Getting Married on the YMS Visa!
If you’re in a relationship, and on the Youth Mobility Scheme visa, one thing might crop up for you – Marriage, and can you get married on this visa?
The answer is, yes, yes you can.
I know because I’ve done it. Turns out, on visa’s longer than 6 months, this is possible, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind while considering this. It’s nothing too scary, you just have to approach it differently.
First off, the YMS visa is NOT a family route visa, so because of this you will have to give more time for the Home Office to make a decision.
The norm is for people to go onto a 6 month Fiance Visa, and then switch to a FLR (M) once married. However, this isn’t always ideal for everyone. For example, for us we wanted to make sure we were making the right decision, after all, it’s a huge commitment to leave everything behind and move to another country to be with someone. I wanted to allow time for Shane to seriously consider it, and he wanted to see what life was like in the UK. Though we knew without a doubt we were in love, this was still a massive potential obstacle we had to consider. So we decided to go with the YMS visa as a cheap alternative to see what it was like for us to cohabit for 6 months, after that, well…I proposed 🙂
Once you have both decided that the commitment of marriage is definitely something you want, you need to notify allocated registry offices about your intention to marry. It isn’t always possible to go to your local one, so before you book a wedding venue look [here] to find the closest one for you. Ours was up in Southampton, so we booked our appointment and prepared our documents.
Documents required:
You will need proof of your name, age and nationality, examples as follows:
- Valid Passport
- Birth Certificate
- National identity card from the EEA or Switzerland
- Certificate of Registration
- Certificate of Naturalisation
- Biometric Residence Card or Permit
- Travel Documents
If you’ve changed your name you will need bring proof of this (like a change of name deed or deed poll)
The registrar will also need proof of address, which can be the following:
- Valid UK or EEA driving license
- Gas, water or electricity bill from the last 3 months
- Bank or building society statement from the last month
- Council tax bill from the last 12 months
- Mortgage statement from the last 12 months
- Current tenancy agreement
- Letter from your landlord confirming you live there and including your landlord’s name, address and their signature dated within the last 7 days
On the day of the appointment, we decided to explore Southampton and eat too much food (as we always do when we have days out!). We decided to get the appointment done early however, so we could enjoy the rest of the day. We parked up at West Quay and walked to the registry office, it wasn’t very amazing weather so we ended up looking like a couple of drowned rats when we 
arrived.
The appointment consisted of us both entering a dim little office, the registrar seemed nice enough, but not exactly the most cheerful fellow… We sat down, and I think he was trying to joke with us, but his humour was so dry it was slightly hard to tell :S We handed over the documents he asked for and replied to some simple questions like, where do we intend to marry and when was the date, then I was told to wait outside while Shane was questioned. Once the registrar had finished, it was my turn, he just asked things like Shane’s name, date of birth, are we legally allowed to marry and some other questions that seemed really dumb (he admitted it too) but I had to give him answers too because it was a legal requirement. He wrote all the information down and Shane was allowed back in.
Once we were done, he told us that because Shane wasn’t on a family route visa, we have to potentially allow 70 days rather than 28 days, but reassured us that he doesn’t think there will be a problem, that they don’t want to stop us getting married, but they just need to make sure everything is legal.
A couple of weeks later, we got a letters through confirming we could marry! All in all it’s a relatively easy process, and as long as it’s not arranged, you’re not closely related and are free to marry, you will be fine!
Hi there, just wondering- did you have to fill in and submit a ‘Declaration of Immigration Status’ form when you registered your intention to marry? My Fiancé is Australian and I am Scottish so we are in a similar situation to you, except we are at the very beginning of our visa journey! It would be ideal if we could just get married with him on a YMS visa, but it doesn’t seem to be an option on the Declaration of Immigration Status form, which seems to be a required form if you’re not British or an EEA national…
It must be a relief to be at the other end of it all!
Hi there Beth!
I am just looking into it and the laws seem to slightly differ in Scotland than here in the UK. Some things seems to be similar – you need a MINIMUM of 29 days notice (though I would give more just in case you need to provide more evidence).
