The Process of Applying for a UK Fiancé Visa

What is the process of applying for a UK Fiancé Visa AKA Family of a Settled Person Visa from Nigeria?

Hello,

This post contains the details of the requirements for a UK fiancé visa application from Nigeria. I have tried to include the generic requirements but I have mostly spoken on my personal experience. Before you begin reading this post, I suggest you read my previous post on what you need to know about applying for a UK fiancé visa.

Before I proceed, I should let you know about some details about our situation that may have affected our visa decision

I studied for two degrees in the UK - I did not need an English Exam
I had a 2-year UK tourist visa
We had met each other and had gone on several holidays together
Both of us have had steady income for a few years
We had no dependants or children

*Disclaimer: I am not an immigration expert/agent. All the information provided on this blog are from the gov.uk website, research and my personal experience. While I have taken a lot of time to make sure that this guide is as accurate as possible and provided links for you to verify, I do not take responsibility for any losses that you may experience. To find official immigration advice, click here.

Basics of the Application

You need to gather a group of documents. These documents will need to be arranged in the order illustrated in the diagram and should include copies of every important document.

Depending on what applies to the country you are applying from, the pack of documents and copies should be sent to Sheffield by the UK partner with a special delivery return envelope included in the package. Please take the amount of time it required to gather these documents into consideration; including the time it will take posting some documents to your UK partner, if this is the case for you.

There are six groups of documents and they are illustrated in the diagram below

Drummingness illustration of the six categories of documents

Application forms

1. Appendix 2 VAF Financial requirement form

This needs to be printed out and completed by hand. Its easy to miss this.

2. Visa application form.

It is important to note that you will not see fiancé visa on the www.gov.uk website. I had a bit of confusion with this. There is the Marriage Visitor Visa and Family of a Settled Person Visa and I was not sure which one I needed. A source led me to believe the marriage visitor visa was what I needed to apply for.

A Marriage Visitor Visa is applicable to people who want to get married in the UK and have no plans on residing there after the wedding. So essentially, this Visa is given to couples who intend on having a destination wedding ceremony in the UK.

A Family of a Settled Person Visa or Partner of a settled person visa, AKA fiancé visa is a kind of settlement visa for a foreign applicant who intends on getting married in the UK and living permanently in the UK after the wedding. After the Family of a Settled Person Visa, you can switch to the Further Leave to Remain (M) which allows you to remain in the UK with your partner and is valid for 2.5 years.

Phew! Now that we have that all cleared up, lets get on with completing the form.

Right at the start of the application form - after signing up etc. - you will need to complete some preliminary questions. It is very important that you select the right visa type and sub type you are applying for.

Reason for Visit: Settlement

Visa Type: Settlement

Visa Sub Type: MARRIAGE

I found this part a little tricky but the correct sub-type is not unmarried partner, or civil partner, or proposed civil partnership. It is MARRIAGE - very confusing. I don’t know the reasoning behind this but this is the right way.

Completing the form is the easy part. Now, let us get on with the hard part

The following is the outline of the requirements for your visa applications according to the categories. I will include any comments on my personal experience and links to any forms or websites that are necessary.

English language evidence (if applicable)

You will not need to prove your knowledge of English if:

you’re over 65;
you have a physical or mental condition that prevents you from meeting the requirement

Or you’re a national of:

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
the Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
New Zealand
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
USA

You if you are not a national of the listed countries, you may need to prove your knowledge of the English language when you apply. This can be proved with an academic qualification, or by taking a test.

Academic Qualification: you can prove your knowledge of English if you have a degree that was taught in English and is recognised as an equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or higher by the UK NARIC. You’ll need to send a certificate from UK NARIC confirming this when you apply.

Tip: In my case, I studied in the UK for both my degrees so I included my degree certificates and copies

Take an approved English language test: to find more about this, please visit this site. As I don't have any experience with this route, I cannot speak on it extensively.

