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CONVERTING A UK FIANCÉE VISA INTO A UK SPOUSE VISA INSIDE THE UK

10/29/2024

ECO clients David and Ann as they tie the knot in May 2023.

After entering the UK on a Fiancée visa, the Filipina holder is given six (6) months from the time the visa was issued to marry.

One of the main requirements in filing for a UK Fiancée Visa is proof that the applicant from the Philippines will marry in the UK within six (6) months from her entry. The best proof of this is the Provisional Booking for the venue of the wedding.

According to UK rules, before any foreigner may be allowed to marry in the UK, a Notice of Marriage must be given in the Register office where the British fiancé/sponsor resides.

The notice of marriage should be conducted at the Register office where both partners have been living for at least seven (7) days. After the Notice of Marriage is given, the future bride and groom must wait at least 28 days before they can carry out and celebrate the wedding ceremony. The marriage must be celebrated within 12 months after giving notice.

AFTER THE WEDDING
The wedding celebration is the main event for all UK Fiancée visa holders. In fact it is mainly the reason why they apply for the UK Fiancée visa... To marry in the UK and eventually apply for a UK spouse visa, in order to finally become a citizen after a few years.

So the question now is, WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MARRIAGE? WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BY THE NEW FILIPINA WIFE?

After the grand celebration… after the wining and dining… after the dancing… after the champagne toasts and the honeymoon, the newly-wed couple must now get back to work on the application and continue the arduous task of applying for a Further Leave to Remain (FLR-m) and file it with the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS).

FURTHER LEAVE TO REMAIN
The process of filing for an FLR-(m) is carried out in order to convert the UK fiancée visa into a UK Spouse Visa. It is basically the filing of a UK partner visa inside the UK.

Under the general law of the UKVI, UK spouse visas can only be applied from outside the UK. So if you are in the UK on a Visit Visa or on a UK Marriage Visit Visa, the Filipina bride must return to the Philippines and file for the UK Spouse Visa if her ultimate goal is to settle in the UK with her British husband after their marriage in the UK.

However, if the Filipina enters the UK on the basis of a Fiancée visa and celebrates the marriage within six (6) months as laid out under the conditions of the UKVI rules, then she is allowed to file for the UK Spouse Visa even inside the UK and there is no need for her to return to her country of domicile to file for the UK Spouse Visa.

This process of filing the UK Spouse Visa inside the the UK right after the marriage is celebrated is called the Further Leave to Remain or the FLR-(m).

In the case of a Filipina holder of a UK Fiancée Visa, it is the process of converting her present visa into a UK Spouse Visa without the need of going outside the UK anymore.

It therefore allows her to extend her stay in the UK as a spouse for another 30 months or 2.5 years. If she stays in the UK for a period of five (5) years, she will be eligible to file for an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and eventually, British citizenship.

For more information on how ECO Immigration Consultancy can help you with your fiancée visa and eventually convert it to a UK Spouse Visa or FLR-(m), please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking the contact box below.

Or you may contact us at these numbers: +63 9175273009; WhatsApp/Viber: +63 9178305575; landline: +63 285465400.

Lewis couple visiting the sights in Cebu - May 2018.

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MORE PINAYS ARE MARRYING FOREIGNERS

10/20/2024

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ECO-Friendly client Lourdes Savilleno and British hubby Richard Bagwell after their grand wedding in the UK in 2018! Stay safe guys!!!

Manila, Philippines - The number of Filipinas marrying foreigners is on the rise.

This according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), which disclosed that in 2022 alone, the government agency recorded a drastic increase of around 30% in the number of Filipinas who registered for the compulsory seminar.

According to the CFO data, majority of the 6,500 applicants for the CFO seminar in 2020 were women. Of this figure, about 6,000 or 90 percent were women while the rest were men.

The CFO is the country’s premier institution tasked to protect the welfare of Filipinos planning to settle abroad by promoting policies, programs, and projects with migration and development as a framework for the strengthening and empowerment of the community of Filipinos overseas.

It mainly aims to protect the interests and rights of Filipinos who marry foreigners by informing and educating them of the culture, lifestyles and other details they need to know in order to have a safe, productive and comfortable life abroad with their foreign partners. Thus, a Filipina planning to get married with a foreigner and settle with him in his country of nationality to start a family of their own will need to undergo a seminar from the CFO.

The seminar aims to educate the applicant of the customs, traditions, values as well as the applicable laws and policies that might affect her in the country where she intends to settle and raise her family. These issues are discussed to them by qualified personnel professionally trained to talk about the respective countries where the applicant plans to live for good.

After the seminar, a CFO certificate is affixed on the applicant’s passport and this will be her ticket out of the country. There is a strict rule of “NO CFO STICKER, NO EXIT PASS” from the immigration officers manning the international airport.

ECO-Friendly explains that even if the Filipina planning to settle abroad has been issued a visa by the embassy of her partner’s country, either as a fiancée to marry her foreign partner or as a spouse to live and settle with her partner, she will not be allowed to leave the country without the CFO sticker.

As an example, a Filipina who plans to marry and settle with her British boyfriend in the United Kingdom (UK) is required under British laws, to file for a UK Fiancée Visa in order for her to celebrate their wedding in the UK. So she goes through the long and arduous task of filing for a UK Fiancée Visa.

This process can take as short as 90 days or as long as six months to one year, depending on whether the documents required to be filed are easily retrieved by the applicant.

After the long and stressful process of filing for a UK Fiancée Visa with the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) here in the Philippines, and the application is eventually approved, despite receiving a favourable decision and a UK Fiancée Visa is stamped on her Philippine passport, the applicant still needs to take the seminar with the CFO in order to obtain a clearance for her departure going to the UK. The same process is provided for those who applied for and successfully obtained the UK Spouse Visa and other UK Settlement Visa.

“She will be bumped off at our international airports if the CFO certificate is not affixed in her passport,” CFO Chairperson Romulo Arugay said in a television interview. He added, however, that this rule does not apply to Filipinas exiting the Philippines with a visit visa.

According to the CFO, the surge in the number of Filipinas marrying foreigners can be attributed to easy access to social media where dating sites abound. Other modes of meeting foreign partners according to the CFO data, is through matching, letters and introduction by family and friends.

There are a lot of international dating sites on the internet and another mandate of the CFO is to protect the Filipinas from possible offenders posing as legitimate bachelors looking for a Filipina partner.

To protect our kababayans from these wrongdoers, the CFO, in coordination with other Philippine government agencies maintains a database of delinquents with past records of crimes related to abuse and other similar dastardly acts.

In relation to this issue, the CFO conducts a one-on-one talk/interview with each applicant to ensure that the applicant’s partner is not an offender or a possible delinquent capable of carrying out felonious deeds or criminal acts.

Thus, the CFO, in coordination with our other government agencies such as the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as well as the Philippine embassies abroad are truly the government’s partner in ensuring that our kababayans who settle in other countries such as the United Kingdom and other nations are safe, comfortable and will lead productive lives.

For more details and information on how ECO Immigration Consultancy can help make your dream of living and settling abroad a reality, please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking our contact box below.

Click this ECO-Friendly contact box for your queries

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