Reading through the immigration declaration…We never had to fill this in, we simply went to the registrar and had a brief interview. Gah! I’m reading through the declaration! That is so stupid! I obviously know you can get married on a YMS visa because we just did it! Yet I can’t see any area for ‘other’ either, only that it has in brackets (relevant visa), and I’m pretty sure you can marry on a work visa too…
I would also suggest trying to ask at the Immigration Board to see if anyone else has any knowledge of this, because I only really know about the law in England.
—
Ok so I found Section 49: [click here]
It is frustrating because in section 49 itself it doesn’t specify what a relevant visa is. It is difficult to give advice as the laws between England and Scotland seem to differ frustratingly so, but it might also be possible for your partner to swap to a marriage/fiance visa (though they wouldn’t be able to work, so make sure you’re earning above the threshold before considering this) and then go onto a FLR (M) visa after you are married.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help on this…Let me know if you find out what you are meant to do, I would be interested to hear, and am also rooting for you both!!!
Hi, congrats on being done with this gruelling process, you must be so happy!
I’m so glad to have just come across your blog. It’s a relief to read some first hand real life accounts from someone who’s gone through the same process as the Gov.UK info is always so dry and I struggle to make heads or tails or it.
So if I’m reading correctly, you successfully got married whilst your partner was on a Youth Mobility Visa? Or did you get engaged, apply for a fiance visa from the YMV and then eventually the family visa once you were married? I’m so confused as to what the best way to proceed is.
I’m Australian, with about 80 days left on my current Youth Mobility Visa. My partner is a British citizen. We intend to get married to be able to stay together (and we’re totes in mushy love) but I’m not sure how to go about it all. Best case scenario I can do it all from within the UK without having to exit the country / return to Australia to file and apply for visa and documents. But I’m unsure as to whether I can switch from a YMV to a fiance visa or can I just give notice to get married, get married, then apply for the family visa?
Hi there Hope!
Thank you for the congrats! It’s definitely a relief to have made it this far, it’s still sinking in for us that we have done it haha!
Okay, not going to lie, you are leaving it pretty tight and there are a few things you will need to consider. The visa you will want to apply for eventually is the FLR (m), I would advise downloading the application and guidelines to give it a good read and familiarise yourself with it because it’s a bit of a mammoth task.
Form:
FLR (M) FORM
Guides:
FLR M Guidance_Notes April 2017
More info:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa
You CAN swap from a YMS visa to FLR (m) as a married or unmarried partner, but to apply as an unmarried partner you will need to prove you’ve been living together like a married couple for no less than 2 years. The evidence you will need for this are things like 6 documents in both of your name’s, or 12 documents sent to you both individually and sent to the same address (this needs to span evenly across the two years). It’s a bonus if you have a shared bank account, mortgage or tenant agreement, something to show you are sharing financial burdens.
You can go onto a fiance visa too, but doing so means you cannot work until you apply for a FLR (m) visa, and this could potentially cause an issue if you’re relying on both your wages to fulfil the financial requirement of £18,600 per year. The other issue with this is that it’s a visa that you apply for if you’re NOT already in the UK, you can read more about it here: https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa
This explains a little more about the different options to come to the UK as a spouse/partner: https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse
We ourselves preferred to get married first, because we didn’t need to prove the 2 year cohabitation period (plus this cuts down having to apply for too many visas because it’s expensive!). The issue with this is the notice, considering you only have 80 days left, there is a possible 70 day notice period needed to get married because you are from a country outside of the EEA (https://www.gov.uk/marriages-civil-partnerships/foreign-national ). I say possible because this didn’t happen for Shane and myself, but the point is it’s advisable that you allow that time just in case the home office extends the notice period to investigate your situation.
I am not an expert in immigration at ALL, but this is only from what I have learnt from going through this process. From my point of view, if you don’t want to leave the country, you can either find a job that will pay for your work visa, or apply for the FLR (m) as an unmarried partner if you have proof of the 2 year cohabitation period, or as a married partner if you two can get hitched in the time you have left (which, if you two really don’t mind, you can actually do really cheap at the registry office with just anyone – literally ANYONE as a witness). Oh, and don’t forget to cover that frustrating financial requirement…I say frustrating because Shane and I found out in New Zealand, Canada, and probably Australia, you don’t have to do that if you’re married…
I hope this helps, and best of luck to you both!
