Spousal Partner Visas
Getting Married in the UK
If you are subject to immigration control and you wish to marry in the UK, you must either:
- Hold entry clearance as a fiancé/e or marriage visitor or
- Hold a Home Office certificate of approval (COA)
You will be required to give notice to marry at one of a number of designated registry offices throughout the UK.
To qualify for the COA, you must have been granted leave to enter or leave to remain for more than 6 months from the date that you were admitted into the U.K. (i.e. not a visitors visa), and at least 3 months of that leave must still remain. The COA is valid:
- For 3 months from the date it is issued or
- To the date when your leave to enter/remain expires, if this is less
Once you and your partner are married, you may be eligible for one of the following visas:
Marriage to a British Citizen
You may apply for this visa if you are married to a British citizen, or person who has settlement status in the UK (i.e. a person who holds indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or right of abode. The visa, which is initially issued for a 2-year probationary period, allows you to work without restriction and to exit and re-enter the UK multiple times. At the end of the probationary period, you must submit evidence to the Home Office that you have been living together for that time, after which you may be eligible to apply for ILR yourself.
In order to apply for this visa you and your spouse must:
- Have met
- Be lawfully married to one another
- Intend to live together permanently as man and wife
- Be able to support yourselves and your dependant children, if you have any
This visa may also be applied for if you are married to a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) other than the UK (please note that the probationary visa is issued for 5, rather than 2 years)
You may also apply for a marriage visa under any of the following circumstances:
- You are married to someone who holds and ancestry visa
- You are married to someone who holds a student visa
- You are married to someone who holds a work permit
- You are married to someone who holds a Tier 1 visa
However, in all of these cases, you must apply for the visa outside the UK, typically in your partner’s home country. If you wish to apply from South Africa or Australia, you should contact our Cape Town or Melbourne office.
Unmarried Partner
You may apply for this visa if you are in a long-term relationship with a British citizen or a person who has settlement status in the UK. You and your partner must be able to provide evidence that you have been living together in a relationship akin to a marriage for 2 years or more. The relationship may be a heterosexual or a same-sex relationship.
The visa allows you to work freely in the UK. In order to apply for it you must:
- Be able to support yourselves, and your dependants if you have any, without recourse to public funds
- Intend to live with your partner permanently
As for the marriage visa, this visa is initially issued for a 2 year probation period (5 years if your partner is a citizen of an EEA country other than the UK), at the end of which, provided you are able to submit evidence that your relationship is genuine and that it will continue, you may apply for ILR.
Call now to speak to a 1st Contact consultant about how we can help you to remain in the UK based on your relationship or take an online assessment.
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