FLR for Honeymoon

I have just got into a panic about what I have read about FLR...

I have booked my honeymoon to Bruges for 2 days after the wedding which is in February. I have since learnt that in order for my fiancée to leave the UK and re-enter after the honeymoon we will have to have gone through the FLR process at Croydon.

I have also read that we cannot book an appointment at Croydon until after the wedding.

Now before I change the honeymoon to somewhere within the UK or postpone it can someone
Daveconfirm that I have all the above correct.

Thanks,

Dave

You can actually make the appointment now.  Just make sure you make it for a date AFTER your wedding.  Also, if you pay the £200 premium, you can take it in person and most likely get it the same day.  That would be a little too close for my comfort, but it is workable. 

You can book an appointment in advance, as Lisapower says, but it must be after you have been married (as you have to provide your marriage cert in person). Technically, you could do it the same day you are married, provided you attend the appointment after the ceremony -- but that takes all the fun out of a nice celebration after.

My husband and I were married on a Saturday and had our appointment in Birmingham the following Monday -- approved within 1.5 hrs. (I booked the appointment, however, the 1st week of October.)

***Big note: when you do call to book an appointment, don't mention you aren't married yet. I made that mistake the first time and was told I couldn't even call to make the appointment until after the wedding. This is NOT true. So I called back an hour later and confidently stated "I need to book an appointment for my FLR(M), please." I was put right through and no problems. I believe they did ask "Married, yeah?" And I did just agree and didn't process what they were asking until after everything was set.

Good luck!!

Technically you aren't supposed to book until you have been married, but with the long wait times for appointments, it would be one of the few times I suggest "omitting" that you are not married yet when booking with the IEB.  But as the others have said, it does need to be booked for after your wedding.  Also, the other PEO's should all be online with the same-day biometrics, so Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Sheffield all should take appointments and all of them are easier to deal with then Lunar House, so if they are at all closer, I would suggest going to one of them.

Whatever you do do, don't let your wife leave the country while still on the Fiancée visa and try coming back in.  They are getting even more and more touchy about that these days and it would be silly to get caught in a technicality for two days in Bruge.

Also, she will not receive a vignette in her passport and will have to wait an additional 5-7 days before her National ID Card arrives.  When they scan her passport at the border they will demand she show her National ID Card.  So you can't leave the country until she has that in her hands.

hi , when i booked for my FLR,i rang about 2 months in advance and  i told them i was not married and that we were gonna get married on this date xxxxx and that i would like a appointment for my FLR  3 days after. i had no problems what so ever. have things changed?

*hijack

Bruges is wonderful!  I went there for Christmas and had a wonderful time.


Vicky

Well, it used to say it, but now when checking it says the following[/quote]:

Please note our public enquiry offices are very busy and appointments cannot be guaranteed before the expiry of your current leave to remain, so applicants are strongly advised to submit their application by post where possible. You can book an appointment within the next 28 days of contacting us.

But based on previous experiences, they will likely not allow you to book an appointment until you meet the conditions of that appointment.  I am still waiting on my FOI which will give us what they tell their call centre staff.

hi , when i booked for my FLR,i rang about 2 months in advance and  i told them i was not married and that we were gonna get married on this date xxxxx and that i would like a appointment for my FLR  3 days after. i had no problems what so ever. have things changed?

I think it may have been more acceptable at one point to book in advance, but I know when I tried the first time to book mine in Birmingham, I was told I could not even book until after we were married -- mainly because I inquired about it instead of just stating what I needed to do. This was the first week or so of October 2008 when I called and we were being married 1 November. I was worried about the new ID card rollout and didn't want to end up stuck in that mess, so I wanted to make sure I had an appointment before then. I was told here that I WAS allowed to book, but it had to be for after the wedding, which I knew, but I suspected then that they were trying to cut back on allowing this.

I'm glad I didn't just accept their 'no' the first time though, or else I wouldn't have been able to start working before the holidays.

I found this really complicated and it worked out alot easier to honeymoon in the UK!

I was told that if my (newly-wed) husband left the country on the Fiance Visa he may have trouble re-entering as he would be officially on the wrong visa as his 'intentions' had changed, (i.e. his intention on the Fiance Visa was to get married while his new intention on the Spouse Visa (FLR) was to work and to settle in the UK.

I thought it would be ok to leave on the Fiance Visa and just take the marriage certificate with us but we were told - NO! (It got very complicated - husband could apply for different kinds of entry clearances / we could get an appointment the day after the wedding then leave soon after etc. etc. It was much less stressful to honeymoon in the UK! We then sorted out the Spouse Visa later on).

Yep, I agree with UKGirl.  Either postpone the Bruges honeymoon or cancel it and do something within the UK--so much less hassle that way.

If you didn't have to wait a week for the identity card to come in the mail after your in-person appointment, you could potentially still go to Bruges.

However, gone are the days of having a visa in your passport on the same day of your appointment, so you have to change the honeymoon, I'm afraid.

Di

Which, to me, totally defeats the purpose in paying £200 for same day, premium service...

However, gone are the days of having a visa in your passport on the same day of your appointment, so you have to change the honeymoon, I'm afraid.

why ? what has changed? i thought the point of going in person is to get the passport and visa same day?

why ? what has changed? i thought the point of going in person is to get the passport and visa same day?

What has changed are the ID cards being issued and biometrics taken at all the sites. You aren't issued your ID card the same day, therefore, unable to travel outside the country without said ID card to show your immigration status to re-enter.

It does seem a bit silly to still charge the highway robbery fee of £200 extra when you're not getting everything you need that day.

No... The Premium service is still loads quicker then by post.

By post:

• Post application.
• Wait 10-15 business days to receive invitation letter for Biometrics
• Call IEB to book, probablly won't have an appointment for at least 5-10 more business days
• Go to bio appointment
• Wait another 10+ business days for approval, return of docs and ID card in post

I would say going from 30+ days to 5+ isn't highway robbery.