Application time for spouse visa

[Gfran]

Hi

I'm a uk citizen and my partner is Brazilian - she is currently on a short term student visa in the UK for 8 months - we have been together 2 years and have been living together since April (we have a tenancy agreement in joint names plus council tax in joint names also) We want to get married before she returns to Brazil in December when her short term student visa ends. Can we apply for the Spouse Visa before we leave the UK or does she need to do this from Brazil?- i would really like to get married and apply on the super priority service so she can return to UK in January with me rather than her having to wait 6-8 weeks in Brazil for an answer. We are both aged over 40 and have no problems with the money limit or the english language test that she has already passed. She is a Teacher in Brazil and would like to start getting on looking for work as a teaching assistant or carry out teacher training but hard to try to get any of this started if we have to wait whilst she is in brazil waiting for the Vias to come through - plus we need to travel approx 3 hours by plane to get to the nearest visa office in Brazil from her home.

[manci]

If you manage to get married before your partner's visa expires in December she will be eligible to apply for a spouse visa in-country provided her short term student visa is still valid at the time of application.

However your planned timings could be difficult to achieve ecause:

1
The Home Office might ask questions about you and your relationship - if this happens you may need to wait up to 70 days before getting married
2
After she has submitted her application she should not leave the UK before the decision on it is made otherwise the HO will consider the application withdrawn.
3
The super priority service may not be available at the time she applies and there may be delays booking a biometric appointment.

Look at the rules and processes involved in getting married:
https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships

[Gfran]

Thank you for the info

Do you know if we could apply for the fiancé visa whilst she is in uk? Or does this have to be applied for out of country? Also her biometric would it need doing again as her last appointment was in São Paulo in Feb 22 so could these be reused or still need to make another appointment as different visa.?

Thanks for any help in advance

[CR001]

You cannot apply for a 6 month fiance visa within the UK. It is a visa that can only be applied for from abroad.

Biometrics will need to be enrolled again.

[Gfran]

Thank you both for your help

I do hate that you cant apply here for some visas - it is all done online so why not just let us do the biometric here - sorry moan now over time to look at options

[manci]

The Home Office might ask questions about you and your relationship - if this happens you may need to wait up to 70 days before getting married

Note that the HO will investigate if they think there is a suspicion of a sham marriage. As this is unlikely to happen in your case the the 70 day delay is also unlikely. The normal notice period is 29 days.

.

[Gfran]

Sorry this might sound strange but can you start an application for a spouse visa before you are actually married - I would like to start the visa process and upload as many documents as possible plus book the biometric for after we are married so we get hopefully the correct day in São Paulo for our biometric appointment - we have to fly from uk in early December but final destination is another 3 hours flight from São Paulo so want to try and book asap. We get married mid November so would like to start application asap

[CR001]

In the application, you have to state the date you married. You cannot do that if you are not married yet as you cannot put a date in the future.

You can only upload documents and book the biometric appointment AFTER you have submitted and paid online for the visa application.

Note that while an application is pending with UKVI, your partner cannot leave the UK as the application will then be considered withdrawn and you lose the fees.

[Gfran]

Thanks - I did think that but hopeful thinking. We will process the application in Brazil as cannot trust the super priority to be in place and do not want to be stressing over the flights so close to Christmas. So honeymoon in Brazil then if her passport is back great if not I will return to uk alone and wait for her visa to be approved before flying back to collect her.