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I want to travel to the UK, marry my fiancee, and live with her permanently.. This doesn't seem to me the Marriage VISITOR VAF-1F form.. what form do I need, and where do I get it?
No, that's not the form you need - the marriage visitor visa is for people who are visiting the UK and want to get married there, but will then return to live in their home country after the wedding (i.e. like a destination wedding).
In fact, you will be applying online (all US applicants must apply online), so you won't actually need any of the VAF paper forms (however, you can download a copy of the VAF4A Settlement form for reference).
You basically have two options:
1) Fiance visa
2) Spousal visa
1) If you want to get married in the UK, then you'll need to get a fiance visa. It is valid for 6 months and you must marry in the UK within those 6 months and then apply for a 2-year FLR(M) visa (also known as a spousal visa). You cannot work in the UK until you have the FLR(M) visa. The fiance visa costs £644 and the FLR(M) visa costs either £475 by post (takes up to 4 months to be processed - you can't work during this time), or £730 in person (same-day decision).
2) If you want to marry in the US and skip the fiance visa step all together, she can fly to the US as a visitor and you can marry there. Once you are married, you can apply for a spousal visa, which lasts 27 months. It costs £644 (same as the fiance visa), but it means that you won't have to apply for another UK visa for 2 years. You can also work from the moment you arrive in the UK if you have a spousal visa.
- You will need to apply online here:
http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/ApplyNow.aspx- The VAF4A form (for guidance only as it is slightly different to the online form) can be found here:
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/vafs/- The guidance notes for fiance/spousal visas is here:
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf4husbandswivespartners
