Getting my Russian Fiancée a Spouse Visa

[Ozmo]

Hi all,

I have been following several threads in this forum for a while now and have seen lots of good advice given. I particularly found a thread by SimonS helpful (immigration-for-family-members/spouse-v ... 38-80.html), where he talked about the process for bringing his Russian wife to the UK and all the documents required. I am hoping I can get some equally useful guidance.

My situation is that my fiancée is currently living in Moscow and I am living in the UK. We have been together just over a year and are looking to marry in July, following this we will get her a spouse visa to move to the UK permanently. We have considered the visa options and she finds the whole visa application process very stressful, getting worked up about it and panicking (especially after reading several horror stories about people getting declined or banned from the UK etc). Due to this, the less visa applications she goes through the better, meaning we have ruled out the 6 month fiancée visa followed by spouse visa, instead opting to get married abroad then just go through one Spouse Family visa. My fiancée doesn’t like the idea of a Russian wedding, so our plan is to marry in Europe. In particular we like Gibraltar due to the more relaxed rules combined with the nice location and the fact it is all in English. I was just about to book the wedding when a friend advised that getting married abroad might cause problems with her visa application, he didn’t elaborate on this but it got me thinking. Is there any reason getting married in a different country to our countries of residence would cause any issues?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don’t seem to have been able to find any examples on here of people getting married in Gibraltar or any impact on visa applications.

Many thanks!

[Londoner007]

Keep it simple - get married in Russia, take loads of photos etc and most importantly get hold of the marriage certificate issued from her local registry office. Then do the settlement application.

Of course make sure all other documents are formulated such as payslips, bank statements, relationship, accommodation etc etc.

If she wants less hassell do the above.

[Katie_France]

I was just about to book the wedding when a friend advised that getting married abroad might cause problems with her visa application, he didn’t elaborate on this but it got me thinking. Is there any reason getting married in a different country to our countries of residence would cause any issues?

I am Russian citizen, we got married in the USA, because I lived in France and we didn’t want to translate all documents to French, just combined holiday with pleasure. No problem at all. Spouse visa was granted.

[Ozmo]

I am Russian citizen, we got married in the USA, because I lived in France and we didn’t want to translate all documents to French, just combined holiday with pleasure. No problem at all. Spouse visa was granted.

That's great, thank you, I was hoping to find similar examples. Also, congratulations on the wedding/visa too!

[Ozmo]

Keep it simple - get married in Russia, take loads of photos etc and most importantly get hold of the marriage certificate issued from her local registry office. Then do the settlement application.

Of course make sure all other documents are formulated such as payslips, bank statements, relationship, accommodation etc etc.

If she wants less hassell do the above.

Do you know why this would be less hassle? It's similar to the comment my friend made, but not what we really want to do.

We have been away together on holidays to the Czech Republic and Spain, she has spent several months in the UK and I also spent New Year in Moscow and met all her family. We have lots of photos together in different places along with all the travel documents, social media posts and chat extracts. Our plan is to have a small wedding with just the two of us, then have a big celebration and get the marriage blessed in church when she is in the UK. Gibraltar seems very convenient for us, saving on translations, expenses and time. If I could see a reason it would cause issues then Russia could be a last resort, but really we just want to get the marriage done then celebrate it here.

[Londoner007]

Easier and quicker to register the marriage in Russia. If you dont mind the slight longer wait for certificate then go ahead. You've only been advised to do above because you stated your partner stresses alot already.

[Davit]

Getting married in Russia is very easy.

The benefits are you won't need two CNI's .
The cost for the marriage is about £5.
You do usually have to wait 30 days after registering that you want to marry and supplied the required documents but if you have a valid reason you can get married in one week.
I had a short visa for two weeks and they accepted that as a valid reason to allow us to marry quicker.

All you need from UK is CNI and apostille, probably the most expensive part.
Once in Russian, get a copy of the CNI, apostille and your passport translated and certified in Russia.
Total cost for this there was £30 (in Nizhny Novgorod).
You also need to have a registration slip which you can get from a hotel where you stay or if like me you can go to a hostel and for a small charge £10 they will give you one.

Take this all along to a Zags office and choose your date.....
Not really so hard

[Ozmo]

Hi again all, I just wanted to post an update here on how things are going so far. I know while I have been organising my wife's visa I have been searching all over for people in similar situations and it's always nice when people post more of the process and especially the end result. I don't have an end result yet but will make sure I update.

