[jonno1981]

Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone can help as we are both stressed out a bit over upcoming visa requirements !
I am a UK citizen and have come to Malaysia to get married here and then take my new wife back to the UK with me.
I met my fiancé in the UK and she has been working in a highly paid profession there for years and was educated to a high level at a London Uni.
Her work visa has now ran out and once we are married next month we will apply for a permanent one.
She has well over £62K in savings but we have both been unemployed for about a year. I am pretty sure this means we fulfil the financial requirements as its been in UK account for over 6months etc?
Does it matter if I as the sponsor don't have a job yet ?
We have only been together for a year but have managed to get a written statement from her ex landlord to say that I stayed with her for a few months in her flat. Is this useful and does it matter if its dated from a month ago?
When I apply I will say we are going to stay with my parents in Scotland until we settle and get jobs. Is this a good idea or does anyone have better suggestions (This is what we plan to do).
Finally, given our status, does anyone have any idea how long the whole process will take (3weeks? :fingerscrossed:a Year?) and if anyone has any tips it would be greatly appreciated ! There may be other documents etc that we should start preparing before the wedding?
cheers

 

[nyclon]

Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone can help as we are both stressed out a bit over upcoming visa requirements !
I am a UK citizen and have come to Malaysia to get married here and then take my new wife back to the UK with me.
I met my fiancé in the UK and she has been working in a highly paid profession there for years and was educated to a high level at a London Uni.
Her work visa has now ran out and once we are married next month we will apply for a permanent one.
She has well over £62K in savings but we have both been unemployed for about a year. I am pretty sure this means we fulfil the financial requirements as its been in UK account for over 6months etc?

Yes, if she has £62,500 which has been sitting in a readily accessible account for 6 months you meet the financial requirement.

Does it matter if I as the sponsor don't have a job yet ?

No, as you meet the financial requirement through savings.

We have only been together for a year but have managed to get a written statement from her ex landlord to say that I stayed with her for a few months in her flat. Is this useful and does it matter if its dated from a month ago?

It's not useful and will carry no weight.

When I apply I will say we are going to stay with my parents in Scotland until we settle and get jobs. Is this a good idea or does anyone have better suggestions (This is what we plan to do).

Staying with relatives is fine provided there is no overcrowding. You'll need a letter from them or their landlord giving her permission to live there, their mortgage or lease agreement, deed or land registry if they own the property, council tax bill and a property inspection would be a good idea.

Finally, given our status, does anyone have any idea how long the whole process will take (3weeks? :fingerscrossed:a Year?) and if anyone has any tips it would be greatly appreciated ! There may be other documents etc that we should start preparing before the wedding?
cheers

There are many, many threads giving examples of the documents needed but every case is different so you will need to decide what you need to make the strongest application.

Current processing time for Malaysia for settlement visas is about 60 business days.

 

[jonno1981]

Thanks you so much nyclon! Very helpful response, especially the info on moving in with parents. That is one area we have not had much info on so we will try and get the documents you mention. They own the house so should be no problem.
Thanks again and Im sure there is lots more questions coming up! )

 

[jonno1981]

Proof of co-habitaion

Ok, so we now have a letter stating that we are going to co-habit at my parents address which will be signed by both my parents and supported by title deeds and council tax bill. Hopefully this is adequate evidence although I am a bit worried that the UKBA will want details of when and where we are going to work and support ourselves! We will be staying with my parents free of charge until we source employment and then our own flat but cant really prove this until my fiancés visa is approved so it a no win situation I guess

So... next issue is proving that we have a 'Genuine and Subsisting Relationship'..
We set up a joint bank account before we left for Asia and have a few statements with both our names and my parents address on t which I think is a big positive )

However, the 'IMMIGRATION DIRECTORATE INSTRUCTIONS' state in section 3.1 (ii) The couple have been or are co-habiting and are able to provide satisfactory evidence of this.

