FLR or spousal visa?

Hi,
my fiance and I are getting married on 14th August.  He got his fiance visa back in May and was told at the LA consulate that he then needed to apply for a spousal visa when we got married.  I have been reading some of the previous pots here and some folks have been talking about  how after a fiance visa you need to apply for FLR.  Now I am totally confused, can you advise us what our next step should be.  Also are we going to be Ok to go to France on honeymoon after our wedding ( the six months visa won't be up until October)?

many thanks.

After you're married, your fiance will need to apply for FLR, which is the equivalent of the spousal visa.  The fee is £500 in person (Birmingham, Croydon, Liverpool, Glasgow) or £335 by post (could take up to a month according to experiences posted here, though the website says it could take more than two).  Once he has his FLR, he can work.

You can honeymoon within the UK following the wedding, but your fiance won't be able to leave the UK as he'll be entering on a invalid visa (i.e., he'll be a spouse trying to enter as a fiance). 

If you plan to apply for FLR in person, it's a good idea to start calling to see if you can set an appointment now. Liverpool let me make an appointment for ILR a month in advance, though others have had the PEOs tell them they only take appointments two weeks in advance.

Oh my god are you serious about the honeymoon thing??? 

We have just spent a fortune booking a really lovely honeymoon in Paris, I am sure I read on one of the forums that because it is a multiple entry visa he could return and our wedding date is not on the visa itself, is there no way around this?  I feel sick!

It's a multiple entry visa, but the multiple entries are only good before the wedding (like if he brought over some stuff, went back to the US for a couple of weeks, and came back).

After the wedding, he's your spouse, not your fiance, so he'll need to enter the UK on a spousal visa.

Edit -- but, no, the wedding date isn't on the visa....I suppose you could chance it, but I know that officially, he needs to enter on the correct visa.  Can you not make an in-person appointment for the spousal the next working day after the wedding and leave for the honeymoon the following day?

Other posts about this topic:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=17850.0
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=23101.0

anyone wanna buy a honeymoon in Paris for five nights?

I've just gone back and read your other posts and since your fiance has previously been denied entry to the UK, I would REALLY suggest you get the spousal visa before leaving the UK.  Obviously I'm not an immigration officer, but I would think that they would pay more attention to him on the way in since there'll be a flag on his record. 

Would you consider, as suggested in one of the other threads, having a simple civil ceremony ahead of time and going ahead and applying for FLR?  Do you have a day between the wedding and leaving for Paris where you could shove in a visa appointment?   

I absolutely agree with you there Lola.  It's just not worth the risk.

Vicky

Yes, Barrett and I have learned from our past mistakes and this time around we want to do EVERYTHING  by the book!

So I have cancelled the honeymoon, we live in Northern Ireland so there are plenty of beautiful places for us to go see, and as soon as the wedding is over we will start the FLR form filling process.  Thanks again for your advice.

Good luck!  Hey, you can always do Paris for your first anniversary!   

...just one last question, is it Ok to travel within the Uk, say from Belfast to London?

No problem at all.


Vicky