Just Engaged! now what?

It's been a while since I've been on here.. So let me give ya'll a little background.

I met my now fiancée while on vacation in London back in 2009 and we've been back and forth over the pond seeing each other ever since. Mostly me visiting her in London though. One of those trips lasting 6 months. I finally proposed on December 2, 2017 when she came to visit me here in NYC.

So now all the bureaucratic paperwork begins, right? We've decided that I'll be coming to the UK to be with her. I have a couple questions though:

1. Do I need a lawyer to get all the proper paperwork together? Or is this something we can do on our own?

2. I'm a disabled Veteran and receive a disability check from the VA for over $3,000 monthly. Is that enough to prove I can support myself without public funds?

3. My plan is to save up and fly out as soon as March to start planning the wedding with her in London and stay for another 6 months this time. When I come back in September and apply for the Fiancé Visa, How long does it typically take to process nowadays? Tryna get home to her asap

Thanks so much in advance for answering my questions. I need all the help I can get. I really like this community by the way. Glad to see it's still around.

It's been a while since I've been on here.. So let me give ya'll a little background.

I met my now fiancée while on vacation in London back in 2009 and we've been back and forth over the pond seeing each other ever since. Mostly me visiting her in London though. One of those trips lasting 6 months. I finally proposed on December 2, 2017 when she came to visit me here in NYC.

So now all the bureaucratic paperwork begins, right? We've decided that I'll be coming to the UK to be with her. I have a couple questions though:

1. Do I need a lawyer to get all the proper paperwork together? Or is this something we can do on our own?

2. I'm a disabled Veteran and receive a disability check from the VA for over $3,000 monthly. Is that enough to prove I can support myself without public funds?

3. My plan is to save up and fly out as soon as March to start planning the wedding with her in London and stay for another 6 months this time. When I come back in September and apply for the Fiancé Visa, How long does it typically take to process nowadays? Tryna get home to her asap

Thanksso much in advance for answering my questions. I need all the help I can get. I really like this community by the way. Glad to see it's still around.

Congratulations on the engagement! 

You should definitely take your time and do your research but unless your case is complicated, (criminal history, or overstays for example) then there is really no need for a lawyer.
And the good news is that your pension sounds like it'll fulfil the financial requirements.
Be careful about how you approach the visit though,  for a 6 month visit with a fiancé, you are going to need lots of evidence of commitments in the US that you must return to.

We'll help you with all of it though! 

Congratulations on the engagement! 

You should definitely take your time and do your research but unless your case is complicated, (criminal history, or overstays for example) then there is really no need for a lawyer.
And the good news is that your pension sounds like it'll fulfil the financial requirements.
Be careful about how you approach the visit though,  for a 6 month visit with a fiancé, you are going to need lots of evidence of commitments in the US that you must return to.

We'll help you with all of it though! 

Thanks so much. I really appreciate your prompt response. That's at least one thing I can count on in this community lol.

For some reason, the last time I came for the 6 month period, the customs officer only asked me a few questions, stamped my passport, and waved me on through. Never really had to go through much trouble. Maybe it's because of my past travel history I'm guessing. I've never overstayed or caused any trouble, u feel me?

In terms of getting a lawyer, I see what your saying. I don't have any issues with the law or anything that would complicate my application.

My most important question however, is do you know how long it takes the application to process from the time I get home and apply until the time they approve? (Which I'm sure they will lol) thanks.

Processing times 100 percent depend on the time of year and current backlog.

While a very exciting time, try not to plan too much if going the fiancé visa route.  Most everything will need to be fluid and flexible due to the visa and notice period.  Try not to set your heart on a particular date.  An idea would be to get married legally and then have a blessing that us of your choosing.

Congratulations!

Congratulations on your engagement !

An idea would be to get married legally and then have a blessing that us of your choosing.

What KFDancer means here is that it's much quicker and easier to get married legally in the US, and then after the wedding you can just apply for a spousal visa to move to the UK, and then have a non-legal blessing ceremony in the UK.

Your UK fiance does not need a visa to marry in the US, and it can be done on a short trip as there is the waiting period is only about 24-48 hours depending on the county/state (compared with a waiting period of between 35 and 77 days to marry in the UK once you arrive on a fiance visa).

By marrying in the US instead of the UK, you also save a whole visa application fee and processing time and by getting a spousal visa from the US instead of a fiance visa, you will be able to use the NHS for 'free' as soon as you arrive, whereas with a fiance visa, you need health insurance as you are not entitled to 'free' NHS care.

Congratulations on your engagement !

What KFDancer means here is that it's much quicker and easier to get married legally in the US, and then after the wedding you can just apply for a spousal visa to move to the UK, and then have a non-legal blessing ceremony in the UK.

Your UK fiance does not need a visa to marry in the US, and it can be done on a short trip as there is the waiting period is only about 24-48 hours depending on the county/state (compared with a waiting period of between 35 and 77 days to marry in the UK once you arrive on a fiance visa).

By marrying in the US instead of the UK, you also save a whole visa application fee and processing time and by getting a spousal visa from the US instead of a fiance visa, you will be able to use the NHS for 'free' as soon as you arrive, whereas with a fiance visa, you need health insurance as you are not entitled to 'free' NHS care.

Yeah I pretty much gathered that's what he was saying. Thanks so much for the clarification though.

This method probably wouldn't work for us though. Marrying here in the U.S. would mean all of her family having to travel here for the wedding. Most of them are in England and are expecting us to have it there. Also there would only be a small portion of my family coming anyway as most of us aren't even that close.

In terms of health care, that's something I didn't quite figure in to be honest. Thanks for mentioning that. I get my health care through the VA which I guess doesn't switch over when I get to the UK? hmm I really need to look into that. Because that would be a major benefit of getting married in the US actually.. But still a huge inconvenience as we both would like to be married in the UK.

