booking marriage before fiancee visa application?

[equaliser]

Hi guys

I have asked a similar question before but I want your current opinion.

Do I have to book everything for the wedding before my fiancee applies for the visa ? I have read on some forums that it is not necessary as you don't know whether you will get visa or not so how do you know when to book the ceremony here in u.k, but on your website , pete , you say that it is necessary to organise the whole wedding so that you can show it all to the embassy official in the application.

When making a marriage notice application to the local registrar , both the intended bride and groom have to fill in a form which includes name and address , etc. If we have to book everything , then I will have to send the form to Ashley in the Phils for her to sign and then send back. Also , would she put her current address in Davao , or the address she will be at (my home) when she will be getting married here in Northern Ireland? The part for the address is under the title , "usual residence" .

It also says on the form that each must supply a genuine birth certificate or passport. An authorised photocopy is not acceptable , so therefore Ashley would need to be here in order to book the wedding , so that she can get the visa to be here. Anyone think I need a parallel universe for this one? :(

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Brian

[ginapeterb]

Hello Brian once again,

Do I have to book everything for the wedding before my fiancee applies for the visa ? I have read on some forums that it is not necessary as you don't know whether you will get visa or not so how do you know when to book the ceremony here in u.k, but on your website , pete , you say that it is necessary to organise the whole wedding so that you can show it all to the embassy official in the application.

Forgive me if I am in my flippant mood this morning when reading your post, some of the postings that come across this forum never cease to amaze me, but still they come and keep coming, its not that I dont have better things to do on my Sundays, and its not the 20 or so e mails I have to give out answers to every week, but what really gets up my nose more than anything is these forums that give out incorrect information, they confuse the whole situation, and then you end up having to come back to our forum, because quite frankly, the guys on this forum, give out correct and accurate information according to their experiences, you have already said Brian, that on my personal information website, it tells the sponsor to make sure the wedding is booked, that is the arrangements for the wedding, whether it be with a church, or civil registrar office, the reception and so on, there is a big big big reason why I advise sponsors to do this, and I have already alluded to this in this forum and on my website.

Its not about 'SHOWING' it the embassy offiicial, quite frankly I dont suppose they could give a toss one way or the other.

When making a marriage notice application to the local registrar , both the intended bride and groom have to fill in a form which includes name and address , etc. If we have to book everything , then I will have to send the form to Ashley in the Phils for her to sign and then send back. Also , would she put her current address in Davao , or the address she will be at (my home) when she will be getting married here in Northern Ireland? The part for the address is under the title , "usual residence" .

Absolutely 100 per cent correct Brian, make your marriage notice application at a forward date, to coincide after your expected fiancee's arrival in the UK, in the past it has been noted that Filipino applicants have been applying for Fiancee visa's and telling the Entry Clearance officer, when asked the following question:

"When is your wedding due to take place "?

The applicant woulld often reply " That is up to my fiance in the UK, he has not booked the wedding as yet or does not know when we can get married, as we were not sure if we would get the visa ?"

These replies sadly appear in the negative, and the British Embassy of late, appears to be toughening up on this, whilst it may seem ass about face, to book the wedding before the applicant has even arrived in the UK, I have received notices recently, that applicants are being refused entry clearance, because the Filipina Fiancee has no details to offer of the wedding or reception details including locations timings etc.

As far as your district registrar is concerned, you need to inform them of the special circumstances regarding your situation, you can of course, provisionally, book the wedding date, and reception, on the basis that your fiancee will be granted a visa, of course she will need to attend with you at the GRO in your Home City, to personally register for a wedding ceremony, the onus of proof here is for the Entry Clearance Officer to ensure that the purpose of your Intended wife's entry to the UK is actually for the purposes of marriage, and not for any other reason.

Hence, all you need to do, is provide adequate proof for your GF in the Philippines, by giving her a provisional date, a provisional booking for the reception, subject to confirmation on arrival in UK, at a later date, most GRO's will tell you, that a confirmed wedding booking is not required for fiancee visa's, they are right of course, the problem is, so many fiancee visa's have been refused of late, due to this tecnical no mans land situation.

There is no point in your sending any forms to Davao, because you are not required to do so, my advice on this question still stands, and my web page on the site is correct,

"Just provide your Fiancee with adequate details of the date, location and reception arangements, subject to final confirmation once your fiancee arrives in the UK"

Then the Entry Clearance Officer will be satisfied with the information and a visa will be granted, even better still, be in Manila with her for the interview, and although you wont get through the doors to be with her, she can always say "My fiance is downstairs outside the Embassy if you wish to see him" needless to say, they wont want to see you, but it may put any doubts out of the mind of the ECO if he thinks you are kicking around downstairs, waiting for the outcome.

This has been known in the past to secure a good result, remembering of course you only get one shot at this, if it goes down on refusal, you end up in the realms of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Tribunal.

are you Convinced now Brian ??

