Just got Married - Visa next !!

Hullo to all.. been few months since ive been on these boards.. was in phills for 3months and just got back last week..

anyhoo im proud to say me and my partner married on Jan 23rd, a big thx to the guys on here for helpful advice to ensure i had the necessary paperwork ! the wedding was an outdoor beach resort wedding.. was a fantastic day weather wise in Mindanao, but in all honesty it was a very stressful affair.. just the amount of paperwork and meetings to attend.. i was just glad once it was all over.. which is kinda sad if im being honest.. the biggest day of your life and the most stressful but hey-ho we got there eventually..

Ok question time.. obviously we will be applying for a spouse visa for my wife to come and live permanently in the UK..

Am i correct in saying marriage certificate takes 3 months ? my wife went to NSO recently and this is what she was advised..

2ndly.. we still need to get my wife a passport.. so this is on hold until we get our marriage certificate..

before we apply for visa im sure i read that my wife needs to get a new ID showing her new name is this correct ?

so in order.. marriage certificate > new ID > Passport ? then apply for visa..

ok so onto the Visa itself.. ive read many posts on the subject but still not 100% what needs to be done..

Im aware i can register online for the visa registration, and that some documents have to be downloaded and filled in.. but what im not sure is.. whats the difference between - Cat A or Cat B? ive saw this in others threads but dont know what it means..

Also im sure after reading on these boards.. its cheaper for our visa application since we married in phills ? ive found a link to visa fees ( Home Office Immigration and Nationality Fees From October 2014 ) but im not sure what visa we would be applying for.. 2 years 5 years etc.. or is it just the settlement visa.. ?

looking forward to your replys on the next major hurdle to us spending our lives together..

You can get passport before you get married. Just have it in maiden name. It's fine if you want to preceed quicker.

You don't need ID in married name. She can keep her maiden name for her passport and visa, but use her married name as an "aka" in the application. It's probably easier to keep using the maiden name because she can go ahead and get a passport without waiting.

Once you are married you need a spouse visa, which is valid for 2.5 years. Then she would need a second FLR(M) visa, which is for another 5 years. Then Indefinite Leave to Remain can be applied for after 5 years.

The costs of the visa are no cheaper, but by marrying there you don't need to apply for the 6 month fiancee visa to marry in the UK - so it is one less visa to apply for.

Ah, I see you are already married, so maybe just as well wait to apply for the passport in the married name if you can be patient!

We didn't get married in The Philippines, so I've no idea how long it takes to get te certificate.

Obtaining an NSO registered copy of marriage cert can take a longtime, but it can be quickened by obtaining the original cert signed at wedding and have it endorsed by the municipal registrar for the area where you got married, then personally take the cert to the main NSO and request it be processed quickly.
This will require a revisit to collect it. It shortened the processing time to just 6 weeks.

Alternatively, I have read that it can be specially couriered to main NSO with instruction to process quickly, ensuring that the tracking no. is provided to easily trace the document by the NSO office.

There is no need to have passport changed to married name, it does add time to eventually applying for visa. However, if wishing to change name, its sorted and means the spouse visa is in a passport that is still valid.

Regarding further Visas, it's just an extension in 2.5yrs, then ILR 2.5yrs later (unless the rules change).
Once been in UK for 5yrs with right to reside in UK, application for citizenship can be made, so just after obtaining ILR. So ILR and citizenship can be applied for after 5yrs (known as 5yr route) from initially being awarded spouse visa (as long as all the qualifying criteria have been met).

Im pretty sure we did that part.. after the wedding the wifes sister took all the copies to the City Hall in the town we got married the monday after our wedding.. ( we were of on honeymoon you see ) so anyways she says the office she took the paperwork to send it of to Manila.. there was 4 copies in total we kept 1... so you reckon we take our 1 copy and head of to NSO to see if it can be sped up.. ?

To be honest i think i would prefer the passport to be in her married name..

but thx for the replys gents..

I like your avatar very much jock_in_a_frock, looks great.

this all 100 % ? shes adamant we need to get new ID`s etc in new married name, so for visa its fine her surname on passport and ID is in maiden name ?

and tyvm Timmers !

e2a.. also in passport application wont it ask for marital status ? and if she ticks married surely they will ask for the marriage certificate ?

You can indeed have IDs in the married name. But you do not have to.

