Wrong Category in the Application

hi @OrB, i applied for a proposed civil partnership too but i think i'll be cancelling my application. i'll change it to settlement-settlement-marriage. i researched the net again regarding civil partners and marriage and according to this site it says:

"Spouses and civil partners are treated the same in immigration law. Since 2014 same sex couples have been able to choose between marriage and civil partnership. The UK also recognises overseas same sex marriages."

http://uklgig.org.uk/?page_id=516

i hope they'll be able to credit the refund asap!

I think the payment will be refunded in 60 days? I'm not sure but that's what they told me when they suggested to cancel my application before.

Oh god! That's quite long! Do you think it's worth it to get the marriage visa rather than the civil partnership? I know they dont have much difference but the words "married" and "wife" are kinda big deal to us. Plus we already bought the wedding rings! And in the cover letters that we made we wrote that we'd like to marry each other, we didn't say civil partners.

At least if you change to the Marriage Settlement visa (Fiancee visa) you know there will not be any problems. I can fully understand that you would want to call your partner wife, for me it would make a difference too. Legally of course marriage and civil partnership will be the same.

A heterosexual couple recently entered into a civil partnership a few weeks back in the Isle of Man (part of UK some different laws) so there is a possibility that in the future this law can apply to all couples in the future if it becomes law in all parts of the UK.

The lady we talked to at the uk embassy last April told us that not many are aware about the fact that same sex couples can do marriage now instead of civil partnership.

And it's been proven right during my visa appointment because they're not aware of my case, at all. I even had to force her to push through with my application and that they'll add a note on my application that it's my full decision to push through with it even though they warned me about it.

They said that they treat civil partnership and same sex marriages are the same. And that even though you're getting same sex marriage, they still categorize it under civil partnership. So given the fact that that's how they sort out applications, I'd say that your visa will be approved.

The only issue I'll have is, once you get here in Uk And post your notice of marriage, I am not sure if they will allow you given that your visa is categorised under civil partnership and not marriage.

So you could be forced to post notice of civil partnership instead. You'd still be able to get a settlement visa after that but like you said, the term "my wife" sounds a lot better than "my civil partner".

I hope everything goes perfect with your application.

I have attached a document comparing civil partnership and marriage. Hope it helps

Thank you for the clarification @OrB. Thank God you came back in the forum before I could submit our documents. I still have time to fix this. Hay! Stressful!

I'd really like to change it to marriage also because in the documents that we're going to pass we use the word "marriage". Like on the emails we sent to the registry, the subject is Giving Notice to Marry, in the cover letters that's already been signed by my partner, she said she'd like to marry me. Hehe. Maybe this wpuld confuse the ECO since I applied for civil partnership.

Good then. Same reason why I insisted to push through with visa that time. Because the I have the marriage cert and not the civil partnership cert.

Just a warning though, they might debate you with it during your appointment that you picked the wrong category. But try to explain that you are getting married and not civil partnership.

I still think Brom's visa application will be approved.
Well if his application gets approved, we can finally put the issue about categorising marriage and civil partnership to rest.

All the best to you guys.

Yeah, I have no doubt that @Brom27 wont get approved.

Thanks again @OrB for the advice. And to @Timmers too.you guys are really helpful. I'll talk to my partner about this again and update you guys. Thank you so much.

I'm sure the both of you will be "as happy as Larry" not in the too distant future, there are always little bumps in the road on the journey you are taking.

You and Brom boy will soon be moaning about the British weather in real time

Oh god, the weather.

Don't get em started, we had em banging on about the weather all last week

Thank you for all your kind words. I've been stressing about it last night and keeping it all to myself I don't want my partner to worry about me not getting enough sleep. I will really be pleased once this whole thing is done. This is the major hurdle I have to pass. I know this is just the start and I look forward to the future. All is well.

Hi. Haven't had enough sleep yet. Had to wake up early so I could talk to my partner about this. So we have decided that we will just cancel our initial application for the proposed civil partnership and apply for fiance visa (settlement-marriage). We really want to get married and just to be consistent with the documents that we will pass (we mentioned the word "marriage" a lot in pur cover letters and the subject of our email to the civil registry is "Giving Notice to Marry", and the whole email has a lot of "marriage" in it.

Also, upon checking, there are still some difference between civil partners and married couple. If something happens to you civil partner, the pension that the surviving partner will receive is less than that that of a married couple. I have yet to check the effect on this on insurance benefits.

Another difference is adultery is not a subject for divorce in civil partnership. But in a marriage, it can be used as a ground for divorce.

So my partner and I decided that we will get the fiance visa instead. I will call vfs manila on monday to verify on this. We still have a couple of days before my biometrics so we still have a lot of time to fix this.

Our problem now if we cancel this is the refund. We hope they'll refund asap cause the 2 payments that we will make will reflect in the same cut off period of the card that we used. If the refund is delayed we will have to pay for the interest. We know we can waive it but the hassle of going through this process is just too much to handle. We're really stressed about this whole application, I'm already losing sleep because of this. Hay.

But I know that once this is all done, being with my partner, my future wife, is going to be worth it.

Good luck to us!

Let's just hope for the best. This will all be over soon. I hope you can lodge the application soon and get to the waiting game I think you'll be pleased once you get rid with all of that documents. Good luck and God bless

Try to call them today maybe somebody will answer.
I think their office is open weekends.

To clear this up, we applied as proposed civil partner (coz we're same sex partners) and since that's what they want the applicant to put if they're on same sex relationship but in the end we we're given Marriage/Civil Partnership type on the visa so we can still get married if we want to.

Hi Brom27! How are you? It was nice to read that your application was approved despite all the stress you have gone through.


I would like to make an inquiry about Civil Partnership and hoping you could help or anyone who as knowledge about how and what kind of visa application should I follow once I get back to the Philippines. I am currently in UK since I was able to secure a Tourist Visa last December to be with my british boyfriend which was done through his sponsorship. We would like to make our Civil Partnership registered (Marriage) to be legal through the local registrar here in Aberdeen. I am on my last 2 weeks and I have to go back to the Philippines. I would like to know if "Proposed Civil Partner" visa category is the best one to choose if we wanted to be get married here in UK. I am aware that once my visa is approved I have 6 months for us to get married or enter into Civil Partnership and right after we get married I can switch it to a different type visa while here in UK which would give me 2 years and after that I can apply for ILR,].

I would really appreciate if you can reply to this inquiry.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Mark, you can apply for marriage settlement visa (best known as fiance visa). That will allow you to enter the UK for 6 months and get married here. Once you get married you can then apply for an extension which will then be valid for 2.5 years once granted. After the 2.5 years you need to apply again for an extension which will be valid again for 2.5 years. You can’t apply for ILR right away after the first 2.5 years as you have to complete the 5 year route first.