This method probably wouldn't work for us though. Marrying here in the U.S. would mean all of her family having to travel here for the wedding. Most of them are in England and are expecting us to have it there. Also there would only be a small portion of my family coming anyway as most of us aren't even that close.

That’s what the UK blessing would be for - so they don’t have to travel to the US for the wedding.

For example, you could do a quick court-house wedding in the US with few or no guests, and then have the big celebration with her family in the UK.

If you do a blessing it would be pretty much the same as a normal wedding, except you don’t do the legal part, because you are already married.

In terms of health care, that's something I didn't quite figure in to be honest. Thanks for mentioning that. I get my health care through the VA which I guess doesn't switch over when I get to the UK? hmm I really need to look into that. Because that would be a major benefit of getting married in the US actually.. But still a huge inconvenience as we both would like to be married in the UK.

Your healthcare does not transfer. So on a fiancé visa you will need to use the NHS for your healthcare, but you will not be entitled to get it for free until after you are married and have received your next visa, which could be up to 8 months after you arrive.

So you will have to pay for all your treatment and pay full price for prescriptions. If you have private health insurance for the UK, you will be charged 100% of the full cost of treatment (and you just claim it back through the insurance), but if you do not have health insurance, you will be charged 150% of the full cost and will have to pay for it all out of pocket.

Or, if you marry in the US and apply for a spousal visa, thereby skipping the fiancé visa completely, you will be entitled to free NHS care from day one and won’t have to pay out of pocket or use insurance.


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I also have some questions about the fiance visa, which I'm hoping to get some straight forward information on.  It's been a while, probably almost two years, since I've been active here, but I do come back occasionally to lurk.  Anyway, back in December 2016, my British now-fiance popped the question while we were vacationing in Edinburgh, and I said yes!  However, the process of getting a visa has seemed to be very complicated and irritating, and I'm just wondering how much of this we might be doing to ourselves.

We haven't actually applied yet. I've done quite a bit of research on my own, and so I knew the first hurdle we would have is my fiance's income, since it doesn't meeting the £18,600 requirement.  However, we did consult a lawyer who told us that we could count overtime, so we've been operating based on that for now.  Twice now my fiance has gone back to the lawyer to get his advice on whether or not we would be approved if we applied, and both times the lawyer has recommended not applying.  The first time was because my fiance had taken too many sick days, even though his income with overtime technically met the requirement.  The second time the lawyer took a little longer to get back to us, and when he finally did he advised that while on paper, the income was fine, he did not think we would get approved because the overtime worked and the monies payed were not consistent from month to month (if that makes sense).  Anyway, last week my fiance consulted the lawyer again, who basically said that he wouldn't be able to look at his payslips until after the first of the year due to the holidays.  Well this is bad for us, because the reason we were wanting to apply now is because the last 6 months payslips look really good (in our eyes anyway) and if we wait until next month to apply, he won't meet £9,300.  It'll be a few more months before he'll be financially in the black again (so to speak) for us to have a chance of being approved. 

The reason we are applying for a fiance visa, rather than a spousal visa, is so that his family can be at the wedding.  His father cannot travel and his mom has made her feelings clear about being at the wedding!  All this is fine, I don't mind getting married there and I'm aware of the fact that I won't be able to work for 6 months or receive NHS benefits for free.  However, I'm aware that going for a spousal visa would make things slightly easier and account for less money out of pocket for the first 6 months.  But really, I digress...

The real reason I'm here is because my fiance called a couple other lawyers who said that they also would not be able to review his payslips because of the holidays, but if we applied this week, it would freeze the financial requirement and we could regroup with them after the first of the year.  Obviously though, there is no guarantee we would get approved, and this is the main reason we were consulting a lawyer in the first place...so they could review his payslips and advise on our chances of being approved. 

He wants to take the gamble and go for it, but I'm not sure I want to take a £1,464 chance, especially since the lawyer has told us twice now that it didn't look like a sure thing.  My fiance is sure his income will meet this time but since it's already riding the line I really would like to have some experts review it before we apply, even if it means waiting a few more months.  Obviously, we have to act on this quickly as we're running out of December days.  I'm torn on what to do. Any advice, personal experiences, or maybe just things I'm not thinking about or not aware of, that could help?

Sorry if this is a bit wordy or not clear.  I'm just a little frantic and stressed out, and wondering if there is a simpler way to go about this.

Thank you so much!

You don’t need a lawyer, we can help.

For the last six months, has the minimum GROSS income on all pay checks been £1,550 or more?  Is he salaried?

If yes, will his company write a letter guaranteeing the overtime will continue, pushing him above £18,600 for the foreseeable future.

Biggest thing with the fiancé visa is continuing to ensure the £1,550 is still met for the spouse visa after six months.

You don’t need a lawyer, we can help.

For the last six months, has the minimum GROSS income on all pay checks been £1,550 or more?  Is he salaried?

If yes, will his company write a letter guaranteeing the overtime will continue, pushing him above £18,600 for the foreseeable future.

Biggest thing with the fiancé visa is continuing to ensure the £1,550 is still met for the spouse visa after six months.

He is salaried, but his base salary is not £1,550, and his gross monthly pay with overtime has not been at least £1,550 on every paycheck.  But, the total over 6 months has been over £9,300.  I'm guessing this is what the lawyer was talking about when he mentioned the overtime not being consistent from month to month?

He does not think he will be able to get a letter guaranteeing overtime from his employer, and the lawyer has never mentioned that either.  Ugh.

Well my fiance and I had a chat last night and we've decided to wait until next year when we will be more sure of his finances and our circumstances.  Thanks for the feedback though!  I'm sure I'll be back for more questions once we get around to actually applying.