My wife applied for her Spouse Visa with a passport in her maiden name. This was perfectly okay. A copy of the marriage certificate provides the cross referencing for this. She spent the first 3 years in Britain with her passport in her maiden name. Perfectly okay.

Why the need to provide more ID's ? The passport should be enough.

She will need to tick Married, yes. And they will want a copy of her marriage certificate, yes.

Obtaining the marriage certificate can be speeded up if you have a civil wedding. Ours came through quite quickly as a consequence.

Cat A and Cat B relate to the nature of your income. What is your source of income? As in employed, self employed? And how are you paid? Weekly or monthly and is the income regular?

There is a thread on here on the various categories as in Cat A. Or they can be sourced on the internet.

In fact here is the document. It explains the categories. Section 5 and 4 too.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...exFM_Section_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

I would suggest getting all official documentation in the new married name (get a new passport if at all possible in the Philippines, its quicker than UK), its causing us a little bother using maiden and married name, only yesterday my wife received a letter from HRMC asking for clarification of her name. Her office uses her maiden name (old passport with maiden name), and she was made a Director of my company using her married name because she changed her passport in the UK and this is why the tax office has got confused. Today I have just posted a letter to her employer with copies of her new passport so she can get her name changed on the payroll. Another problem is that I pay her from my company account and her account is in her maiden name, so again the tax man will be confused. Next thing we're going to do is get the BRP changed to reflect her married name. The mix of married and maiden name is a pain, it really is.

All in all it is much better to get the married name into circulation as fast as possible otherwise you get into a tangled mess similar to the one we are in at the moment.

The major point regarding this issue is that all official offices are obliged to take the name in the passport as this is the most important document for identification.

Did you notify HMRC of the name change? If not, that's probably why they contacted you. You do all changes on their website and it's done.

We just kept my wife's maiden name at HMRC, so her wage slips are still showing that, so we've had no problems yet with anything like that.


We'll do everything when she gets her next passport probsbly, and do everything in her married name after that.

She has a form to fill in or she can do it online as you did, I am going to ask her to change her name on her bank account too, this two names business is confusing, not to me but every other official department and the like.

Our accountant should have advised us on this as he asked which name she wanted to use when he registered her as a Director of my company.

We went with sticking with the maiden name as quite a number of people had recommended it as being quicker, cheaper and that it would not prove to be a problem.

I took the view that it was best to keep it simple at the Philippine end and deal with any issues at the UK end.

We didnt have a problem with the maiden name in the passport. Once here my wife went by her married name with everything and as her maiden name was included in her married name and as we kept a copy of the marriage certificate in her passport, it hasnt been a problem.

If you have lots of time before visa application and you want to alter the name in the passport before applying for the visa then thats no bad thing.

I think its a good idea to get a new passport in the Philippines once married as it only takes a couple of weeks (so the wife told me), at least then you hit the ground running so to speak when you enter the UK and don't have any of these problems that we are discussing.

Difference with us, of course, was that we married here rather than The Philipines.

Its probably fair to say that it is one of these 6 of one and half a dozen of the other choices. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

In the case of those on a Fiance visa then they have no choice of course. But I rarely ever hear that they have a problem, if any.

A lot can be down to how you go about things at this end as to whether leaving the passport in the maiden name is a problem.

The other thing that put us off using the married name in the passport was that some people had reported errors added at the Philippine end, in the passport name detail. We didnt want to experirience that. We heard that the UK Embassy were/are quite particular on that sort of thing.

excellent info gents.. thanks..

1st of, we married at a beach resort with a local pastor, as i believe the catholic church dont fully support beach weddings.. so this is classed as a civil wedding right ? NSO have still mentioned to get marriage contract will take up to 3months.. we even invited the local mayor to our wedding i thought this would help speed things up but its still looking like a long process..

so 1st question would be to get passport in married name ( without copy of marriage contract ) cant be done ? wouldnt they accept our copy of the signed marriage paper we signed at wedding ?

its already been around 6-7 weeks since marriage papers were sent of so hopefully not much longer to wait if keeping in with the 3mth timeframe that NSO suggested.. but if getting things in married name in phills will help us in the future then we will go down that road,, we will not be submitting visa application for few mths yet..

thx again for the replys!

In the case of Jock in a Frock, if it is a first passport, they might aswell go with the married name and get it sorted out from the start.