Help with Marriage Visa for Under 21 please!!

[congpine]

Dear all members,
My name is Colin.I'm 21. Oversea student!
My fiancee will be 18 in May-09. She is UK Citizen.
We have been together for over 3 years.

We will get married when she is over 18 and apply for marriage visa.
As the new law came out, I won't be able to apply 'cause she is under 21.
So we think that we will have to appeal when they reject my application.

Could anyone give me some advice in which I should and shouldn't do, please?
Should I appeal? How much it will cost ?

These are what we will try to do before getting married and apply for marriage visa.

1. Gather all photos/pictures and upload them to Facebook ( to prove the date/time)

2. Open Joint account because we don't live together. We need wedding firstly before doing so.
3. Apply for COA when she is 18
4. Register and get married. Open a small wedding party with friends, relative .( big one will be held in my home country ) in June/July and start living together.

5.Come back home country in August for holiday and prepare for wedding in Jan/2010

6. Jan/2010: main wedding will be held. take photos, videos...

7. Feb/2010 : apply for marriage visa

8. Appeal !Collect evidence, friends write letters to support. Open website for people to sign up and against this law.

9. My student visa will be expired in Oct /2010


What is your advice?

Please, Help Us !!

Thank you !

[John]

As the new law came out, I won't be able to apply 'cause she is under 21.

The "new law" affects those coming into the UK on a settlement visa. However your wife, as she will be, will be coming into the UK on a student dependent visa, and the ages limits do not apply.

Your problem is how to get her into the UK prior to the marriage? She can't apply for a fiancée visa. She could apply for a a Marriage Visitor visa, and that would cut out the need for her to apply for a CoA.

So armed with her Marriage Visitor visa, and your CoA, the two of you would get married in the UK, after which she would leave the UK. At a later point in time she would apply for her student dependent visa.

[congpine]

Hi John,
Thank you very much for your quick response.
I think you mis-understanding my point.

I'm oversea student. My visa will be expired in Oct-2010.
My fiancee will be 18 next month and she is UK citizen.
I would like to change my status visa from Student to Marriage visa after our main wedding in Jan-2010.
But I won't get it because the new law say both of parties under 21 cannot apply for settlement visa ( or marriage visa). Am I right?

I'm still studying in college in London at the moment.
I will go to university in Sept-2009

[John]

Ah yes, editing your post to say that your gf is a British Citizen is rather relevant!

So sorry, your wife, as she will be, will not be permitted to sponsor you for a spouse visa .... until she is 21.

[ciaramc]

Congpine,

Even if they were to refuse your visa and you were to appeal!!! It will not make any difference....you can not be granted the visa until she is 21!

[Casa]

No point in appealing when they are correct within the regulations to refuse the visa application.

[owais210]

Hi

Your best bet at the moment is to apply for your visa as a student on the next extension. If you are in university then concentrate on your studies.
It will help both of you in the long run.

You dont need to mention anything in your student visa extension applications regarding your future intentions to get married as this will only end up in your student visa refusal.
It happened to a friend of mine.

In the mean time as soon as she is 21, you both can do it as you like.

As for now, Goodluck.

[vinny]

See also Marriage visa age raised to prevent forced marriages

[AncientAlien]

Dear all members,
My name is Colin.I'm 21. Oversea student!
My fiancee will be 18 in May-09. She is UK Citizen.
We have been together for over 3 years.

We will get married when she is over 18 and apply for marriage visa.
As the new law came out, I won't be able to apply 'cause she is under 21.
So we think that we will have to appeal when they reject my application.

Could anyone give me some advice in which I should and shouldn't do, please?
Should I appeal? How much it will cost ?

These are what we will try to do before getting married and apply for marriage visa.

1. Gather all photos/pictures and upload them to Facebook ( to prove the date/time)

2. Open Joint account because we don't live together. We need wedding firstly before doing so.
3. Apply for COA when she is 18
4. Register and get married. Open a small wedding party with friends, relative .( big one will be held in my home country ) in June/July and start living together.

5.Come back home country in August for holiday and prepare for wedding in Jan/2010

6. Jan/2010: main wedding will be held. take photos, videos...

7. Feb/2010 : apply for marriage visa

8. Appeal !Collect evidence, friends write letters to support. Open website for people to sign up and against this law.

9. My student visa will be expired in Oct /2010


What is your advice?

Please, Help Us !!

Thank you !