Relationship Documents

1. Your birth certificate - to prove you are over 18

2. Your partner’s birth certificate - to prove they are over 18

3. Marriage plans

Tip: We included proof of our civil wedding ceremony and our Nigerian traditional wedding

Civil wedding - we included the "Confirmation of Notice of Marriage Appointment" email - basically stating that we had booked an appointment to give a notice of marriage at the UK register office
Traditional wedding - in Nigeria

> Venue booking receipt

> Receipts from wedding vendors

> Wedding invitation card

4. Chat logs between you and your partner.

Although this feels very invasive, I suggest you do it. To get chat logs from WhatsApp (For iPhone):

Open your partner’s chat
- Press your partner’s name to view Contact Info
- Scroll down the page until you see “Export Chat”
- Press Export Chat and select “without media”
- Select sharing method. Email Chat or Print directly from your phone
- Print

Tip: We did not print out years worth of WhatsApp conversations. Instead, we printed off two pages of each month since we began chatting on WhatsApp and hand wrote: "Jan 2015 (1 of 2); Jan 2015 (2 of 2); Feb 2015 (1 of 2); Feb 2015 (2 of 2)" and so on till the most recent month and year

5. Photographs

Photographs of you and your partner together is a very good way of showing that your relationship is genuine.
Be sure to include pictures that span the entire period of your relationship. I'm sure it goes without saying that you should not include any indecent photos.

Tip: We had four photos per A4 page, 5 pages in total. I made sure to take screenshot from my phone that showed the dates and location the pictures were taken - this is not a requirement, just how we did it. I also included captions for each picture such as: "29 October 2015 on a dinner date in Coventry. I was on a Tier 4 Student Visa"

6. Honeymoon plans - worth including, if you have any

7. Your Supporting letter - written by the applicant

You need to write a supporting letter for your application. Mine contained:

the type of visa and the reason for applying;
- intent to live permanently in the UK, over 18 and have not been previously married or have any children;
- when we intended to get married within 6 months and the proof we were supplying
- details of our relationship and how we have kept in contact. This should be kept honest and personal;
- my partners employment and financial information and proof we were supplying;
- details of our accommodation and proof we were supplying and;
- any other information you think is necessary.

8. Letters from other parties - letters from third parties will further confirm that your relationship is genuine. These could be from family or friends. It is also useful to include a copy of their passport information page. This adds to the credibility of the third party

Maintenance documents

The UK partner will need to prove that they earn a gross income of at least £18,600 pa. The following is the requirement for applications with a sponsor who is on a salaried income without any dependants.

1. 6 months wage slips from the employer

2. Confirmation of employment - This is a stamped and signed letter written by the employer stating:

> the nature of employment (full time / part-time);

> the start date of employment;

> the length of the period they have been earning the salary written in the application and ;

> the gross income per annum (pa).

3. Personal bank statement - showing the income entering the account every period

Tip: We used a highlighter to highlight when the wages came into the account every month.

Check the d etailed guidance if you have a different financial situation - such as combined sources of income, dependants etc

4. A letter of sponsorship written by your partner. This letter should detail:

A statement confirming that he/she will be wholly financially responsible for the applicant;
Confirmation of sponsor’s status in the UK, employment details, salary, job title and length of time at work;
Address and method of proving address;
Details of your relationship - length, where you met, proposal etc. Try to make this as personal as possible and;
A summary of the documents submitted in support of the application.

5. Sponsorship undertaking form: SOU07 to be completed and signed by the UK partner

6. Copy of your partner’s passport information page if he/she is a British Citizen or evidence

of indefinite leave to remain if he/she is a settled person

7. One UK specification-sized passport photographs of your partner. Full name should be

written at the back of the photograph

8. My financial documents

6 months payslips from my employer
Confirmation of employment - This is a stamped and signed letter written by the employer stating:

> the nature of employment (full time / part-time);

> the start date of employment;

> the length of the period they have been earning the salary written in the application;

> the gross income per annum (pa).

Personal bank statement - showing the income entering the account every period

It was not a requirement as my partner alone met the financial requirement. I included my financial documents as further proof that I can support myself financially

Accommodation Documents

You will need to prove that you have adequate accommodation when you arrive the UK.

Scenario 1: Your partner is living in a rented property. You will need:

a letter from the landlord/estate agent confirming the UK partner is a tenant at the named property;
a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Scenario 2: Your partner is a homeowner. You need to include:

proof of ownership I.e. mortgage;
a housing report from a surveyor verifying that there is adequate space in the property for you and your partner.