Hi, It is really reassuring to read all of this 🙂 I am also on Tier 5, getting married to a British citizen.
I had a question concerning what happens after the registry office? So it seems we might wait 70 days for the approval to come from Home Office (since Tier 5 – my visa is not originally on a family route visa). So my question is once this is done, and say we get the approval from Home Office/registry office to marry, and we do, then what’s next?
I need to apply for FLR visa from within the UK? Will the wait be long as it usually is when you apply outside the UK? And also MOST IMPORTANTLY do they take the passport with the application, which would mean i cant leave the UK while waiting for FLR to arrive? This is very important as my Tier 5 lasts till September, and we are planning to have the church wedding outside the UK in July, so i need to plan this well so that i get to be able to travel to my own (church) wedding 🙂 and also do the official one here in the UK.
Thanks a lot for the help.
Hi there Vas!
Once you are both married you can apply for the FLR (m) straight away.
We went for a premium service, so we were able to get it all done in the same day and our passports were only taken for a couple of hours. If you’re applying by post this can take up to 8 weeks according to the government website, and they will need you to send them your passport. They specify what you will need to send [HERE].
It does say that you must apply no sooner than 28 days before the expiry date of your visa (though I am uncertain if this is only for extensions), I am pretty sure if it shows you sent the application off 28 days before hand (which should be after your wedding) this should be fine. I do remember as well that for many people who did not get married on the YMS visa, they had to live together for the full 2 years, and so sent the application on the DAY their visa expired.
I would how ever perhaps ask in one of the immigration forums. http://www.immigrationboards.com has been a MASSIVE help for me during my application (I never posted, but I did read all the useful responses!), they seem very active there so there should definitely be someone more diverse knowledge on the FLR (m) to give you a definite answer.
Best of luck to you both, and congratulations!
So great reading your post and hoping to get some clarity on my current situation!
So I am American on Tier 5 visa (work exchange) and my fiance is Australian but holds a aus/british passport (his mom his British). I have so many questions and it’s hard to know the best route to take or even contact the government to get some clarity!
So we currently have booked an appt at our local registry to give notice and that will take place on 27th Nov. From my research and what I (think) understand, we attend this notice appt, from there they notify the home office and it can take 28-70 days to approve the marriage (as I’m a US national) and then get married, apply for FLR (m)… Is this correct? Our BIGGEST issue and have sort of shot ourselves in the foot with this is that my tier 5 visa is due to expire beginning of Jan and we are going on holiday to the US after christmas…thoughts on this? We are going to pay for the premium service route but when does that take place? After we attend our notice appt or once we officially apply for the spouse visa, after getting married? We are very confused on the exact process and time frame of all this.
ok next option… I can apply for the fiance visa (outside the UK) and then join him when it is approved.
Am I able to apply for the fiance visa anywhere outside the UK or does it have to be in the US as that is where I am from? When I apply for a fiance visa.. do they require me to send off my passport and also, is there a premium service for fiance visa? I believe I read online there is a premium service it can take 10-15 days? So if that’s the case we could apply for the fiance visa post Christmas and pay premium service and get it back sometime before end of January? I know fiance visas are meant for people that have sustained long distance and will require proof of chats, history log, etc. Will that be the case for us? we have not done long distance but would just apply for fiance visa as we are not married yet?
last option: My fiance and I can get married abroad (in the US). we don’t mind where we get married as we will plan for our ceremony and invite all our friends and family post wedding to celebrate.
questions – if we get married in the US, can we both reenter the UK and I can apply for the spouse visa then? or can I only do that if I am legally allowed there for 6 months. will that work on a tourist visa because I know I can be in the UK for 6 mo on a tourist visa?
Could we get married in the US and I apply for a fiance visa and then come join him and switch to FLR m?
I believe that is all the questions I have… any insight would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks