She's here! What next? :)

Hi all,

Happy times for my fiancée and I, and the best Christmases on the horizon for sure!

Safely got her inon British soil on Thursday night and enjoying every moment. Can't stop pinching myself that she's here!

So with the fiancé settlement visa stage complete, and the wedding planned for March, can someone point me to a checklist of what I should be doing now, in preparation for the next stage?

I understand that once we are married, she applies for Further Leave to Remain, at which point we also pay the first NHS surcharge and get her BRP card.

Is this correct so far?

So I'm looking for tips and advice to start laying groundwork now.

I have already contacted my local council to revoke my council tax single occupancy discount and add her as a named occupant.

What else can I do please?

Thank you

Enjoy yourselves for crying out loud its a lot of first times for her!

You have both worked and worried long enough so far.

Think about it after Christmas plenty of support on here for you both

you will need to give 21--?---- days notice at your designated register office....this may well NOT be your local office. you will have to attend together...and be prepared to be interviewed seperately.
this is to help identify attempted arranged, forced or sham marriages. you can find your designated office online.

oh--and kissin doan last..cookin do.

Congratulations.

Do (dependent) foreign citizens count as members of the household , as far as council tax is concerned ?

I was told they do!!

Worth checking, I reckon.

Perhaps with CAB

i put my wife to be on my council tax bill when she arrived---but make sure her name goes on the revised bill----it will be one of the few items in joint names for her FLR.

i somehow forgot to put her on previously when she came over for a 6 month holiday.

It would be classed as a benefit!

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/who-has-to-pay

I had wife over on six month marriage visitor visa (not fiance) visa.

I did confirm with the council that as it was a temporary visit visa and as she had to leave at the end there was no council tax liability ie I stayed on 25% council tax single person reduction. Detailed in email when she was leaving, that she still had rented house in philippines which was her permenant address and plan to get settlement visas and hopefully back in January. They said to inform them in January when back.

Changes when have permenant visa and sure the fiance visa would count as that as at the end of the six months can apply for the extension visa without leaving.

Have to be living in the country for 7 days before can go to registry office. As living in my house I was required to bring along a form signed by me which they emailed to me to confirm living at my address.

28 days notice required. Link talks about it could be up to 70 days but think that is in scenario that you turn up without a marriage or fiance visa. We had marriage visa and turned up with our passports so no issues and only 28 days.

Reading link below believe correct that can only go to designated registry office.

https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships/foreign-national

Link to list of designated registry offices

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/designated-register-offices-in-england-and-wales

We did the registry office thing nd were interviewed seperately for about 5 minutes.

I'm sure someone will be able to provide a specific link, but from memory you need to provide at least:

6 x proof of address with joint names, or a combination of individual/joint proof of address, e.g. Council Tax bill/letter, utility bills, bank account(s), store/loyalty cards, online accounts - like Amazon orders, etc.

Isn't that for the 2.5 year point furthur leave to remain ?

Thingymejig2 is I believe looking for advice on converting the fiance visa to flr. Think that is similar to fiance visa application with updates for wedding.

My understanding is, you need proof of address/living together for the period of the FV - topped off with photos of wedding and your marriage certificate - when you submit your FLR-M at the end of FV!

They will just have to make an application to extend or switch her visa using the "applying from within the UK"path on the link below

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

you do need some proofs of living together after the marriage for the first flr..but it can be difficult getting 6 items addressed to both of you jointly, in this electronic age.

Hi all,

As per @bigmac's last update, that's what I'm looking for at the moment: tips for getting her on all forms of accepted proof of address etc.

My bank won't give us a joint account without some reasonably official letters addressed to her (to prove residence) - which is what I am hoping the council tax update will sort.

I didn't realise it needs to be 6 items addressed to her. This is gonna be tough?

We're already booked at the registry office to give notice in January, then wed in March. So I'm pretty sure that's all in-hand.

(Post delayed?)

Agreed - that's why I said either 6x joint or a combination (6 addressed to each person, in total). Originals in this time of paperless billing, just another hoop UKVI expect you to jump through!

contact your water company and ask for a bill in joint names.i got one. same with any utilities.

ideally you want 6 items addressed to you both together--from 3 different senders. if not possible...then one each to you both individually for each one short of the 6 joint--if that makes sense. it is difficult.

any joint correspondence about the wedding ?