Marriage advice

[bensyboy]

Hi,

I am an English guy who has met a filipina that I would like to marry. My brother lives in the Philippines and I have been out there about 6 times in the last 1.5 years. I would now like to think about how I marry the girl I have fallen in love with. Could someone give me advice, is it best to get her here on a fiancee visa and marry in the UK or get married there and then look for a visa for her to come back here.

any advice much appreciated
Thanks

[KeithD]

I am an English guy who has met a filipina

The British Embassy will be so pleased about that!

Could someone give me advice, is it best to get her here on a fiancee visa and marry in the UK or get married there and then look for a visa for her to come back here.

This depends who you ask on the forum, I say the UK, Pete & Rob would say the Phil, so just go with what you want. There is more paperwork doing it in the Phil though, but the advantages are she can work from day 1 in the UK.

[bensyboy]

Thanks, how long does the process usually take?

[KeithD]

....Piece of string!!! Springs to mind.

The process is A LOT quicker than it was 12 months ago, with regard to the visa app whether you're married there or not.

As for wedding, I would suppose it depends on how much you want to keep the girls family happy. They do like big weddings out there, and don't actually cost that much, probably £1000-£1500. So you're probably best going with what your babe & family prefer.

[andypaul]

Welcome bensyboy to the site, like admin says my advice would be to marry in the phill, which should be easier for you to organise than most of us as your brother allready lives there.

The wedding will cost less, your wife to be family can all go (almost impossible if held in europe due to visa and cost issues).

Also once your wife is in the Uk you should have less paperwork to bother with, than if you then have to arrange visa paperwork and the Wedding.

Your Wife needs your full attention as it is much tougher for most phills to adapt to UK life than it is for Europeans to adapt to life in Phil imo.

I wish you all the best for the future and hope you stay with the site as this site is a mine of infomation.

[ginapeterb]

Hello Bensyboy, and welcome to the Forum,

thank you for your post, everyone in your position seems to be at this stage at some point in the start of their relationship with a Pinay, as Keith said, we all like to put our penneth into the thread.

Rob will no doubt give you his opinion on the matter, I prefer the Philippines wedding, its a nice experience, which you would not want to miss, some guys prefer to bring their girls back on Fiancee Visa's which are actually marriage visas, not to be confused with marriage in the Philippines.

Marriage visa's are issued to Fiancee's of someone presently settled in the United Kingdom, if you want to browse the procedures for this, you can mosy on over to my website at

http://www.british-filipino.com

Most people end up there eventually, judging by the number of referal urls I get per day, its mainly from this site, once you have looked at the procedures, as Keith has said, its getting much easier these days, going as far back as Rhea's Visa, ( John in Northern Ireland), it seems that the time has gone down dramatically.

Whichever route you take, the fiancee visa is the quickest of course, if you are anxious to get your girl to UK, of course you have 6 months to complete your wedding, and then you may apply for FLR Further leave to remain for your girl, the disadvantage of this, is that if your girl wants to take up paid employment, she may not do so, until you have been accepted for FLR, once having got FLR, in 2 years, she may then apply for ILR ( Indefinate leave to remain).

Costs and family considerations come into this equation, you might wish to consider that your girl might want a Filipino wedding, which is generally a grand affair, 100 to 200 guests are not uncommon, sometimes smaller, like mine which was 100 guests, you might also want to take into consideration that her family will not be allowed to come to UK for the wedding, this often makes the decision easier, since then if it is in the Phils, you can take advantage of some excellent wedding packages, for example mine which cost P36,500.00 around £400.00.

A Filipino wedding package organized by a hotel, includes a lot of things you dont think about, if you want details of that, you can take a look at the wedding page on my site, gives you an idea about the Filipino wedding and what is involved.

Again as Keith has said, how long is a peice of string, you will of course have to deal with our pals over at the British Embassy in Manila at some stage, but dont worry, the way things are going at the moment, you may not even have to have that pleasure.

Whatever you do, I'm sure it will be a success, the only advice I would give is that courting and marrying a pinay is not cheap, no no no...so planning is essential, to make for a smooth transition.

Take care, and fire any questions to the guys, who will answer them for you each giving their own opinion on any given subject.

Best wishes

[Eljohno]

I would also agree with getting married out there as i see the wedding day as more geared for the bride so everything should be done to make her day special so of course it will be if her family can make it.

Although i did miss the fact although i had friends at the wedding from N.Ireland that none of my family were able to make it...

[bensyboy]

Thanks everyone for your sound advice. My pinay has already said she would like to get married in the Philippines, so I guess the decision has been made for me. I'll definately stay with the site.
Thanks again.