Need information on fiance visa

You can come to the UK before the wedding without a fiancee' visa, but you might be asked to prove that you're leaving the UK for the wedding.  Once you're married in the US, you'll go to NY, LA, or Chicago (or apply by post while you're still in the US) to apply for your spousal visa.  Once you have that, you'll enter the UK as a spouse and will have the right to work here for two years.  Just before the end of those two years you'll apply for indefinite leave to remain.

Added -- if you're not getting married until the summer or next fall, you'll need to look at your timings a bit.  You can't come over here in October and stay until the summer.  At the most you'll be given 6 months here and you might get less than that if the IO suspects you're coming in to get married or you can't prove that you're getting married in the US or if it looks like you can't support yourself (without working) whilst you're here.

The rules have changed so that you cannot get married in the UK unless you have a visa in a category which leads to residency, along with a Home Office permission certificate, or a specific visa which allows marriage, such as the fiance visa or the marriage visit visa.  Without the correct visa or certificate, a registrar will simply not perform the ceremony.


Victoria

The rules have changed so that you cannot get married in the UK unless you have a visa in a category which leads to residency, along with a Home Office permission certificate, or a specific visa which allows marriage, such as the fiance visa or the marriage visit visa. Without the correct visa or certificate, a registrar will simply not perform the ceremony.


Victoria

Um, yeah.  I'm not sure anyone here has said anything different to that...

I misread Lola's post, sorry - I thought she had said they could come to the UK to marry ...mea culpa.


Victoria

As I said before, I think it's going to all be a moot point anyway, since I'm almost 100% certain we'll do what friends of ours did, and have a civil ceremony in the UK (just the two of us) so that the legalities are all square, then a "blessing" type do-dad (without the religious part) in the US to satisfy family and friends later on.

Frankly, now that I've begun to delve into the whole wedding nightmare, I'm beginning to think all couples should have one ceremony for themselves and another for mums and mums-in-law (and anyone else who would like to be running the whole show).

And anyway I've found a spectacular spot in Snowdonia where we can do this on a getaway weekend.

You can come to the UK before the wedding without a fiancee' visa, but you might be asked to prove that you're leaving the UK for the wedding. 

I agree. Immigration officers can be suspicious of people coming to see boyfriends/girlfriends without visas.  If you don't get a fiance visa, it would be a good idea to have something on you that could be used as proof of your plans, so the officer doesn't suspect that  you are going to try to enter the UK and stay there without getting the proper visa.

edit: Crossposted with Falada, but posting this just in case.

Right, it occurred to me last night that I could just get a visitor's visa, but to be honest I really don't want any hassles with immigration, now or later. I think that would cause me more stress in the long run than just going ahead with a tiny wedding for us and regular wedding for the rest of our crew later on, when I've had more time to plan. And I want to get the ball rolling on being able to work.

Also I'll be entering the country with my cat this time. I don't know if they'll know that when I check in, but if they did know, it would all look a bit odd.

If you want to bring your cat overseas you cant just show up at the airport with it, You have to go through a long process and if I'm not mistaken the cat is shipped over, its not aloud on the plane.
Theres a thread somewhere on here about it...

If you are not sure whether you will marry in the UK or not but you are coming over with the intention of settling permanently here after the marriage I would get the fiance visa. It could save a lot of trouble in the long run.

To be quite honest you should really decide what you want now instead of having all these differant options.Just decide whether you want to marry legally in the UK or marry legally in the US, the ceremony after the official wedding shouldn't matter in this situation.  It will be less confusing and less hassle in the long run if you just focus on the official way

I don't mean to be rude, EnglandsYank, but would  you mind reading my posts before you respond to them? Obviously I am in the process of deciding what I want at the moment. However, what I want may not work within the boundaries of what is legally possible. So I'm trying to come to a decision which squares me away legally but does not offend family on either side of the Atlantic. I'm sure I'm not the first person to face such dilemmas.

And yes, I am well aware that I can't just "show up at the airport with a cat." I am not an idiot. A couple of the recent threads on the PETS process were started by me.

well maybe your posts should be more clearer and not post the same things over and over again

I will endeavor to make them clearer in the future; in the meantime perhaps you could meet me halfway and work on your reading comprehension skills.

Perhaps this would be better discussed in PM's? 

Hi there, some things to think about in addition to legalities (since you mentioned about offending family) -- a deciding factor in where to get married, US vs. UK, for us was that my family is much smaller than my fiancé's. 
They are also all in one local area, so it's easier to coordinate as far as flights, airport transportation, etc., whereas my fiancé's family are scattered throughout the U.K.
Also, the ability for the families to pay for the trip (flight, hotel, food, etc.) is another thing to take into account on deciding where to have the wedding.