Hello everyone! I'm Jade, married to an english man. I'm 27 years old and my husband is 25. My husband and I met in Dubai in 2018 and got married here in the Philippines last September 2019. My husband went back to the UK to work so he can apply for my spouse visa after 6 months and that 6th month will be on July this year. We're just worried right now that maybe due to this pandemic my spouse visa wont get accepted. Is it better to just apply for a tourist visa first? And is it easier to apply for a tourist visa? Thank you guys!
Hi Jade and welcome to the forum, right now no-one knows how this pandemic situation is going to affect worlwide travel, not to mention many other things as its a completely unknown situation. As to your visa sometimes its harder to get a visit visa than it is to get a spouse visa, my advise to you as a couple is to use the lockdown situation to obtain the requirements for your spouse visa, but of course i would expect due to the lockdown its not possible to obtain your TB certificate or english language certificate right now, so for now i would suggest just carry on as best you can and continue to get your application items together ready for when things get nearer to normal, though what the new normal may be is anyones guess.. chat logs, family pictures, accomodation details, letters from your spouses employer are things that you can begin to get ready, you wont have many of the financial requirements yet because the 6 months have yet to be completed. This pandemic should not have any effect on any visa application in so far as any visa applications should only be decided on the merits of each application.. Good luck..
Thank you so much for your quick response, I appreciate it. Just a follow up question, have you tried applying for a spouse visa before? How was it? Can you recommend a good company or agency to assist us? And did you hire a lawyer to help you?
hi and here. most of us did the spouse ( or fiancee) visa application ourselves. its easy enough if your circumstances are straightforward. search the site for guidance on the process--and feel free to ask specific questions about any details your not clear on .
I echo BigMac's advice ......... no need for a lawyer/company/advisor to do this for you, unless you have very unusual circumstances. It's a "tick box" exercise ..... so you just give them the docs & info they require. (if you employ a lawyer etc, they'll only ask you for the same docs/info .... but charge you) Wishing you the best BBJ
From the brief details of what you have told us, your application appears to be a normal application, so therefore it would be a waste of money using a lawyer when you really can do it yourself. Here is the website that you will need. https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse Their are many helpful members on here, indeed they helped me with our application, they will give you all the help and advise that you may need, as most of us have been through this process before, just take your time dont try to cut corners and use the lockdown period to make a start with gathering the requirements, it may be useful to also get your husband to join the site..
Don't waste money on lawyer.. That's first point really... All the guys helped me on here what I needed... I'm dumb lol and we got approved for fiance visa and then spouse visa prior to that without paying a penny to a lawyer. ... Its expensive enough as it is... To the other question is yeh don't go for tourist... Get what you need together for a spouse visa and apply as soon as the pandemic is over
Thanks for giving such a comprehensive response. I have a question related to the Marriage Certificate, we have 3 official DFA national copies and was wondering if that’s okay as-is, or would they need to be certified by the UK embassy or something? I heard there is something called a red ribbon to make documents official internationally, if you could please advise on that I would greatly appreciate.
hello--and welcome here. its good to have a married couple on here.. hopefully someone will be able to help answer your question.
Hi Craig no need to get them certified by the British Embassy the Philippines marriage certificate is fine for visa submission. I suggest you get a copy of your marriage record from the Philippines Statistics office (PSO) can be ordered on line, this will be useful to have not just for visa submission but also if your wife has a need to review her passport while in the UK.
