Fiancé, Civil Partner & Marriage Visitor Visas

Choosing the Right Visa to Marry or Form a Civil Partnership in the UK

Three different immigration routes may be relevant to couples planning a ceremony in the UK. The correct route depends on whether you intend to settle together in the UK, form a civil partnership and settle here, or visit for the ceremony and then leave.

Using the wrong route can prevent you from working, switching immigration category or remaining in the UK. The evidence must be consistent about your relationship, ceremony plans and long-term intentions.

Fiancé or Fiancée Visa Under Appendix FM

The fiancé or fiancée route is for a person coming to the UK to marry an eligible partner, such as a British or Irish citizen or a person settled in the UK, and then make the UK their home. Other sponsor categories recognised by Appendix FM may also qualify.

Permission is normally granted for six months. The couple must intend to marry in the UK within that period. The applicant cannot work or study during the engagement. After marriage, they can apply inside the UK for permission as a spouse; work is permitted only after that application is granted.

Core requirements

• Both partners are aged 18 or over, have met in person and are in a genuine and subsisting relationship.
• Any previous marriage or civil partnership has permanently broken down and the couple intend to live together permanently in the UK.
• The marriage will take place in the UK within six months of arrival.
• The financial requirement is met. For most new partner applications the minimum income threshold is currently £29,000 gross a year. Permitted savings and other specified sources may be used, subject to detailed evidential rules; transitional or adequate-maintenance rules can apply.
• There will be adequate accommodation without recourse to public funds or overcrowding.
• The applicant meets the initial English language requirement at level A1 in speaking and listening, unless exempt.

Proposed Civil Partner Visa

The proposed civil partner route is the Appendix FM equivalent for a couple who intend to enter a civil partnership in the UK and then live here together. It follows the same six-month framework and broadly the same relationship, financial, accommodation and English language requirements as the fiancé or fiancée route.

The route is open regardless of the couple’s sex. Couples intending to marry use the fiancé or fiancée category; couples intending to register a civil partnership use the proposed civil partner category.

Marriage Visitor Visa

A Marriage Visitor visa is for a person who wants to marry, form a civil partnership or give notice in the UK but does not intend to live here after the visit. It permits a visit of up to six months under the Visitor Rules.

The applicant must be at least 18, be in a genuine relationship, be free to marry or form the civil partnership, intend to complete the ceremony within the visit and leave the UK afterwards. They must show that they can support themselves and pay for their return or onward journey without working or accessing public funds.

Marriage Visitors cannot work, cannot include family members as dependants, and cannot switch in the UK to the spouse or partner route. A person who wishes to settle after the ceremony must leave and make the appropriate entry-clearance application from abroad.

Evidence and Issues We Commonly Address

• Identifying which route matches the couple’s plans after the ceremony.
• Demonstrating a genuine and subsisting relationship through proportionate, consistent evidence.
• Documenting employment, self-employment, savings and permitted combinations under the financial rules.
• Presenting venue bookings, notice arrangements and other ceremony evidence.
• Preparing the in-country spouse or civil partner application after a fiancé or proposed civil partner ceremony.
• Advising on applications for eligible children and the different position for Marriage Visitors.
• Reviewing refusals and identifying whether a fresh application, administrative process or human-rights appeal is available.

How Arona St James Solicitors Can Help

Arona St James Solicitors is an SRA-regulated firm in Walthamstow, London. We assess the couple’s immigration position and intentions across all three routes. We can prepare a focused relationship-and-intentions bundle, structure evidence for income, savings and permitted combinations, and address an earlier refusal.

Where Appendix FM requirements are not met, we can assess whether exceptional circumstances and Article 8 family-life considerations are properly engaged. Human-rights arguments are fact-sensitive and do not replace the need to meet the Rules where possible.

Speak to a UK Family Visa Solicitor

The route should reflect both your ceremony and your plans immediately afterwards. Contact Arona St James Solicitors for advice on eligibility, documents, a previous refusal or switching after your ceremony.