment during the allowable stay period. In this case, your UK-based fiance needs to prove that s/he earns enough money to support both . The minimum salary requirement before tax amounts to £18,600 per year. On the other hand, if you are accompanied by kids, your partner must make an income of an additional £3,800 for the first child and an extra £2,400 for each child thereafter.

The aforementioned income can be calculated either as salary from employment or self-employment, a pension in the UK, enough savings amounting to the threshold amount, sick pay, maternity, paternity or adoption pay, or other income sources like rent payments, investment or shares.

Knowledge of English

You can prove that you have the required knowledge of English by appearing for a UK approved test. You can simply get a degree certificate, which indicates that you have been taught in English or you have carried out research in English. If you are a graduate from a UK university or college, you will be required to submit only one document. i.e your degree certificate. But if you are a graduate from a foreign university or college, you need to submit a certificate from UK NARIC.

Proof of knowledge of English is not required for applicants over 65 years of age and for those whose physical or mental health does not allow them to sit for an exam.

What Should You Know While Filling the Fiance Visa Application Form?

You need to fill the application form for a fiance visa online. When you start the application, you should keep some vital documents ready. This includes a valid passport (with at least one blank page) or approved travel ID. Additionally, please ensure that you have the following information handy -- all your names, your date of birth, copies of the passport’s biodata page and previous visa pages, and a copy of your biometric residence permit (if applicable).

The form will also ask you to enter details of any earlier immigration applications (if any), history of any past criminal convictions, national insurance number, the dates of birth of your parents and nationality, tuberculosis test results (if applicable), and certified translations of documents that are not in English or Welsh.

In the application form, it is also mandatory to submit the required evidence that validates your knowledge in English and financial status. A sponsorship form from your partner in the United Kingdom may also be needed in certain situations. The details that you need to enter for your partner includes his/her name, date of birth, nationality, passport, and right to be in the UK.

If you had been previously married, you will be required to provide the names of your former married partner, proof that the previous marriage is no more valid, people your partner supports with money (if any), and evidence of the earlier relationship.

For applicants with kids, the application form has a section on details of your children; their names, nationality, date of birth, person with whom your kids are staying with, individuals with additional parental responsibility for your child, authority given to you to visit your child, your relationship with your child, the countries your child has visited or lived in etc.

UK Fiance Visa Application Process

1. The link for lodging an application for a fiance visa is the same as that of a spouse visa. To begin the application, simply proceed to thislink. After confirming the visa type, you can complete the rest of the form. If you are not sure of the exact visa category, please visit thispage and check what visa type is ideal for your circumstances. For more detailed information, you can go through the comprehensive UK immigration ruleshere.

1. Now you need to enter where you will be submitting your biometrics, inclusive of your fingerprints and digital photographs. Once you have entered the relevant country, you can proceed to the next step. Please note that you must check the available biometric enrolment locations for your country of application. You cannot change your origin country once you have submitted the application. If your country has no biometric enrolment location, you can travel to the nearest country to submit the information. For making an easy choice,here is the list of approved UK visa application centers according to the nation of origin.

1. Next, register yourself by entering a valid, working email address and password. You will then receive a unique link to let you log back in to your application later, if required. After you have filled in all the required fields, you can proceed to the next step.

1. After entering all the information, you are required to pay a visa fee online. For the exact fees, depending on your circumstances, please check thispage.

1. This is the last step. Press the submit button after verifying all your information, take a print of the completed application form, and book an appointment with your chosen visa center. On that particular day, visit the branch to provide your biometrics, which include scanned fingerprints and a digital photograph. For a fiance visa, it is mandatory to obtain a BRP, which you can collect once you reach the UK, within 10 days of your arrival.

Additional Information

Visa Fees: The current fee for a UK fiance visa is £1,523 for applications submitted from a foreign country. However, you will need to pay additional fees when you have dependents, need to translate documents, require a housing report, or need priority services.

Processing Time: The UK fiance visa processing time generally ranges from 2 to 3 months. Of course, you can ensure a shorter processing time when your application is foolproof and does not have any errors and contains all the documents + information.

Visa Approval: Once your application is accepted, you will be issued a permit that allows you to enter the UK within a time frame of 30 days. Once you arrive in the UK, you will be given a 10-day span, within which you need to collect your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). On the other hand, if circumstances prevent you from reaching the UK within this time-frame, you can apply for another 30-day entry permit. But you will need to pay an additional fee.

Visa Rejections: If your application is rejected, you can appeal to the Home Office to reconsider the decision. If your rejection is because of wrong information or missing date, it is best to lodge a fresh application after rectifying the previous mistakes.

After Reaching the UK: A fiance visa allows you to stay in the UK for up to 6 months, and you need to marry your partner in this time frame. Once you marry, you can switch from a fiance visa to a spouse visa [link]. A spousal visa grants you the right to both live and work in the UK. When you lodge an application from within the UK, the visa will be approved within 2 to 12 weeks. A spousal visa allows a stay of up to 2.5 years.

Once you reside in the nation for more than 5 years, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). This then translates permanent residence, provided you are still married to your spouse this entire time and you also meet the maintenance requirements. After getting the ILR, you can lodge an application for British Naturalisation, which means you can stay as a government recognized British Citizen. In other words, you are now eligible to apply for a British passport!