A Different Marriage Scenario, Would like some advise, please :)

Hello everyone. My name is Margaret, a U.S. citizen, and new to this community. I happened to stumble upon this forum and it's been extremely helpful just from reading the other posts.. However, my situation is somewhat different than the others..

Like most others, I met my fiance (UK citizen) online about two years ago. However, we were both in the military and never able to actually meet during that time. I separated from the military and decided to come to school in the UK in July on a student visa. Thus, we were finally able to meet and everything is perfect between us. The problem now, is that I'm completely disappointed in this school and plan to drop out of it in November, and then will have to go back to the States. He and I do not want to be apart, so we've decided to get married in December (to which he will come to the States).

Our main dilemma is that he's deploying in January for six months. Will this affect my obtaining a settlement visa; given the amount of time from which we marry and he deploys (such as, does he need to be in the country when I arrive on the visa)? Also, will there be any problem since I will be leaving UK as soon as I drop out, and then trying for a settlement visa? would I have to wait a certain amount of months before applying?

Thanks in advance for any advise.

You have a few options here:

1. Why not go to the US ASAP and return to the UK on your student visa and then do an in person application for FLR(M) before he leaves, while you're still in school? That way your FLR(M) will be valid the moment it's issued and you can leave school and not have to return to the US.

OR

2. You could do it the way you planned if you go in early/mid December, get married and immediately apply for the spouse visa & provided that you use the Settlement Priority Service and have all your documents together before you submit the application you may be able to have the visa issued before he's deployed again.


There is the requirement that the sponsor must be present & settled in the UK in OR travelling at the same occasion with you when you receive your visa. However there is an exception for members of the armed forces being deployed you might want to check out the guidance here:
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/settlement/hmservicepartners

SET6.4 How does "present and settled" apply to members of the Diplomatic Service/British Council/HM Forces/ DFID?

While undertaking a tour of duty  / full posting overseas, the following are regarded as being "present and settled" for immigration purposes:

 A permanent member of the UK Diplomatic Service;
 A comparable UK-based member of the British Council;
 A member of HM Forces;
 A permanent member of DFID (where the DFID employee is a British citizen or is settled in the UK).

I've linked the main page above you might want to have a read through for further information.

OR

3. Another option is to marry in the Church of England (not sure what this entails) but they are exempt from the Certificate of Approval requirements and then you can stay in the UK and apply for the FLR(M) in person and receive it before he's deployed...that way you won't have to travel back to the US at all.


So you have a few other options but if you do choose to go through with what you plan you shouldn't have a problem with him being deployed as there are rules that govern active military personell.

Just wanted to add my 2p. I was married in a CoE church (lovely....what a wonderful experience). We had to get a bishop's license which involved going to the main cathedral about 45 minutes away. We had a 2 hour interview with the vicar. There is a cumpulsory fee of around £450 for the service. This goes up and down depending on what you want done. We were able to get a date about 3.5 months out. I don't know if we could have done it sooner because we live in a popular parish. We did not have to get a COA as a bishop's license takes the place of that document.

I can highly reccomend CoE. My husband is CoE and I am Jewish and they were very friendly and welcoming. I had the most amazing day and I think our choice to get married in a CoE church was a large part of it. We even went back and had a little picnic on the grounds for our anneversary.

Best of luck - whichever way you go with it.

Thanks so much for your help- Weby and Jayen.

We've decided to try the CoE as it's our best option. My fiance is having to participate in week-long exercises in preparation for the deployment, so going back to the States to do it is out of the question..

*I just realized I wrote "advise" instead of "advice", sorry about that..*