Marriage in UK with tourist visa

[mad_dog]

My girlfriend is coming to England on athree or six month tourist visa and we hope to just have a quick wedding and start the process of her being a British Citizen. Will this be possible and what problems would we face?

[jizzybloke]

Wouldn't it be easier to get a fiancee visa, could prevent some problems?

[Happyman]

Just can't be done
Can only be done if GF has a fiancee visa
Tourist visa cannot be converted in UK and she would have to return to Thailand and get a fiancee visa

( been down that road !!)

[William]

I thought you had to reside in the UK for 4 or so years before you could apply for British Citzenship. I didn't think marriage, per se, did it any longer.

Have to admit that I could be very wrong on this as it is a long time since I even looked at this issue.

[jizzybloke]

A friend of mine got his GF over on a fiancee vise and they married after a few months, i'm pretty sure she already has citizenship now.
Married in september last year if memory is correct?

Just realised it was a different wedding in september, they got married in may/june last year!

[Gerbil]

Part of the paperwork when the tourist visa is issued is a declaration that you will not get married in the UK. If you do it is frowned very heavily upon and can seriously delay a subsequent settlement visa.

Get the fiancee visa, much less hassle.

[caller]

Are you aware of the new visa rules and the punishments for screwing up? Flout and a possible repent of 10 years is not out of the question.

If all is done legally, citizenship is possible within 3 years of setting foot in the UK- far to easy IMHO, even though my wife is involved in that process. Personally, I'd ban 90% from that process.

[mad_dog]

My problem with the fiance visa is thast it requires 6 months of bank statements and pay slips and I haven't worked in the last six months.

Under the new immigration points system for Highly Skilled Workers my g/f would be able to get an open visa but for some reason the self point calculator doesn't award any points for a master degree in English and Education for the "English language" element which is bizarre ( Chinese doctorates with 10 years of study of the English language also fail to reap any points.) It is unclear what qualifications they require to attain points for English language skills. I think it may be TEFOL etc etc scores but the point calculator doesn't offer the option to add these qualifications.


Border & Immigration Agency | Points calculator

[caller]

I don't know a lot about the highly skilled thing, but I thought it was about bringing skills to the UK that were needed? This might be contentious, but I'm not sure English language skills meets that requirement?

[navynine]

Seems to me you would be hurting a hell of a lot of people trying to do things the proper way. It is probably the reason so many are turned down from going.

[BigRed]

you will not get married in the UK. If you do it is frowned very heavily upon

I believe it is not possible now. Can't remember if the checks prevent the marriage in the first place or it is just null and void.

Get married in Thailand and apply for further leave to remain visa. It's so much easier and you save on a fiance visa fee.

[caller]

Have to agree with BR. You won't get away with it. It made sense to me to ask for a visitors visa for my now wife in the 1st instance, but the rules were so stringent (as I interpreted them) that I scrapped that idea, spent more time in LOS, got married there, which makes more sense and then started the whole process of her coming to the UK.

Its been 2 years now and doesn't feel like a year too long!

Nah, it's been good really - honestly!

She only hit me once today.

[db1]

Hi MD, you can marry in England on a vv but you have to get a certificate of approval from the border agency, but your then wife will still have to go back to Thailand when her vv expires, and then apply for FLR, its much easier as others have said to marry in Thailand, oh by the way its cheaper as well.

[oldgit]

MD marrying on a VV you will find you have opened a can of worms, it's bad enough jumping through the hoop's that the pond life think up as it is. do it the proper way and dont let them beat you, good luck!
Forgot to add I told wife to put housewife as trade. (that was six years ago)

[mad_dog]

I am planning for a fiance visa. However I am not sure how long we want to spend in the UK in the short term. I don't know how that could effect any nationality attainment process...

[mrsquirrel]

My problem with the fiance visa is thast it requires 6 months of bank statements and pay slips and I haven't worked in the last six months. Under the new immigration points system for Highly Skilled Workers my g/f would be able to get an open visa but for some reason the self point calculator doesn't award any points for a master degree in English and Education for the "English language" element which is bizarre ( Chinese doctorates with 10 years of study of the English language also fail to reap any points.) It is unclear what qualifications they require to attain points for English language skills. I think it may be TEFOL etc etc scores but the point calculator doesn't offer the option to add these qualifications.

Just got to show sufficient funds to support her. From Thaivisa I gather it's 10,500 quid for two years.

[3737ipod]

My girlfriend is coming to England on athree or six month tourist visa and we hope to just have a quick wedding and start the process of her being a British Citizen. Will this be possible and what problems would we face?

took the girlfriend over 12 years ago on a 6 month tourist visa and married her in an office,went to get her another visa 2 years later based on the fact we had married in the uk and the guy at the embasy didnt say fcuk all about her getting hitched on a tourist visa before.maybe we were lucky,i am pretty sure you shouldnt do it on a tourist visa but look at the shite we are letting in back home at the moment.good luck if you get away with it.

[BigRed]

took the girlfriend over 12 years ago on a 6 month tourist visa and married her in an office,

You could 12 years ago, but not now, tempus fugit

[DrAndy]

we got married in the Uk on her VV; all the registry office needed was proof of her residence in the borough. That was fairly difficult as she had no bills etc in her name. A nice letter from an important neighbour fixed that though.

The fixtures were well booked up but you can pay more for a Friday and get an earler date, so book asap

when we returned to Thailand to get a proper 2 year settlement visa, the woman behind the counter called my wife a "naughty girl" (she was 27 years old). Patronising bitch, but we got the visa.

[BigRed]

^ how long ago though?

[NickA]

^^just be thankful she didn't call you a dirty old man

[DrAndy]

yes, thanks Nick

it was about five years ago

[Smeg]

Are you a dirty old man?

Mad Dog, why not simply pop back over and marry her in Thailand then get a spouse visa?

[navydoubs1977]

MD, ive gone through this quite recently, and you can def only marry on a fiancee visa. registrars wont allow anything else.
Its a doddle to get though took me a month and if you remember we had only been together 3 months at the time.
Photos, bank statements and phone bills did it all.
good luck

[navydoubs1977]

My problem with the fiance visa is thast it requires 6 months of bank statements and pay slips and I haven't worked in the last six months.

MD i only had 2 months of everything. we hadnt even known each other 6 months when she came here.
There was a company i used at the top of sindahorn building in sathorn, think the road was wireless road. they did the lot cost about a grand, alot i know but got the visa after 3 months. She got called to interview and they asked me twice as much as her, that was it done.