Scenario 3: Your partner is living with family or friends and you intend to join him/her. You need:

proof of ownership from the homeowner ;
a letter of consent that they allow you and your partner live in that accommodation;
a housing report proving that there is adequate space in the property for you and your partner.

Applicants Documents

1. Your current and all previous passports/travel documents

2. Copies of all the pages of your current passport (front and back)

3. Two UK specification sized passport photographs of yourself.

Your full name should be written at the back of each of the photographs

4. Tuberculosis (TB) Certificate

For applicants from these countries, a TB test must be taken at a clinic approved by the Home Office. Find an centre near you and once issued, the TB certificate is valid for 6 months
For applicants in Nigeria, the test costs the Naira equivalent of USD150. You can pay by online bank transfer or deposit at a bank branch. The price changes periodically, so please be sure to check. You will need to call the clinic to book an appointment. You may experience a long wait to get an appointment especially if you are applying during a peak period i.e. when students are preparing for first year of school.
At the TB clinic appointment, you will need:

> Your Passport

> Proof of payment - printed out

My experience: My certificate was ready 4 pm same day as the appointment day. Processing times may be differ in other clinics or your experience

After completing the application form and gathering all the documents

Make copies of all important documents
Cross-check all the information on the application form and "Submit"
PRINT OUT YOUR APPLICATION
Pay for the visa application and book an appointment
Print out appointment confirmation form
The application costs £1523. Be sure to check the gov.uk website for latest fees
For applicants in Nigeria - this following process is handled by TLScontact services.
Register at the TLS website
Select and pay the services you would like. This is the point you pay for priority visa services. It costs £610 but be sure to check for the lastes t fees
Print out receipts for priority visa services and attach to the front of your application, if applicable
Attend the appointment

We used the priority service because we had initially made a mistake of preparing a marriage visitor visa and by the time we discovered this, we did not have 12 weeks to wait for a standard application. We wanted the visa to be ready on or before our traditional wedding in June. It took 6 weeks after the supporting documents arrived at Sheffield

At the Visa appointment

TLSContact Centre - For Nigerian Applicants

At the visa appointment, your biometric information and your passport will be collected. When attending the appointment, you need to take

Printed copy of your appointment confirmation;
Printed receipt(s) of payment of added value services (if applicable);
Original valid passport (or travel document);
Residence permit original and copy in A4 format (if applicable).

Arranging the supporting documents

The documents must be arranged in a particular order. As I stated in the previous post, this application requires you to be very organised. The documents should be arranged in this order:

One copy of the printed application form
Appendix 2 form
English language evidence
Relationship documents
Maintenance documents
Accommodation documents
Applicant's documents
Any other supporting documents

Tip: I suggest that you put the documents in a A4 cut flush Folder or clear poly pocket sleeve and label each group with a filing tab or sticky note.

Submitting the Supporting Documents

The supporting documents should be sent to Sheffield within 20 working days of the biometric enrolment for standard applications and within10 working days for Priority Visa Service applications.
The UK partner should send the supporting documents in an envelope with the GWF reference number e.g. GWF123456789 to:

UK Visas and Immigration International

P.O. Box 3468

Sheffield

United Kingdom

S3 8WA

The package should include a prepaid return self-addressed courier envelope to return the original documents
If you paid for priority services, please write this out clearly on the envelope addressed to the UKVI by stating the word "priority" clearly on same side of the envelope where the GWF number is written
The supporting documents should be sent to Sheffield within 20 working days of the biometric enrolment for standard applications and within10 working days for Priority Visa Service applications.

Tip: Make sure the courier service you are using delivers to P.O. box addresses. We were advised that Parcel Force did not deliver to P.O. box address and so we used DHL

The official guide on submitting supporting documents if you country of application uses TLSContact Services can be found here

Submission tips

Remove all staple pins
Do not laminate any documents
Make copies of all the valuable documents. The home office will hold on to any document that does not have photocopies
Make sure all copies are clear and legible
Make a duplicate package following the same order of submission with the copies of all the documents. Clearly label as "Copies"
Create your own checklist with details of your supporting documents and tick them off as you go on
Do your own research about how the documents should be arranged and submitted in your country

I hope this is clear and you found it useful. If you have any questions or need any clarification, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer. And please share any updates you have on the process.

I wish you all the best with your application x

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