The UK Fiance visa category is for engaged partners of British citizens, persons with indefinite leave to remain in the UK or limited leave to remain under Appendix EU or Appendix ECAA who wish to enter the UK and marry within 6 months of their arrival. An application for a UK Fiancé visa must be made from outside the UK.
Requirements for a UK Fiance visa application
In order to qualify for a UK Fiance visa, you will need to satisfy UK Visas and Immigration that:
- Your partner is British, holds indefinite leave to remain, limited leave to remain under Appendix EU or limited leave to remain under Appendix ECAA;
- You are both over the age of 18;
- You have met in person;
- You are both free to marry;
- Your relationship is genuine and you intend to live together permanently in the UK;
- You intend to marry within six months of your arrival in the UK;
- Any previous relationships have broken down permanently;
- You will be adequately maintained in the UK without recourse to public funds;
- There is adequate accommodation for you and any dependents;
- You speak and understand English to the required level.
The exact requirements you will need to satisfy will vary depending on your circumstances. You may want to speak to an immigration lawyer for expert advice.
Fiance visa financial requirement
In order to demonstrate that you can be adequately maintained in the UK without recourse to public funds, you will need to satisfy a financial requirement.
The financial requirement for a UK Fiance visa application states that you will need to demonstrate that your partner has a gross annual income of at least:
- £18,600; plus
- £3,800 for a first child (who is not British, settled or an EEA national); plus
- £2,400 for each additional child (who is not British, settled or an EEA national).
Satisfying the financial requirement
You can meet the Fiance visa UK financial requirement through your partner’s salaried and non-salaried income, self-employed income, salary and/or dividends from a company of which they are a Director, property rental income, dividends and income from investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds, pension income, insurance payments, maintenance payments and cash savings above £16,000 that have been held for at least six months, unless they can demonstrate that they have come from the sale of property or investments within the last 6 months.
Different considerations will apply if your partner is in receipt of certain benefits.
Fiance visa processing times
UK Visa & Immigration aims to process 95% of UK Fiance visa applications within 12 weeks.
If you require a faster visa processing timeline, most visa application centres outside the UK offer a Settlement Priority Visa Service. This will ensure that your UK Fiance visa application is placed at the front of the queue at every stage of the decision- making process. The visa processing time for a UK Fiance visa application submitted via the Settlement Priority Visa Service is normally not more than 30 working days. A well prepared visa application may result in a quicker processing time.
Applications for Fiance visas can only be made from outside the UK. It is not possible to switch into the Fiance visa category from within the UK.
Fiance visa validity period
If your application for a UK Fiance visa is successful, your visa will be valid for 6 months initially.
After your wedding has taken place, you will then be eligible to apply to switch into the Spouse category without having to leave the UK.
If your application for further leave to remain in the UK as a Spouse is successful then you will be granted further leave to remain for a period of 30 months. You will need to extend your Spouse leave for a further 30 months before it expires.
After spending 5 years in the UK as the Spouse of a British citizen or settled person, you will be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain.