Marriage Visa

Hi Giang,

I don't recognise the kind of visa your friend got. The 'Marriage Visitor Visa' - to get married in the UK - is for 6 months, and is not a settlement visa. There is no automatic right to settlement on this visa, and the Spouse Visa is only 2.5 years and can only be obtained for settlement in the UK. Unless your friend got married here many years ago, I think she misinformed you. She probably has a 5 year Visitor's visa that she would have had to apply for separately.

Since you are not planning to settle in the UK at this time, the Visitor's visa is still the appropriate one. You can apply for one that runs for 10 years, and you can stay up to 6 months at a time. You can't use it to effectively live in the UK by going back and forth, so I guess you would need still to leave a gap between visits, but it is better than applying for a new visa every time. A friend of mine from Cambodia got the 10 year visa as she lives there with her British husband and they visit his family in the UK once or twice every year.

You can find the details here: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/overview (note especially the section 'Long-term visit visas').

Best of luck!

Andrew

Hi.

I have got an Asian girlfriend who would like to visit me as well but I am not sure how much money you have to have as a pocket money when you applying for the Visiting Visa. She is currently working in Dubai and we see each other several times per year.

We are almost a year together but it is very difficult to bring her to the UK due to money issue. As far as I know, you need to have several thousands pounds if you want to living or visit here.

Thanks for the help.

Miro

Hi, thanks for your reply!
We got married and I've been to England 3 times for getting the 6 months tourists visa is not a problem to me anymore. I'm actually gonna get the 5 or maybe even 10 years visa next time cause we're living in Istanbul at the moment and it just only takes 4 hours to go to England so I think I will come more often. (I flew bak to London once a year before)
Anyway, wish your girlfriend get her visa soon!

freedom_26 wrote:

Hi.

I have got an Asian girlfriend who would like to visit me as well but I am not sure how much money you have to have as a pocket money when you applying for the Visiting Visa. She is currently working in Dubai and we see each other several times per year.

We are almost a year together but it is very difficult to bring her to the UK due to money issue. As far as I know, you need to have several thousands pounds if you want to living or visit here.

Thanks for the help.

Miro

Hi Andrew,
Thank you so much for your answer and yes, as what you showed, I think I will get the 5 or 10 years tourists visa instead of getting the marriage one when my visa runs out the end of this year. It's much easier, isn't it? 

ajrcrawford wrote:

Hi Giang,

I don't recognise the kind of visa your friend got. The 'Marriage Visitor Visa' - to get married in the UK - is for 6 months, and is not a settlement visa. There is no automatic right to settlement on this visa, and the Spouse Visa is only 2.5 years and can only be obtained for settlement in the UK. Unless your friend got married here many years ago, I think she misinformed you. She probably has a 5 year Visitor's visa that she would have had to apply for separately.

Since you are not planning to settle in the UK at this time, the Visitor's visa is still the appropriate one. You can apply for one that runs for 10 years, and you can stay up to 6 months at a time. You can't use it to effectively live in the UK by going back and forth, so I guess you would need still to leave a gap between visits, but it is better than applying for a new visa every time. A friend of mine from Cambodia got the 10 year visa as she lives there with her British husband and they visit his family in the UK once or twice every year.

You can find the details here: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/overview (note especially the section 'Long-term visit visas').

Best of luck!

Andrew

Thanks.
But you still did not mention how much many you need to have when you are applying. I know that Visiting Visa cost 85 pounds but I do not know how much you need to hold in your bank. It is those 845 pounds in your bank?

Hi,
The last time I got my visa was in June in Vietnam and the fee was 250$ in total.
About the financial,  I'm a housewife and have no money myself, so I didn't prove any of that. But my husband had to show his bank account around 10,000 dollars and work contract, my parents in law also sent me all of their documents like bank statements, tax papers, etc
As I remember the first time I applied for it, my documents were a lot, I meant A LOT, but once you passed the first, all the other time seems much easier and quicker.
I don't know about your girlfriend situation but feel free to ask and I will answer as much as I can 

freedom_26 wrote:

Thanks.
But you still did not mention how much many you need to have when you are applying. I know that Visiting Visa cost 85 pounds but I do not know how much you need to hold in your bank. It is those 845 pounds in your bank?

Hi Giang,

Very welcome. I do think that's the best option, and with your visa history you should have no problem. All the best!

Andrew

Hi freedom,

Visa applicants are generally expected to have more than enough in their bank account to cover the trip and their return home, so it depends. But your girlfriend can apply, at least partially, using your bank balance as a supporting document.

When my then-fiancee applied the first time, she had a few hundred USD in her current account and no more than $2,000 in savings. I had a few thousand GBP in my current account and a few more in savings. I included a fairly meticulous budget for the trip based on my financials, demonstrating that we could afford it. We also included a letter from my parents, as we were staying with them for the duration, confirming that they would be covering our accommodation and most of our meals.

So there is no specific amount as long as you can prove that you have "enough" between you. Bear in mind also that they require six months' worth of bank statements, so you can't just transfer her a lump sum to make her balance look more impressive.

Hope that helps.

Andrew

We didn't do the visitor's visa but the spouse and fiancee visa. For settlement, the UK sponsor needs to prove to have at least 18,600 pounds annually by employment or savings to successfully apply for the visa for 1 person. I got granted the fiancee and now we are doing the spouse one. Hope this helps if ever you go that route.