Submitting online spousal application while in the UK

Hi guys

My partner and I will be visiting his parents for Christmas and want to submit everything straightaway once we return just after New Years so we can be over there again in the first half of January. I know it might be a bit of a push as it is, so I want to try to be in a place where I can feasibly get a biometrics appointment on the 4th or 5th--which would really mean submitting the online form on the first or second I would imagine.

What are the actual rules for where one can be when submitting the online part of the application? I know that it has to be posted from the US, but can you submit the online portion while in the UK? Can you start filling in the online portion while there?

We obviously don't want to have it refused based on a technicality, but is this even something they consider?

You have to be in the US when you apply.

Often times people have luck walking in for the biometrics ahead of their appointment.  I would submit when back in the US and try your luck with a walk in.

You won't have control over how long the application takes to process.  A few days won't really make much of a difference.

Hi guys

My partner and I will be visiting his parents for Christmas and want to submit everything straightaway once we return just after New Years so we can be over there again in the first half of January. I know it might be a bit of a push as it is, so I want to try to be in a place where I can feasibly get a biometrics appointment on the 4th or 5th--which would really mean submitting the online form on the first or second I would imagine.

What are the actual rules for where one can be when submitting the online part of the application? I know that it has to be posted from the US, but can you submit the online portion while in the UK? Can you start filling in the online portion while there?

We obviously don't want to have it refused based on a technicality, but is this even something they consider?

The rules state that you can only apply from a country in which you are legally resident so for you, the US. The official application date is the date you submit and pay for the online application.
Part of the application involves giving your 10 year travel history so it would be clear that you had not followed the rules if you applied when in the UK.

There is nothing to stop you completing the form when you are in the UK though, just don't submit it until you are back in the US.

Thanks, KF and Larrabee. Shame that the answer is what I expected.

Obviously we're hoping to return to the UK together, but depending on how long the process takes he may have to go ahead. As it is, he will still be in the US and not have returned to the UK permanently yet on the day we apply. The situation as it is on the date of application is what counts, correct?

If he has to go over ahead of me to start his new job while waiting for the visa for be processed, that wouldn't affect the application, would it?

Non issue for him to still be in the US.