marriage visit visa

Im in the US and my Fiancé in in the UK. the marriage visit visa is an option the has been brought to my attention.

Fly over to London on a Marriage visit visa, get married, then fly back to the US to apply for spouse visa, enabling me to be able to work in the once granted.

A layer consultation informed me that it cost around 90 pounds and only takes a few days to get an answer. Does anyone have any experience with the time lines and restrictions of the marriage visitor visa...

or direct me to the proper discussion.

thank you!!

Yes, a marriage visitor visa is an option.

It currently costs £87 and has the same restrictions as a regular visitor visa, but it allows you to get married while in the UK.

So, you need to show:
- you will leave the UK within 6 months
- you have enough money to support yourself for the length of the visit without working
- you have no intention of living in the UK
- you have a job, home and a life to return to in the US
- you are making plans to marry in the UK during the 6 months

I would allow up to about 2-4 weeks for the visa to be processed once you have applied, though you can pay for priority processing to hopefully get it processed a bit quicker than normal. Back in November, the processing times for 'other' visitor visa applications were:
12% processed in 3 working days
19% in 5 working days
94% in 10 working days
97% in 15 working days
100% in 30 working days.

The only thing I would say though is that it is a long-winded process to get married in the UK... it's much quicker and easier to marry in the US and then apply for a spousal visa.

For the UK (England/Wales):
- you must be resident in the county where you will marry for at least 7 days before giving notice to marry
- after giving notice to marry, you have to wait at least 28 days before you can have the ceremony, but this could be extended to 70 days if your case is referred to UK immigration (hopefully this won't happen if you already have a marriage visitor visa)

For Scotland, it's the same, but you don't need to wait the initial 7 days to give notice.

However, to marry in the US, your fiance just flies to the US on ESTA without a visa, you apply for a marriage licence and you can get married within about 24-48 hours.

I would also suggest that marrying in the US is still the better option. It’s just a lot easier.

Im in the US and my Fiancé in in the UK. the marriage visit visa is an option the has been brought to my attention.

Fly over to London on a Marriage visit visa, get married, then fly back to the US to apply for spouse visa, enabling me to be able to work in the once granted.

A layer consultation informed me that it cost around 90 pounds and only takes a few days to get an answer. Does anyone have any experience with the time lines and restrictions of the marriage visitor visa...

or direct me to the proper discussion.

thank you!!

We did a marriage visitor visa and were married in Scotland. Being able to give notice by mail was the deciding factor there, even though my husbands family was in England. I provided copies of my US payslips and a letter from my employer, my mortgage and house deed, and bank statements to prove I could support myself for the duration of the trip and would be returning home. We kept it short though, just a few weeks, and did most of our planning very quickly. It was stressful for such a small wedding, and if I had the opportunity to do it again honestly would've done a city hall type ceremony and then a family gathering later. We didn't pay priority and I had my visa back within 2 weeks.

As others have mentioned its much easier to marry in the US!

Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

thank you all for your advice.

Given the timeline of up to 4 weeks of processing and the waiting 28 day minimum, I may as well just apply for the finance/marriage visa so once it is granted I can just stay there and apply for the settlement visa. this was my original plan , but wanted to see about timeline with the visit visa.

I agree the US ceremony is the best way, but it is hard for finance to get away  having just started a new job.


thank you all for your advice and support

Given the timeline of up to 4 weeks of processing and the waiting 28 day minimum, I may as well just apply for the finance/marriage visa so once it is granted I can just stay there and apply for the settlement visa. this was my original plan , but wanted to see about timeline with the visit visa.

I agree the US ceremony is the best way, but it is hard for finance to get away  having just started a new job.

While I get that it might be awkward, marrying in the US would save you about £1,000 in visa fees and several months of waiting.

Your fiance would only have to take a few days off at most, since you can get married in the US within 1-2 days of arriving. You could even do it in a long weekend if you had to.

A comparison of the options:

Fiance visa
- apply for fiance visa, currently £1,464 but visa fees will rise in April (plus £551 for priority processing if you purchase it)
- move to the UK
- you cannot work, study, or use the NHS during the fiance visa, so you would need to take out private health insurance for the 6 months
- get married (minimum 28 days waiting, maximum 77 days)
-  apply for FLR(M) visa, currently £993 plus £500 NHS surcharge... which can take up to 8 weeks if you apply by post, or it's a same-day decision for an in-person appointment which costs £590 - but all fees will rise in April
- when you finally get the FLR(M), you can work, study and use the NHS

Total visa fees = between £2,957 and £4,098... but this may be much higher after the fee increases

Total time after moving to the UK before you can work and use the NHS for 'free' = anywhere from about 2-8 months

Spousal visa
- get married in the US
- apply for spousal visa, currently £1,464 plus £600 NHS surcharge, but visa fees will rise in April (plus £551 for priority processing if you purchase it)
- move to the UK
- you can work, study, and use the NHS immediately

Total visa fees = between £2,064 and £2,615... this may be much higher after the fee increases
Plus cost of flight to US for your fiance

Total time after moving to the UK before you can work and use the NHS for 'free' = immediately upon arrival

Marriage Visitor Visa (MVV)
- apply for MVV visa, currently £87 but visa fees will rise in April (plus £184 for priority processing if you purchase it)
- move to the UK
- you cannot work, study, or use the NHS during the MVV visa, so you would need to take out private health insurance for the 6 months
- get married (minimum 28 days waiting, maximum 77 days)
- return to the US
-  apply for spousal visa, currently £1,464 plus £600 NHS surcharge, but visa fees will rise in April (plus £551 for priority processing if you purchase it)
- move to the UK

Total visa fees = between £2,151 and £2,886... but this may be much higher after the fee increases.
Plus extra flights to and from the UK for the MVV

Total time before you can work and use the NHS for 'free' = immediately upon arriving on the spousal visa

I agree the US ceremony is the best way, but it is hard for finance to get away  having just started a new job.

She wouldn’t need to take much, time off. I think you can do it in New York in a long weekend. 

She wouldn’t need to take much, time off. I think you can do it in New York in a long weekend. 

Just what I said too .

She could probably get away with only taking a couple of days off.

- Fly on Thursday
- apply for marriage licence on Friday
- get married on Saturday
- fly home on Sunday
- land in the UK on Monday
- back to work on Tuesday.

You're in Phoenix, AZ, right? According to Google, you get the marriage licence on the same day as you apply and you can marry that day too (http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/marlic.asp#application).

Looks like they are only open for marriage licence appointments Mon-Fri, but she could maybe get away with just 2 days off:
- Fly on Thursday
- apply for marriage licence on Friday
- get married on Friday (or Saturday)
- fly home on Saturday (or Sunday morning if there's a flight at that time)
- land in the UK on Sunday
- back to work on Monday.

My wife and I got married at the City Clerks Office in NYC over two days.

Cheaper to fly over and get married that way in the long term on top of benefits of immediate use of the NHS and permission to work.

Plus you get a nice trip to NYC together 

I was lucky however that my wife was living there so didn't have to pay for accommodation

Ksand, yes! We cross posted. 

I am still slow and clumsy on ipad!