We married in Gibraltar in the end, due to the fact it was all in English and was easy to marry there, plus was all still valid in the UK. That was back in July and my timeline since has been:

Biometrics submitted in Moscow: 6th September 2018
Documents arrived at Sheffield: 15th September 2018

I'm not sure when the email was received to say the case was picked up but we just got an email yesterday (31/10/18) that sounds like they have made a decision. The email states:

"TLScontact uk visa application centre is pleased to inform you that your visa application process is almost over and that your passport will soon be ready to be returned to you.

You will receive an email from us soon to inform you about collection or delivery procedure."

My wife used the "Keep My Passport When Applying" service and is currently outside Russia, meaning she won't be back and able to hand in her passport for 10 days. This means we have a very anxious time ahead while we wait to find what the decision was. I'm guessing the time taken for decision and wording of the email doesn't give any indication at all? I have my fingers crossed for a positive decision, but will let you all know as soon as I hear anything.

[Blighty]

I'm not sure when the email was received to say the case was picked up but we just got an email yesterday (31/10/18) that sounds like they have made a decision. The email states:

"TLScontact uk visa application centre is pleased to inform you that your visa application process is almost over and that your passport will soon be ready to be returned to you.

You will receive an email from us soon to inform you about collection or delivery procedure."

My wife used the "Keep My Passport When Applying" service and is currently outside Russia, meaning she won't be back and able to hand in her passport for 10 days. This means we have a very anxious time ahead while we wait to find what the decision was. I'm guessing the time taken for decision and wording of the email doesn't give any indication at all? I have my fingers crossed for a positive decision, but will let you all know as soon as I hear anything.

It is advance notice that she will soon need to submit her passport to TLScontact. A further email will be sent stating a date by which your wife must surrender her passport (up to 30 days). Kiev declined to tell us the exact notice period, as my wife also chose to keep her passport. Tomorrow is 110 days since her biometrics (non-priority spouse visa).

Was your wife using a non-priority visa application?

[Ozmo]

It is advance notice that she will soon need to submit her passport to TLScontact. A further email will be sent stating a date by which your wife must surrender her passport (up to 30 days). Kiev declined to tell us the exact notice period, as my wife also chose to keep her passport. Tomorrow is 110 days since her biometrics (non-priority spouse visa).

Was your wife using a non-priority visa application?

Have you had this same/similar email yet? We used non-priority yes, felt it was an expensive enough process without giving them extra money with no guarantees. I was quite surprised when we got this email, we had been expecting to hear something around the start of December.

[Blighty]

Have you had this same/similar email yet? We used non-priority yes, felt it was an expensive enough process without giving them extra money with no guarantees. I was quite surprised when we got this email, we had been expecting to hear something around the start of December.

No, my wife has not received any email. We presume that her previous marriage is the reason behind her delay. From the different forums, not everyone receives the same emails! There has been no contact since our interviews on 6th September.

[Ozmo]

No, my wife has not received any email. We presume that her previous marriage is the reason behind her delay. From the different forums, not everyone receives the same emails! There has been no contact since our interviews on 6th September.

The service level and communication seems terrible for the money we pay. Wish you luck with the application, know it's a very nerve wracking time. Just hoping mine was quick as it was simple and not because we made any mistakes!

[Ozmo]

Got the good news today, all been approved and the wife is ready to fly back to the UK. Wishing everyone else luck and hope your visas are granted quickly!

[Marsian]

Hi Ozmo! I’m in a very similar situation to yours, I’m Russian and recently married a Brit in Gibraltar!
But now I’m kinda freaking out if I accidentally broke visa rules as I used my UK visitor visa to marry in Gibraltar and Gibraltar is overseas un territory.. could you please let me know what visa your wife used to enter and get married in Gibraltar! Thanks a lot!

[Blighty]

Hi Ozmo! I’m in a very similar situation to yours, I’m Russian and recently married a Brit in Gibraltar!
But now I’m kinda freaking out if I accidentally broke visa rules as I used my UK visitor visa to marry in Gibraltar and Gibraltar is overseas un territory.. could you please let me know what visa your wife used to enter and get married in Gibraltar! Thanks a lot!

Did you follow the rules stated by the Gibraltar government? If yes, then you will ave no problems.

See https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/new/marria ... rtnerships