We don't have any hard evidence of this like joint tenancy agreements except from a signed letter from my fiancés ex landlord stating that we live together in her accommodation for a few months in the UK.
We are getting both sets parents to sign letters to confirm that we have been co-habiting with them for a while in the UK and also for 2 months in Asia at her parents. Im worried that this will not be enough and its difficult as we have only been in a relationship for just under a year!
We have flight tickets from UK to Asia and then from our recent short break ('pre' honeymoon) together to other Asian country's while we have been here.
Does anyone have experience of this ? Do you think it harms our chances significantly and are there any other ideas we could try?

Again, thank so much for anyone that replies, you are online life savers !! :first:

 

[nyclon]

Ok, so we now have a letter stating that we are going to co-habit at my parents address which will be signed by both my parents and supported by title deeds and council tax bill. Hopefully this is adequate evidence although I am a bit worried that the UKBA will want details of when and where we are going to work and support ourselves! We will be staying with my parents free of charge until we source employment and then our own flat but cant really prove this until my fiancés visa is approved so it a no win situation I guess

You are meeting the financial requirement through savings so they don't care that you don't have a job.

So... next issue is proving that we have a 'Genuine and Subsisting Relationship'..
We set up a joint bank account before we left for Asia and have a few statements with both our names and my parents address on t which I think is a big positive )

Not necessarily. They understand that people who don't live together don't have joint responsibilities.

However, the 'IMMIGRATION DIRECTORATE INSTRUCTIONS' state in section 3.1 (ii) The couple have been or are co-habiting and are able to provide satisfactory evidence of this.

This is for unmarried partners and does not apply to you.

We don't have any hard evidence of this like joint tenancy agreements except from a signed letter from my fiancés ex landlord stating that we live together in her accommodation for a few months in the UK.

Again, it doesn't apply to you.

We are getting both sets parents to sign letters to confirm that we have been co-habiting with them for a while in the UK and also for 2 months in Asia at her parents. Im worried that this will not be enough and its difficult as we have only been in a relationship for just under a year!

Don't bother. As I said this doesn't apply to you. Additionally, statements from friends and family carry little or no weight as they are wholly subjective.

We have flight tickets from UK to Asia and then from our recent short break ('pre' honeymoon) together to other Asian country's while we have been here.
Does anyone have experience of this ? Do you think it harms our chances significantly and are there any other ideas we could try?

What they are looking for is evidence that you keep in touch with each other. Flight tickets are good to show that you have been back and forth to visit each other, screen shots of phone logs, skype calls, emails, texts, instant messages, and photos throughout your relationship.

 

[jonno1981]

Thank you very much Nyclon, you are a good person to have around!! )
So as we will be married are you saying that we do not need to show any evidence of us living together at all? The forms are confusing and I cant find anywhere that states you only have to show evidence of co-habitation if you are unmarried?
Its hard to know what additional evidence to send and what is useless.. Does it not help to be extra cautions and give as much history and info as possible or is too much paperwork a negative?
We have ample evidence of keeping in touch, all of the above actually so that's good! Not sure if they accept digital copies of email and facebook yet but will do more research!

Thanks for your help )

 

[nyclon]

Thank you very much Nyclon, you are a good person to have around!! )
So as we will be married are you saying that we do not need to show any evidence of us living together at all? The forms are confusing and I cant find anywhere that states you only have to show evidence of co-habitation if you are unmarried?

Plenty of people don't live together before marriage for religious, personal or other reasons. They get that. The form is one size fits all so it has to cover a couple of different visas: fiance, spouse, unmarried partner, civil partner.

Its hard to know what additional evidence to send and what is useless.. Does it not help to be extra cautions and give as much history and info as possible or is too much paperwork a negative?

Less is more. Don't clutter your application with unnecessary documents. You'll just be annoying them and giving them extra junk to sift through to find what they're actually looking for. Additionally, you could just end up confusing the situation.

We have ample evidence of keeping in touch, all of the above actually so that's good! Not sure if they accept digital copies of email and facebook yet but will do more research!

You'll need to print out hard copies. Additionally, your marriage certificate will be a good indicator of your relationship. Remember, anything not in English of Welsh needs to be officially translated.

 

[damo_2014]

UK visa for malaysian spouse

Hello Jonno_1981,

Was your visa application for your wife successful?
I am about to relocate back to the UK with my Malaysian wife from Australia and am in the same boat with proof of suitable accommodation.

Thanks,

Damo