Fiance Visa UK: Requirements, Costs, and How to Apply

Fiance Visa vs Spouse Visa

The main question many couples face is whether to apply for a fiance visa or a spouse visa. For a full comparison, see our fiance vs spouse visa guide.

The key differences:

• Fiance visa: Apply before getting married. Enter the UK, marry within 6 months, then apply from inside the UK to stay as a partner. No work or study in the meantime, and the 6 months does not count towards settlement.
• Partner (spouse) visa: Marry first, anywhere in the world, then apply. Work and study are allowed from arrival, and the time counts towards the 5 years.

The fiance route exists for couples who will hold the wedding in the UK. Marrying abroad first and applying as a partner is the other published option.

Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for a fiance visa, you must meet the following requirements as set out in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules:

• Your partner: GOV.UK lists the statuses that qualify. Your partner must be a British or Irish citizen; or have settled in the UK (for example indefinite leave to remain or settled status); or be from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status, having started living in the UK before 1 January 2021; or hold a Turkish Businessperson or Turkish Worker visa; or have protection status as a refugee or a person with humanitarian protection; or have been given permission to stay as a stateless person before you became their partner.
• Genuine relationship: You must demonstrate that your relationship is genuine and that you intend to marry within 6 months. See our relationship evidence guide.
• Financial requirement: Your UK partner must meet the minimum income threshold. See our financial requirement guide for details on how this can be met through employment, savings, or a combination.
• English language: A1 speaking and listening at this first application, unless you are exempt. A2 applies at the extension after 2 years and 6 months, and B1 at settlement. See our English for spouse visa guide.
• Accommodation: You must have adequate accommodation available. See our accommodation requirement guide.
• Age: Both you and your partner must be at least 18.
• Free to marry: Any previous marriage or civil partnership either of you has been in must have ended.

How to Apply

The fiance visa application is made from outside the UK:

1. Complete the online application: On the GOV.UK family visa page.
2. Pay the fee: £2,064.
3. Book and attend biometrics: At a visa application centre in your country.
4. Submit supporting documents: Including proof of relationship, financial evidence, English language certificate, and accommodation details.
5. Wait for a decision: GOV.UK gives a service standard of 12 weeks for family applications made outside the UK. Where the priority service is offered, it costs £500 and gives a decision within 30 working days on a family application, not the 5 working days that applies to other routes.

After You Arrive: Getting Married

Once in the UK on your fiance visa, you need to arrange your wedding. If you are marrying in England or Wales:

• Give notice: You must give notice at a register office at least 29 days before the ceremony, and hold the ceremony within 12 months of giving notice. Where one of you is from outside the UK, the two of you must give notice together at a register office in a district where at least one of you lives.
• The referral scheme: Under Part 4 of the Immigration Act 2014, a register office refers a proposed marriage to the Home Office where one party is subject to immigration control. If the Home Office decides to investigate, the notice period is extended from 28 days to 70 days. It is a decision to investigate that extends it, not the referral by itself.
• Book the ceremony: Register offices can be busy, and the whole sequence has to fit inside the 6 months.
• Marriage cost: Fees are set locally, so GOV.UK publishes no single figure for a register office ceremony. It does publish one related fee: if a divorce, annulment or dissolution was granted outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, checking those documents costs £55 at the local register office, or £83 if the General Register Office has to check them.

Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own marriage law and their own notice procedures, so the 29 days above is the rule for England and Wales only.

Applying to Stay as a Partner After the Wedding

After your wedding, you apply from inside the UK to stay as a partner. GOV.UK describes this as extending your stay.

The spouse visa switch application requires:

• The same financial evidence as the original application.
• Your marriage certificate.
• Updated relationship evidence.
• Payment of the application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge.

If it is granted, GOV.UK says you can stay for up to a further 2 years and 6 months. The partner route to settlement runs 5 years, and GOV.UK states that you cannot count time spent in the UK as a fiance, fiancee or proposed civil partner towards it. The 5 years therefore starts from the grant of partner permission, not from your arrival. See our spouse visa to settlement guide for the full timeline.

Financial Planning

The fiance visa route involves significant costs spread over several stages:

• Fiance visa application: £2,064.
• English language test: set by the test provider, so GOV.UK publishes no fee. Check the price with an approved provider on the GOV.UK list of secure English language tests.
• Wedding costs: set locally, and not published centrally.
• Application to stay as a partner: £1,407 inside the UK, plus the health surcharge. GOV.UK gives £2,587.50 for the 2 years and 6 months an in-UK grant runs, at the adult rate of £1,035 a year.
• Extension after 2 years and 6 months: another £1,407 plus a further £2,587.50 surcharge.
• Settlement application at the end of the 5 years: £3,226.
• ILR application after 5 years: see our ILR cost guide.

For a complete cost breakdown, see our spouse visa cost breakdown and hidden costs of immigration guide.

Common Mistakes and Refusal Reasons

Reasons the published rules and guidance give for refusal:

• Relationship evidence: GOV.UK asks for evidence from a government body, a bank, a landlord, a utility provider or a medical professional, less than 4 years old. Home Office caseworker guidance treats message logs, photographs and letters of support as its weak category, and says its list of factors is not a checklist.
• Financial requirement not met: Income below the threshold or insufficient savings evidence.
• English language test issues: Using a test not on the approved list or failing to meet A1 level.
• Accommodation not adequate: Failing to show the proposed accommodation meets the standards.

For detailed refusal analysis, see our spouse visa refusal reasons guide.

Questions and answers