Changing from unmarried partner visa to married?

Hi everyone,

My American fiancee has been living in the UK with me since May last year with an unmarried partner visa.  We are getting married in June in Texas but then plan on coming back to the UK after this.

I'm wanting to know - at what point must my fiancee apply to change status from being my unmarried partner to being married?  Does this need to be done prior to the wedding, immediately after or would she be unable to return to the UK until after her visa has been adjusted?

Thanks for your help.

Chris

Because you are getting married in the States, your fiancée will have to leave the UK as an UP and re-enter as a spouse.  She won't be able to submit her paperwork until you have the marriage certificate to do so.  So in theory, you could get everything ready online just before the wedding and then take the biometrics and submit the paperwork just after the wedding.

Coming back into the UK as a spouse would invalidate your visa and potentially cause you a lot of problems down the road.

Kitson, that is not right.  There is no requirement for Unmarried Partners to change their visa on marriage.

Vicky

Kitson, that is not right.  There is no requirement for Unmarried Partners to change their visa on marriage.

Vicky

Glad to hear this, V. I was actually wondering the same thing.

Ooops... Sincerest apologies.

Thanks for this help and advice, although rather belatedly on my part!

We were able to get all this checked out by the Relocation Advisory Service and they told us the same thing, that we didn't need to change the visa.

Appreciate the help!

Is it affect when you want to apply to ILR,right?

Unmarried Visa have to be 5 years resident in UK
Married Visa have to be 3 years resident in UK

then

apply for ILR

CORRECT ME,PLEASE....

Both spouse and UP are two years to ILR.

Spouse is three years to citizenship, UP is five.


Vicky

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who has posted and taken interest in this thread, I have sent the application via fed ex and have now returned to the UK. We just hate being apart now and really really can't wait for all this to be over already!

Some people on other threads here are saying it will be around a month or 2. I just hope its as soon as possible.

I will keep you all posted on developments.

If there are any US citizens here who want to ask me anything about uk life then please fire away. I would love to help anyone if i can.

Have you posted in the right thread?


Vicky