Hi Good people

I know some us us are struggling with finances and some can't even get a job until they get a decision with their passports from the HO. Therefore, it is EXPENSIVE calling those 0870/0845xxxxxxxxx numbers that the Home office generally provides.
Don't give up, now you can call Home Office for free, just check out www.saynoto0870.com and you will be provided with a local 0208/0151/0161xxxxxx number where you can contact HO for FREE! The actual number is 01516725626. (But log on to www.saynoto0870.com and confirm for yourself)
Especially if you have a pay monthly home or mobile telephone contract. You can still call from a pay as you go mobile but the charge rate will be like you are calling your neighbour next door on any 0208xxxxxxxx number.
Good luck Razz (Please share with others if it works for you!)

[congpine]

thank you very much for your replies!
I have one more question.
My fiancee is getting benefit from her social service because she doesn't have parent. she will get free flat from council and receiving income support at the moment.
Will it be the weak point so that the Home Office have more reasons to refuse our application when we APPEAL?
The law say: both of us should prove that we can provide our own accommodation , finance without the help from public funds....
But I have asked the solicitor and he said it's OK. No Problem with that.
as long as i don't receive any public funds from the government.

I'm a bit confuse !!

[John]

congpine, which bit of :-

your wife, as she will be, will not be permitted to sponsor you for a spouse visa .... until she is 21

-: are you not understanding? The benefits situation is the least of your worries. Whether your fiancée is still on benefits when she reaches 21 ... in over 3 years time .... is of course anyone's guess.

[congpine]

congpine, which bit of :-

your wife, as she will be, will not be permitted to sponsor you for a spouse visa .... until she is 21

-: are you not understanding? The benefits situation is the least of your worries. Whether your fiancée is still on benefits when she reaches 21 ... in over 3 years time .... is of course anyone's guess.

Hi John,
thanks for your reply!
I do understand. That's why I'm preparing everything to appeal.We just can't wait until she's 21.

That's why i'm asking:

Will it be the weak point so that the Home Office have more reasons to refuse our application when we APPEAL?

If it is, she will get out of uni and find a job!

[John]

OK, which bit of :-

No point in appealing when they are correct within the regulations to refuse the visa application.

-: are you not understanding?

[congpine]

YES! I do!
But we don't have any other choice.
I won't be here in the next 2-3 years. Sooner or later we will have to appeal!

the law always says: illegal people should not be here. they should be deported. But the High Court is still looking at particular case to decide whether they have the right to stay here.

They say this law aims to protect teenager. But then they try to force my fiancee moving back to my country where she cannot survive even 1 day! are they doing as they said?

Also this law will prevent forced married. I'm trying to prove that our married is real, not been forced. They should not apply to us!

last but not least, when this law came out, one of the judges in the High Court said to media: he disagree! this law is discrimination.....


Am I getting any points?

[John]

Are you seriously considering taking the appeal to a very high level? If so, do appreciate that is likely to cost tens of thousands of pounds. And even then there is no guarantee of success.

If indeed the two of you do have tens of thousands of pounds to spare, I suggest you could more fruitfully use that money exercising EU Treaty Rights in another EU country for a few months, and then use the Surinder Singh route to return to the UK. After all there is nothing about the age 21 issue in the EU Directive, concerning freedom of movement for EU citizens and their family members.

In order to use the Surinder Singh route, your wife, as she would be, would need to be economically active in another EU state ..... employed or self-employed. And no, the two of you would not need tens of thousands of pounds to go down that route, but clearly would need some funds.

[congpine]

Hi John,
That's a good point.
I have no ideal about European law.
We will have to study about that!
one of my friends asked her solicitor about the cost of appeal. He gave her this figure:
1k to prepare document.
1k fees.
1k for lawyer on the day he goes to the court

We have only 5-6k for this case!
If more than that,we will be dead

[John]

If you do appeal, appreciate that you would lose at the AIT, and then face the prospect of appealing further to the High Court, etc etc ..... where the costs would be significantly higher than those that you mention.

Maybe consider the two of you getting married and then (possibly dependent upon language skills) the two of you consider spending the summer working in a bar or something in Spain, Portugal, Greece, or wherever. Then near the end of the summer season, you would apply for an EEA Family Permit, using the Surinder Singh route.

[congpine]

If you do appeal, appreciate that you would lose at the AIT, and then face the prospect of appealing further to the High Court, etc etc ..... where the costs would be significantly higher than those that you mention.

Maybe consider the two of you getting married and then (possibly dependent upon language skills) the two of you consider spending the summer working in a bar or something in Spain, Portugal, Greece, or wherever. Then near the end of the summer season, you would apply for an EEA Family Permit, using the Surinder Singh route.

are 2-3 months enough to apply for EEA Family Permit?
we will consider this option.
thank you very much for your help!