Hello Everyone! Newbie here. :)

Hello @HaloHalo! This is the actual email the document officer sent to me after she explained that i cannot go back to PH or any country outside of UK. It really made me more confuse actually:

• Fiancée visas are issued for a period of six months and are awarded solely for the purpose of travelling to Britain in order to get married. Employment is strictly prohibited during this time.
• Only after marriage may the applicant apply to stay in the country beyond the 6 month period, at which time a two year permission of stay may be issued in the shape of a spousal visa. Once this visa has been granted, the prohibition on employment will then be lifted.
• After this 2 year period, a person can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), often known as permanent residency in the UK, provided the couple are still living together in a subsisting relationship.

Can anyone please enlighten me? Thank you!

I have Googled the notes from your document officer and it seems most if not all visa agencies are offering that advice. I'm sure they must be right and I must be wrong. The last person who took the fiancé route that I'm aware of it was @Timmers . maybe he can advise but I'm sure the route he took was what I had previously mentioned.

How long were you planning on going back to the Philippines for?

Perhaps 2 weeks, just to have our wedding and meeting with friends and family.

I'm a little confused for exactly the same reason, and the letter in post # 81 would appear to have last been relevant apart from time out of the UK back in 2012 when there was a two year route only.

I can only say that not being able to leave the country for two years has got to be total rubbish, its pretty obvious that a lot of Filipinos are going to be returning to the Philippines or leaving the country for many different reasons. The only thing the UKVI are concerned about are long periods of absence from the UK which may suggest to them that the relationship is not subsisting thus giving them a reason to decline any further leave to remain visas. This is the reason they ask about travel outside the UK on the FLR/ILR application forms, if anyone has been out of the country for long periods then I would suggest submitting a letter of explanation with your visa application and any documents that back your reasons for absence up. One of your family members could be sick, there are many different reasons why you may need to spend extended periods of time back in the Philippines.

I think the reason you will not find anything set in stone regarding periods of absence from the UK on the UKVI websites is because they know that people need to leave the UK for different reasons and different lengths of time.

To sum the situation up, for extended periods of absence from the UK you will have to convince the UKVI that your reasons for absence are legitimate in any future visa applications, makes a lot of sense why they ask really.

Than

Thanks @Timmers! The same exact point i was thinking. I just really wonder how can a document officer not be accurate about this. I hope she will have our papers sort out accordingly. Indeed i have been trying to research about this exact information but couldn't find the right answer.

That should be fine. Like I say, we had a holiday in Portugal before my wife applied for ILR. We put that on the ILR application form - no problems.

@JohnAsh, thank you. I really do hope so. May i know when did you had your vacation Portugal? Did u went right after the wedding?

My wife and I married in the Philippines before she applied for her Spouse visa.
Once here in Britain we went on holiday to Portugal about half way through her elapsed Spouse visa, but before ILR. Portugal was simply a vacation.

Was it a UKVI Case Officer you received the letter from or a visa agency?

This letter says nothing about not leaving the UK. Is that all the content of the letter or was there more?

I can't see it mentioned , "you can't travel outside of UK" .Just take the reminders closely followed.

Just a visa agency document officer.

Yes @JohnAsh, thats what it says in the letter. Though i'm just quite worried also since i couldn't find any concrete answer in google or even to UK Gov websites.

Yes

Yes, it doesnt really mean that way. But how the document officer explained to me worried me. She clearly said that i cannot travel outside UK for a span of two years since i will be applying for a citizen after this 2 years. Else if i leave, my citizenship application will not be credited? Argh. Im really confuse. I really wonder why UK Gov website doesnt have such information.

We better take note and follow what is written on the UKBA guidelines.My thoughts , Firstly, you can not find what the document officer explained to you because it was not really written there Secondly, there are members here who went for a holiday outside of UK during the 6 month period and during FLR, and were allowed.I will also try to ask the lawyer who assists us with our visa application,just to confirm and share to you his response .It wouldsomehow give you and us here some peace of mind regarding this matter.

There is some information here that I have just rooted out;

http://www.british-filipino.com/index.php?threads/ilr-calculating-continuous-period-in-the-uk.10573/

Yep. There's the written word on it. So a couple of weeks will be no problem.

this was what Mr.Nickel told me too ...

Thank Goodness! Now i can sleep sound. Lol