Tier 4 to fiancee visa?? Or Tier 2??

Doing some advance planning, but I'm planning to return to the UK in 2018 for a Masters degree. And because I want to stay in the UK after finishing the degree and be with my boyfriend (we met while I was doing a year abroad), we're probably going to get married.

But I'm seeing a lot of posts about the fiancee visa versus Tier 2... I would enter the UK on a Tier 4, would getting married while I was still technically under the Tier 4 not work? Would I have to return to the US afterwards? We're young and are approaching the marriage as more of a formality than a Big Thing, but obviously I want to make sure we know the process in and out before making any arrangements.

A lot to think about! Just distressing because I had hoped I could go straight from the Masters programme to working in the UK.

A Tier 4 is a student visa.  If the Home Office approves for you to marry while on a Tier 4, then you can marry and switch to the spousal path while in the UK (or marry outside the UK without the Home Office permission).

Or you can try to obtain a Tier 2 (work visa) if you are highly specialised or in a shortage occupation. 

You cannot switch from either of those visas to a fiancé visa.  You would have to be married.

Does your partner make more than £18,600 a year?  If so, I would go down the fiancé or spousal route.  A master's degree is an INSANE amount of money.  Unless you've received a scholarship of course.

Okay, that makes more sense. So with the Home Office's permission, we could marry in the UK while I am still a Tier 4?

My partner and I are both still completing our bachelors' degrees, so we still have a ways to go. He is going into the sciences so he will probably have better grad job prospects than me, but I do have a good amount of money saved thanks to tuition benefits I received in my final two years of my BA.

Am I able to look for work/get hired while on a spousal visa?

Okay, that makes more sense. So with the Home Office's permission, we could marry in the UK while I am still a Tier 4?

Yep - when you give notice to marry, if you are on a Tier 4 visa, you may be referred to UKVI for further investigation (to make sure you aren't trying to marry just to get a visa), which can take up to 70 days instead of the usual 28 days.

If they approve you, you can marry on the Tier 4, and then switch to FLR(M) (in-country spousal visa) after the wedding.

Am I able to look for work/get hired while on a spousal visa?

Of course you can . You can both work and study from the day you receive your visa, without needing sponsorship for either a Tier 2 or a Tier 4.

In fact, as you will have a visa that allows work, you should be given the same chance at a job as a UK citizen would be - i.e. you should be given preference for a position, along with UK citizens, before they can look to overseas applicants (so no need to meet the tricky requirements for work visa sponsorship).

Thanks for all your help and advice! This forum has already provided me with so much information 

just for reassurance -- i got married whilst on a tier 4 visa (though this was before the most recent rule change about approval to marry). I actually asked the registry lady about how she decides to investigate couples for marrying only for a visa, and she told me that they generally didn't worry about it when both partners were native english speakers! probably a tad xenophobic...