# Switching from Tier 5 YMS to Spouse visa



## kikibd (Sep 11, 2016)

Hi all,

I am wanting to switch from a Tier 5 youth mobility scheme visa to a spouse visa, and just have a couple of questions about this process!

For a bit of background, I am Australian and have lived in the UK for about 7 years, the first 5 years on student visas and the last 2 years on a youth mobility scheme visa, which expires in mid-November of this year. My fiance is a British citizen and we are getting married at the end of October, and are planning to make a premium service appointment to get a FLR (M) visa a few days after the wedding.

So my questions:
1) can I definitely switch from a YMS to a FLR (M) from within the UK? I know you can switch into the FLR (M) from any visa valid for more than 6 months, but the YMS visa says you are supposed to leave the country at the end of it, so this seems a bit contradictory! Has anyone else done this?

2) I'm concerned that they might think we are getting married just for the visa, because we are applying for it only a few days later. This of course isn't true - we have been together for 4 years and living together for over a year, and we are so excited to be getting married. The timing is more because we are trying to fit both the wedding and the visa into the time that my fiance has off work! Has anyone else had any experience of applying for a spouse visa only a short time after their wedding? How did this go for you?

Any help gratefully received! All the very best,

K


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## Toby1988 (Jul 6, 2016)

Hi yes you can switch within uk from tier 5 to spouse visa provided you can get married. You just need to go to designated register office to give notice of wedding for standard 28 clear days for them to display your Union and its kind of an interview wherein if they aren't satisfied that you're a genuine couple you might be referred to home office for further enquiry. But if you're a genuine couple no need to worry about that 


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## kikibd (Sep 11, 2016)

Hi Toby,

Thanks for your response! Yes we already went to a register office back at the start of June, and they didn't refer us for further investigation so we just had to wait the 28 days.

All best,

K


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## Toby1988 (Jul 6, 2016)

Then just get married and get ready for flrm  all the best. Just ensure that you cover up all the aspects from spouse visa view like relationship, financial requirement, accommodation bit, cohabitation proof, etc and you'll do fine 


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## Cassidy_Comp (Apr 11, 2017)

*Question*

Hello kikibd,

I'm in the same situation now and intend to get married in August and apply straight after. I'm just wondering if you could let me know how this turned out for you? Did you run into any trouble?

Many Thanks,
Cass


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## kikibd (Sep 11, 2016)

Hi Cass,

It all went fine - got the visa without any trouble. We had prepared the application before the wedding and then just added in our marriage certificate before going to the meeting. Hope it all goes well for you! Do let me know if you have any other questions - I know it is a stressful process!

Best,

Kiki


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## Cassidy_Comp (Apr 11, 2017)

Hello,

Glad to hear this wasn't a trouble for you, congrats! Can I ask about the notice of marriage period? I suppose you gave notice of marriage then got refereed to the home office? Did the marriage license take very long to get approved?


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## kikibd (Sep 11, 2016)

Hi Cass,

Re giving notice, they may or may not decide to refer you to the home office - there is no way of knowing! If you don't get referred then you are able to get married 28 days after giving notice. If they decide to refer you to the home office to investigate then this can be extended to 70 days. So it is important to give notice at least 70 days before your wedding, just in case you are investigated. There is no harm in going to the council to give notice even earlier - I think we did ours about 4 months before the wedding, as soon as we had our date and venue sorted. You will get a letter from the home office about a week after going to the council, telling you whether they are investigating or not. (They didn't investigate in our case so we only had a 28-day notice period.) Not sure I explained that very well - let me know if you have any other questions!

The other thing to bear in mind is that you will need to pay a little more and bring extra stuff (eg passport photos for both of you) with you to the council if you are registering for a marriage and one of you is from outside of the EU. Your council will be able to tell you what you need to bring before your appointment, but you should let them know that one of you is from outside the EU so that they give you the right info.

Best,

Kiki


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## yy_kk (May 4, 2017)

Hi kikibd,

Congrat with the visa application!

My fiancé is in similar situation to you and we are planning to marry late June. We want to know what did you prepare for the spouse visa application, i.e. any kind of documentations? We are intended to book an appointment to one of the premium service centre and we'll go together for the appointment.

Thanks,
YY


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## charlieb001 (Dec 28, 2017)

*Desperately seeking help on swapping Tier 5 YMS to SPOUSE - unusual circumstances*

Hi,

I have a couple of questions as we are just starting out on this journey and it is the most stressful thing I think I've ever encountered!

1. I'm a New Zealand national on a Tier 5 YMS visa. My partner is a UK national. We've been together for one year, living together for six months. We have a joint bank account, living expenses and shared assets (e.g. vehicles) so have proof the relationship is genuine. 

2. My Tier 5 visa expires in May 2018. We plan to have a small registry office wedding so that we don't face separation. I currently earn £35k, and my company originally offered to sponsor me on Tier 2 but as a "lower earner" they aren't optimistic the application would be accepted, so my partner and I have decided to marry as a more certain option. It brings our plans forward, we'd still have a big wedding and a "formal" engagement but it would be on our own timeline later on.

3. When do I need to apply to the registry office, and when would we need to apply for the visa? I have read contradictory timelines. The UK Gov website says you can only apply 28 days before the expiry of your current visa? 

4. What comes first, applying for the visa or getting married? We plan on using the premium same day service.

5. My partner is a high earner (£80k+), based in the UK, but is paid in Euros, as he is technically employed by a Swiss company. Does anyone know if evidence of this is sufficient for the Home Office as it would be if he were paid by a UK employer? 

I'd just like to know if anyone has encountered any issue swapping from a Tier 5 to a spousal visa within the UK, as ideally we don't want me to have to leave the UK to apply for this and face uncertainty. I also need to know if anyone is confident about timings as there's SOOO much information out there and I don't want to leave the wedding/visa application too late, or start it too early and get the cut off wrong!

Help greatly appreciated...

Thank you so much,
C x


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