Fiance Visa Requirements and Issues

Hello to all the members here.

I have met and fallen in love with a Filipino lady and I want to marry her and spend the rest of our lives together, but I have some questions that need answering before I enter the process of obtaining Fiance visa, there are quite a few so hopefully I will be able to get answers to all of them.

1. She is diabetic type 1 insulin dependent, I am aware she will be having a medical for TB, will this be an issue or will they insist that we purchase the insulin privately here in the UK.

2. I have been married before, more than once and I have noticed on the application form that it mentions previous marriage(s), do I list the last one (just recently divorced) or all of them, how will this affect the application.

3. I have been married twice to Thai nationals, the last one was already in UK on a LTR visa and the previous one I met in Thailand and brought the UK on a Fiance visa and married here, will this previous failed marriage to a foreigner affect the application.

4. I intend to get married in the UK and then apply for LTR as this is what I did with the Thai lady and it proved easier than going down the spouse route, any advice on this way of doing things.

5. Apart from the medical and having a passport and birth certificate what offer things will my fiance need to do, I have heard about an English test that may be needed.

In case you need to know more about the relationship to answer my questions, we met through a mutual friend in Cebu and talked via the internet and other phone apps for a period of 4.5 months, I then arranged a holiday recently for us in Thailand and we then traveled back to Cebu together and spent some time in her home city where we decided we wanted to marry and talked it through with the family and friends.

Hello Ashley and welcome to British Filipino

1. I would have thought that your loved one could register with your local GP on entry to the UK and receive insulin as per prescription as a British Citizen would. My wife pays the same as I do for her medication.

2. I would list all your marriages especially if you have been married to Foreign Nationals

3. A previous failed marriage should not go against you, we all make mistakes, even the UKVI

4. You can apply for a settlement visa for your loved one in exactly the same way as you did for your previous wife and marry in the UK.

5. A TB Test and an English Test needs to be taken and passed as part of the application.

Take a look at the link below, this will get you underway, I'm sure some parts of it will look familiar to you and bring back memories. The visa process is more or less the same regardless of the Nationality of the applicant.

http://www.british-filipino.com/ind...r-a-partner-spouse-visa-under-new-rules.5740/

Dear Timmers

Thank you for the advice, I have a couple more questions that you may be able to help me with regarding your replies.

1. I do not pay for prescriptions as diabetes medication is free, I guess if she got prescriptions from a GP, it would at the standard charge. Also there seems to be little information regarding costs to attend doctors, but there is a charge to attend hospital.

2. It states on the form to list all previous relationships and use Part 6 to do so, but there is no Part 6 on the form and I cannot see how they would check this info as it is never brought up when you enter a new marriage!

3. My last marriage was to a Thai national, this lasted over 3 years and she was already on permanent leave to remain in the UK, so like you said this should not affect the application.

Regarding your questions;

1. There will be no charge for attending hospital, just make sure she registers with a GP on her arrival to the UK. Once you are married and apply for your first FLR(M) you will be required to pay the new NHS surcharge of £500 on top of the visa fee which will cover the 30 month leave to remain.

2. Use additional information page Part 5

3. It will not have any bearing on the application

£600 if you're coming to the UK on a spouse visa

£500 if you're applying for FLR(M) from within the UK, I used the attached calculator;

https://www.immigration-health-surcharge.service.gov.uk/checker/type

Thank you for your replies timers, I am still nervous about listing 4 previous marriages one of were I brought someone in on a fiancé visa!!

so long as you can show proof they are legally ended--theres no issue. but them i'm only a beginner--3 previous marriages in my case. its good to find someone even better at it than me.

Well we all make mistakes, some more than others

You'll be fine don't worry about it, just make sure you submit all the required information regarding your marriages on the application form.

There are a couple of chaps on the forum that have successfully applied after bringing a girl to the UK, marrying them then divorcing.

Hi Timmers

Thank you for all you help on this subject, I would appreciate if you could let me know of anybody who has brought a girl in before and divorced.

Also is says on the UK Visa website the cost of visa is £85, and then I assume I will also need to pay for TB Test, English Test and the extra fee from Cebu to post to Manilla.

My girlfriend has been informed that the TB test can now be done in Cebu as her friend did it there last week.

I think you will find that the £85 is the cost of the visit visa not settlement visa, the cost of a settlement visa is 1530 USD, see below;

https://visa-fees.homeoffice.gov.uk...or-proposed-civil-partner-of-a-settled-person

Regarding the TB Test, there is only one which is in Manila;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...pines/tuberculosis-testing-in-the-Philippines

@Methersgate has brought a Filipina to the UK before and divorced, hopefully he will confirm this and put your mind at ease

Hi Timmers thank you for the quick reply.

So what is the purpose of a "Special visitors - marriage or civil partnership" to marry then, they would have to go back at the end of 6 months and then apply for settlement?

I thought the settlement visa was the one we had to do after she had been here 6 months?

The costs I am not bothered by just confused about which is the right visa.

Also can you confirm or not that once here on finance visa we could marry and apply for her to stay in the UK?

Looks like doing it this was will cost 2 x 1520 dollars in a 6/7 month period.

Thank you for @Methersgate

If you want to marry in the UK then you will first have to bring her to the UK on a Fiancée visa which is the settlement route, you will have to marry within the six months given then apply for FLR(M) where you will have to pay the visa fee + the NHS surcharge which would be an extra £500 on top.

You could of course marry in the Philippines and bring her to the UK on a spouse visa which would give you 30 months before you had to apply for the FLR(M), financially of course it might save you a little money but not much when you add up wedding and flight costs in the Philippines.

Its very expensive to bring the loved ones here as you know.

I forgot to mention that my girlfriends friend definetely had the TB test in Cebu they just started it there last week and she is visiting her sister in the UK very soon

Hi Timmers

So it is 152o dollars for Fiance Visa and then 6 months later 1520 dollars + £500 on top to extend for 2.5 years FLR(M).

Thank you for your help once again.

$1520 for initial visa then £649 (visa fee) + £500 (NHS surcharge) for FLR(M).

Its good news if there is now an approved UKVI TB Test centre in Cebu, at the moment though it is not shown on the UK Government website so just be careful, for me if it shows only one approved clinic on the official Government website then there is still only one clinic

I just read your post again, the marriage visa costs £85 but I really don't see the point of it myself if you wish to remain living together, it does last for 6 months but you cannot apply for FLR after that, she would have to return to the Philippines.

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-visa/overview

Two points - the "marriage visit visa" is just for people who are not British nationals and who have no wish to settle in the UK but who for some reason want to fly to Britain, get married in eye UK and fly out again:

Second yes, I married my Filipina "ex" in Hong Kong in 1997; we were then living in Beijing, but visited the UK with her and our first child on Filipino passports and UK visit visas. We did the same in 1999 and she decided on the spur of the moment to stay in the UK. In those distant days this was possible and indeed not unlawful provided you applied for the extension in time. Today it would be impossible.

We parted in 2010; in 2011 I started divorce proceedings and the decree absolute was issued in 2014. In 2015 I brought my Filipina partner of four years to the UK on a "marriage settlement" ("fiancée") visa.

not so sure about both being not brits--maybe one is--and just wants to marry here for family reasons--then leave the UK to return to wherever they are living.