Dont listen to me, listen to me, the choice is yours, I tell it like it is, everyone on this forum knows that, but I havent had one person who has taken my advice, go down on a visa refusal, as I said previously, everyone here, wants you to succeed, and get your girl to UK, the guys on this forum give you good advice, other forums are professional visa applicants, sometimes they even start talking about the U.S.A. which is a complete bum steer, Keith our Forum host has always said ' GIVE THEM MORE THAN THEY NEED" "OVERWHELM THEM WITH DETAIL" then you have covered all your bases, its not for the situations we can think of Brian, its for the situations we cant think of ? the unexpected questions, the attutides of the Entry Clearance officer who deals with your GF's application ?

You simply have to remember, that Entry Clearance Officers all work it seems to their own version of the rules, GRO's in the UK (General Register Offices) Say " You do not need a wedding date booked for a Fiancee Visa"

Entry Clearance Officers in the Phlippines say you do !!


Whose your Girl going in front of ??

The Decision is yours !!!


Pete

[ginapeterb]

Brian,


Here is an example of the information your Girl needs.


Lets say she has an interview booked for 15th April 2006.


So here is what you do...you have 6 months to come up with a date, so lets say you book for

21st August 2006

Location: The General Register Officer
Portadown
Northern Ireland.


Reception: The Wheeltapperrs and Shunters Social Club
Portadown
Northern Ireland.



Thats all she needs.



Best of Luck

[ivor&mel]

Pete,

I'm reluctant to keep pestering you for help - I'm sure you have better things to do with your time But... following on from our lengthy chat this lunchtime about this topic, would you recommend providing times as well as dates? And full postal address including postcode for these venues? I already gave Melanie the full monty on this, but don't want her to have to remember postcodes and street names/numbers unless it's absolutely necessary! It's something I would struggle to do! I know the embassy may not give a toss (can I say that here?) about the full details, but is it best to follow the principle of providing too much rather than too little information?

Ivor

[equaliser]

Hi Pete,

Thankyou for taking the time to give me a comprehensive answer. Sorry that I went over old ground. I think I am just getting a little jittery thinking that one interview with my fiancee Ashley could have such a big effect on our future , and that getting an Entry Clearance Officer in a bad mood might lead to a refusal. Just nerves on my part. I realise that if there is overwhelming evidence on our relationship , then we will be successful in getting the visa. As long as we meet every requirement , then hopefully everything will go well. I definitely don't want to get into immigration appeals.

I have learnt my lesson about looking at other forums and will concentrate on this one and your excellent website from now on.

Thanks again

Brian

[ginapeterb]

Originally posted by ivor&mel@Feb 19 2006, 09:08 PM
Pete,

I'm reluctant to keep pestering you for help - I'm sure you have better things to do with your time But... following on from our lengthy chat this lunchtime about this topic, would you recommend providing times as well as dates? And full postal address including postcode for these venues? I already gave Melanie the full monty on this, but don't want her to have to remember postcodes and street names/numbers unless it's absolutely necessary! It's something I would struggle to do! I know the embassy may not give a toss (can I say that here?) about the full details, but is it best to follow the principle of providing too much rather than too little information?

Ivor

Quoted post

Ivor, its not a problem asking for opiniions, as this forum is the place to do it, you should try and provide the timings, after all, this is part of the details we discussed, a full address but not paticularly the postcode, would show that your fiancee is fully conversant with where the wedding would take place.

If she has the information, Im sure a visa approval will be forthcoming, its pretty much as we discussed yesterday, but I would expect you to be nervous about the whole thing, that would only be natural, work methodically on this Ivor, crossing the T's and dotting the I's as you go along, ticking off your checklist of things you have to do as you do them, you will be fine.

Rob, whats your assessment of this ?

Pete

[ginapeterb]

Originally posted by equaliser@Feb 19 2006, 11:53 PM
Hi Pete,

Thankyou for taking the time to give me a comprehensive answer. Sorry that I went over old ground. I think I am just getting a little jittery thinking that one interview with my fiancee Ashley could have such a big effect on our future , and that getting an Entry Clearance Officer in a bad mood might lead to a refusal. Just nerves on my part. I realise that if there is overwhelming evidence on our relationship , then we will be successful in getting the visa. As long as we meet every requirement , then hopefully everything will go well. I definitely don't want to get into immigration appeals.

I have learnt my lesson about looking at other forums and will concentrate on this one and your excellent website from now on.

Thanks again

Brian

Quoted post

Hello once again Brian,

As you have said, Entry Clearance Officers, do have some amount of arbitrary decision making power over peoples lives, sadly they don't really see it that way, I don't think you will get them into a bad mood, unless you are allowed into the Visa Section, which experience shows you will not be.

You are quite right of course, you don't want to get into the realms of the Asylum and Immigration appeals tribunal.

Best of Luck, hope it works all right for you.

PETE

[Admin]

Woldn't it have been easier if we let the Philippines join Europe? Certainly help the economy, instead of Romania and the like being a drain! Besides, Israel are in the European Cup.. ..so the Philippines is just another hop away