Marriage is one of the most joyful events in a person life. This is the point where you commit yourself and your loyalties to your partner and team up to begin a new journey. With all the happiness and glory, marriages come with a lot of responsibilities as you are all set to build a home and family together, but that is the later part that most couples do not like to focus on at least until their honeymoon period. However, for some couples, the stress factor starts building up much before the whole wedding event, and that is especially true for the cases where the spouse needs to move to another country.
Moving countries to start a new life is not an easy decision to make, to begin with. That being said, things are not as stressful if the country you are moving to is visa friendly. Sadly, every country has its own immigration laws and if you are marrying someone based in the UK and are planning to move along, the process can be quite exhausting. The UK does have a bit of reputation for being one of the strictest countries when it comes to a spouse visa, however, a bit of planning and research can make the whole process a breeze for you. You can go through the following pointers to help you with UK Spouse Visa.
How does it Work?
A UK Spouse Visa is offered to a wife under the sponsorship of her husband, or to a husband under the sponsorship of his wife. The visa allows the spouse to stay and work in the UK for 2.5 years. You have to reapply for the visa if your existing visa is close to expiry. The catch here is that UK immigration laws are incredibly strict and visa approval time can stretch over to months, which makes the whole process very emotionally taxing for many couples. The mental stress and the financial costs every time you apply for the visa only add to the frustration.\=
Meet “Suitability” Criteria
Before anything else, you need to make sure that you meet the UK government’s suitability criteria. Not meeting the criteria would mean a visa refusal regardless of how strong your documents are. Meeting the suitability criteria means that you are an eligible applicant to enter the UK. Here are some of the reasons that fall under not meeting the suitability criteria.
- Applicant has been served a deportation notice by UK government
- Applicant has been sentenced to jail for a criminal offense for a significant amount of time
- Applicant has medical conditions that make them undesirable to enter the UK.
- Applicant failed to provide documents or undergo medical examination without a significant reason.
- The applicant can be a potential threat to the partner.
Visa Costs
The visa costs for UK Spouse Visa can be expensive as there are many other costs one has to bear beside the application and processing fee. Here is a cost estimate of what you might be spending approximately.
- Visa fee £1600 approx.
- Health surcharge £600
- Legal Expenses £750 – £2000
- International posting £70
