When you are married to your British Citizen wife or husband or they are permanatly settled in the UK you will need to apply for a marriage visa to continue to stay with your husband or wife in the UK. You may be already in the UK in a different category of visa or you may be living outside UK in one of the counties in Euope, Asia, America,Africa or Australia you need to apply for visa to come to UK to join with your spouse.
In this process you will need to satisfy several rules for successful grant of marriage visa. This is one of our live and busy departments of work, where we succefully manage visa applications of our clients of all different countries including most recent applications from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Cambodia, Austrilia, USA, Canada, Malaysia, India,St Vincent,Zimbabwe, Brazil. Your non UK Citzen partner may be from those countries or from any other country , we are here to ensure , that we take your instructions and prepare to establish your case allowing your loved one to stay in the UK in a route to settelement in the UK trypically in 5 years.
Following initial requirements need to be satisfied among other things.
- That parties have a valid marriage between them;
- That the foreign spouse (applicant) is married to a person present and settled in the United Kingdom;
- That both spouses to the marriage have met;
- That each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other also the marriage is subsisting;
- That there will be adequate accommodation for the parties without causing a burden to public funds
- That the parties will be able to maintain themselves without causing a burden to public funds
- That the foreign spouse (applicant) satisfies the English Language requirement.
Always satisfying some requirements may tend to be more problematic, so additional effort and analysis had been made when preparing an application. Some of them are noteworthy.
As per present status of the rules couples are required to satisfy the income requirement of £18600. There are exemptions to this rule of minimum income requirement. If the settled spouse is in receipt of disability living allowance, severe disablement allowance, industrial injury disablement benefit, attendance allowance, carer’s allowance or personal independence payment the applicant can claim the benefit of the exemption under the rules.
Also with the introduction of English requirement for the foreign spouse (applicant), satisfying the Home Office of passing the test of required standard of English and providing acceptable proof sometimes become a challenge as cases are refused for this reason alone as some English Language tests and their providers are not being accepted by the Home Office. The level of required will be A1 on the Common European Framework of Reference. However, applicants from majority English Speaking Countries are exempted.
Given the nature, when marriage visas being applied one useful instrument is European convention of human rights, specifically Article 8. Where relevant facts of relationship history and present family life and private life need to properly explained.
There are cases that you may not be able to satisfy all the rules. Where standard rules cannot be satisfied the applications can still may proceed on an exceptionality route. Compassionate circumstances and exceptional circumstances need to be raised where applicable. Also such arguments do not necessarily need to be under article 8 of European convention of Human Rights.
Whether it is a standard marriage visa application or one involves arguments on exceptionality or under article 8 of European Convention of Human Rights our solicitors do not hesitate to make compelling arguments and also do not hesitate to challenge the Home Office as necessary, when they become irrational in the decision making, for your best interest.
Sometimes confusions can occur when the sponsor husband or wife is an EEA national. One should be careful not to make an application under the normal immigration rules as the Home Office can reject such applications. Such application must be made under the EEA regulations using a relevant EEA application form. Please see European (EEA) Applications.
In some cases it is possible to switch to marriage visa category if you already living in the UK under a different visa category. Others would need to apply for marriage visa from outside UK.
Our team of immigration solicitors can assist you with regard to issues of various nature from standard to very complex.
We understand when you want to start applying you would have several questions that you would need clarifications in additions to questions like;
- Whether you can get married to a settled partner while you are in the UK on the basis of different immigration visa;
- What type of evidence should you submit to show regular contact with your spouse prior to application;
- What type of additional evidence should you submit to show your income if you are self-employed;
- How many bank statements or payslips should you submit to satisfy income rules; etc.
All these questions and many more are answered within the preparation process carried out by our team of immigration solicitors. Also issues are discussed and cases are prepared on an individual basis as everyone’s case differs from another although similar immigration rules may apply.
If you are currently in the UK in a visa category which is switchable to Marriage Visa we can prepare your application, then book an appointment for your application to be considered by Home Office Same Day Visa Service.
If you wish to challenge a Home Office refusal of your marriage visa the chances are there is still more could be done to reverse the decision. Our team of immigration solicitors can assist. Please see Visa refusals & Appeals.