I looked, but didn't see it anywhere. Help?

I'm in the process of gethering everything for the fiancee visa. I almost have all of the money for the fee, I should have it by Friday. Anyway, I'm going to go to NYC for the interview and do it all in person. Do I have to have my plane ticket before? or can I wait til after?

Your plane ticket to the UK?  You can get it whenever you want.  I'd wait until after you have your visa though.  Just to be on the safe side...

I think happy was asking if she needed to show a plane ticket as proof that she was traveling to the UK to get married within 6 months.  I did show this at my interview, but I don't know if it was necessary.

I didn't show mine.

I'm in the process of gethering everything for the fiancee visa. I almost have all of the money for the fee, I should have it by Friday. Anyway, I'm going to go to NYC for the interview and do it all in person. Do I have to have my plane ticket before? or can I wait til after?

UKvisas suggest that people do not purchase tickets until after the entry clearance is issued.  The "official" reasoning behind it is that apps sometimes get lost or delayed or even refused; and that if someone is going to all the trouble to apply, then their intention to travel can be pretty much assumed.  Why would someone apply for a settlement visa not intending to travel?  Even for a sham marriage of convenience, you still need to get here.  Hence, having a ticket does not establish sincerity or intent. 

On the more subtle side, it's a good idea to appear as respectful as possible to the consulate.  Having a ticket might convey an assumption that  the application is a "formality", and by extension, that ECOs are not important people.  Lola's web page has a good anecdote about some presumptuousness people during an app.

They just need to know the dates you are planning to travel so that they can get the bigger picture on your circumstances.  Even if you are in a bind on travel dates, they just need the info, not the ticket.

Having or not having a ticket adds nothing.  And in the odd event that they think it's important, they will ask about it - but that would be unusual, and I'd be surprised if they ever did.

All of the above is a completely different can of worms from visitors arriving without a return ticket.  Different type of visa, different situation.  Hope that helps!

I was planning for my gf and I to go in for her visa appointment the day before our flight out!  I hope that's not going to look bad for us!

The problem is that we can't submit the application until I have a job offer and we've secured a place to live, and we won't have both of those until a couple of weeks before our planned move date.  So we can't really have the appointment any earlier, because we wouldn't be prepared to make the application any earlier.

UKvisas suggest that people do not purchase tickets until after the entry clearance is issued.  The "official" reasoning behind it is that apps sometimes get lost or delayed or even refused; and that if someone is going to all the trouble to apply, then their intention to travel can be pretty much assumed.  Why would someone apply for a settlement visa not intending to travel?  Even for a sham marriage of convenience, you still need to get here.  Hence, having a ticket does not establish sincerity or intent. 

On the more subtle side, it's a good idea to appear as respectful as possible to the consulate.  Having a ticket might convey an assumption that  the application is a "formality", and by extension, that ECOs are not important people.  Lola's web page has a good anecdote about some presumptuousness people during an app.

The above makes sense.

However, when applying for a fiance visa, you are required to show evidence that the wedding will take place within 6 months.  In my case, I got a provisional booking from the registry.   Wouldn't the fact  that you had gone ahead and booked a wedding before the application was approved also imply that the application was a formality? 

I thought the purpose of showing the plane ticket would be similar: to show that you would be in the UK in time to get married within 6 months of the application.  In my case, I showed the plane ticket to give the ECO an idea of the time frame of my wedding. (The ticket was to fly to the UK to give notice.)

It's a bit contradictory: you need to show proof that a wedding will take place in the UK, but you can't show that you've gone ahead and done anything toward making plans, such as flying to England to actually be at your wedding

However, when applying for a fiance visa, you are required to show evidence that the wedding will take place within 6 months.  In my case, I got a provisional booking from the registry.   Wouldn't the fact  that you had gone ahead and booked a wedding before the application was approved also imply that the application was a formality? 

This is somewhat incorrect. 

The only time someone needs to show evidence that a marriage will take place within six months is when one of the couple has an impediment to marriage - such as an on-going divorce.  In that situation, the ECO can seek assurances that the divorce will be concluded before the fiance visa expires.  To satisfy this, the applicant would usually attach a statement from their attorney explaining that the divorce will be concluded soon.  A plane ticket will not help in this case.

As to the provisional booking at the Registry Office, the DSP's point out explicitly that a provisional booking is not in itself evidence of planning to marry.  Or even a booking with the CofE for that matter.  Nonetheless, people do it, including any that I work on.  Perhaps it's just out of tradition that people attach these - but in reality, they carry no weight.   The statement of intent is all that's needed here.

Despite having said all of this, if there are wedding arrangements, it's good to list them in the statement of intent.  But still a plane ticket does not help.  Some catering halls need to be booked up to a year in advance.  It's more along the lines of a receipts for the arrangements, like invitations, the wedding dress, or a proposal from the caterer - but these are things connected *directly* with the wedding.

I hope that people reading this thread will not interpret that a plane ticket is helpful when applying for a settlement visa.  It is not helpful, and the IND advises against it.

That's odd. When I applied for my fiance visa in person, the first thing I was asked for, after my VAF2 form and my photos, was the wedding booking.   (Just a provisional booking, to hold the room, since I wasn't able to give notice until I got the fiance visa.)

edit: I agree that a plane ticket does not prove intent. 

I cant express enough how much our office at Chicago helped. we went to www.britainusa.com , looked at the office number and the times that they accept phone inquiries,
they did mon-fri 2-4:30 pm. and man  we used it!!!
so best advice, just ask! sounds so simple,but I called about 7 times just to make double darn sure we had everything. If I doubted it, I called, they have a job, during that time period, that job is to answer my questions, so again just ask, they were very helpful and friendly, mind you I did get the impression they liked it if I knew what I was on about. as in, they could tell I had at least the faintest idea of what I was asking about, but really they were  very helpful and reassuring.

Unfortunately, not all the consulates are as helpful as Chicago. When I'd tried to call the New York consulate numerous times, I would get put through a phone tree, then put on hold, then after a very long wait, a voice would come on and say that some extension number was not available, then I would get hung up on.  I was never able to speak to a human being, or even leave a message.

At the advice of someone else, I tried calling a consulate other than the one where I was applying for my visa.  So I called the Chicago consulate, and they answered the questions I had at the time.  But I think most people would want to speak to the consulate where they were actually applying.