How To Apply For A UK Fiance(e) Visa

Hi everyone

In the last few weeks I applied for and got my UK Marriage Visitor visa!! I am in London now yay
Thanks to all the wonderful people here who have contributed. I thought I would do a little bit to pay it forward by providing a list of the documents I submitted.

I am Filipina and my partner is Indian, so I needed a Marriage Visitor Visa.

Me and my fiancee had been preparing this for several months. We were lucky that he could spend several months with me in Manila and so we could prepare a lot of document to prove our relationship is genuine.
If your partner can come to Philippines, try to open joint accounts for things like bank, apartment etc. Also take lot of photos together, including with family members.

Here is the complete list of documents I had submitted:

Passport (Self)
Joint Account Bank Statements in Philippines - we had funded this regularly over the last 6 months.
Joint Electricity and Water Bill (Manila home)
Joint Tenancy Agreement (Manila home)
Credit card statement at Manila address (Self)
Postpaid Mobile bill at Manila address (Fiancee)
Postpaid Mobile bill at Manila address - (Self)
Broadband Bill
My CENOMAR
My Birth certificate
Email from UK Council confirming enquiry about marriage notice
CFO GCP Certificate
Passport and visas/entry stamps (Fiancee)
UK bank account statements 6 months (Fiancee)
UK Payslips 6 months (Fiancee)
UK P60 (Last 6 years)
Employment confirmation letters (Self and Fiancee)
National Insurance number (Fiancee)
Sponsorship Letter from Fiancee confirming all details about us and him agreeing to pay all costs for me
Flights, hotel, boarding passes for *all* trips taken together
Photographs over several months and with family members etc

In addition you can also try to provide the following:
Council Tax Letter UK
Apartment/House contract UK
If applicable Divorce papers for either of you

I applied on 27 Oct, and I received my visa and documents back on 17 November. It takes around 12-15 working days.

There is no way to know the result until you get the passport back.
There are many websites out there which look for clues in the emails - but all of those are meaningless. Y
ou need to wait for passport and only then you know if you got it or not. It can be very tense waiting, but its part of the process I guess. Just hang in there. As long as your relationship is genuine and you have done everything you can to prove that to the ECO, it should all be OK - the tough screening process is to filter out those people who are just looking to go abroad to find a job or something.

Congrats on your good news.

@Carlnathan Masangcay Well done on your successful application. Like you, I always believed that there was no way to tell if an application has been successful before receipt back of the passport, but I am now re-thinking that view.

When my wife applied for a Spouse Visa, a request was also made for the VFS Global Premium Lounge Service, which includes return of the passport by courier. My wife's passport was returned to her, noit by VFS Global but direct from the Embassy. I doubt that the Embassy would do that if the application was unsuccessful.

Now this may not apply to Fiancee Visas or Marriage Visit Visas as they are six month visas and your first entry into the UK could be anytime in that six months. But, with a Spouse Visa, the first entry must be within 30 days of the date on the visa, giving little time to enter the UK, if delivery of the Visa is delayed.

Still only a theory but I have been thinking of starting a thread with suitably worded questions, to test the theory.

are you sure that 30 day rule only applies to a spouse visa ?

I have not said or suggested that the 30 day rule only applies to Spouse visas.

All the ins and outs are explained below;

https://www.gov.uk/government/world...s-travelling-to-the-uk-for-more-than-6-months

i think we are talking at cross purposes here.

We're of an age bigmac so I think we can be excused

Hi to all! My boyfriend changed his work to meet the financial requirement last august this year. Were planning to apply fiance visa on february next year. I wonder if he stil neeeds to provide p60? Or six months pay slips and bank statements will be enough? Thank you in advance!

Whether you include the P60 or not is a personal decision.
My own view is that there is no benefit under CAT A salaried as the P60 only shows income and tax from April 2014 to April 2015
You need 6 months payslips, corresponding bank statements and your employer letter

Hi! Does anyone here have a Santander bank account? My partner tried to request for a bank certificate and they said they don't provide one. How did you go about requesting for the bank certificate? Thanks!

Bank certificate? Do you mean bank statements.

Maybe the document didn't mean a bank certificate. I am referring to this:

As an alternative to a bank statement we will also accept:  a building society statement or pass book; or  a letter from the bank or building society; or  a letter from a financial institution regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority or, for overseas accounts, the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which the institution operates and the funds are located. The financial institution must not appear on the list of excluded institutions under Appendix P to the Immigration Rules. This is provided that the requirements in paragraph 1(aa)(1)-(3) of Appendix FM-SE are met: These are: (1) the requirements in paragraph 1(a)(i)-(iv) are met as if the document were a bank statement; and (2) a building society pass book must clearly show: (i) the account number; (ii) the building society's name and logo; and (iii) the information required on transactions, funds held and time period(s) or as otherwise specified in Appendix FM-SE in relation to bank statements; and/or (3) a letter must be on the headed stationery of the bank, building society or other Appendix FM 1.7: Financial Requirement August 2015 11 financial institution and must clearly show: (i) the account number, (ii) the date of the letter; (iii) the financial institution's name and logo; and (iv) the information required on transactions, funds held and time period(s) or as otherwise specified in Appendix FM-SE in relation to bank statements.

Santander as a bank should issue bank statements. Generally a bank provides statements unless they provide you with the option to go paperless and you have opted for this (because you do online banking for example). If you don't have bank statements you may be able to have your online statements stamped at the bank. @Timmers might be able to confirm if this is still applicable.

Got it, thanks @HaloHalo!

You're right, your bank may stamp your online statements, it appears to be a bit of a lottery to which banks/branches will actually stamp online statements.
My advice would be to opt back into receiving paper bank statements six months before applying for the settlement visa, problem is, people do not always have six months notice before applying, in which case you could order six months copy statements before the application, better than leaving it till the last minute hoping your bank will stamp your statements.

Thank you, @Timmers! The partner already got bank statements. Appreciate the help.

I do have another question. I was already able to secure a CENOMAR. What is the equivalent of this in the UK? Is this something that my partner needs to get as well?

Thank you again for all the help!

The address in Dave's bank statements isn't updated - would it be okay to just explain in the cover letter and additional section?

If your partner has been married before then they will have to submit what is called a "Decree Absolute" which shows they are legally divorced and free to marry, if they have not been married before then they need to submit nothing, we do not have the equivalent of a CENOMAR here in the UK.