HOW TO MARRY A RUSSIAN WOMAN

My wife went through the fiancee visa process in May 2001. She is from Russia and had to attend an interview to settle in the UK at the British embassy in Moscow. I accompanied my wife to the interview. The information below relates to our experience as a British Russian couple and is purely for guidance only. We had to wait 4 weeks for a decision. I believe the decision is made on the day now in the majority of cases. For American men the process is very similar. In fact the process is similar wherever you are from. But please contact your immigration service in your country for the latest information and requirements.

You can marry in Russia and apply for a settlement visa for your new wife. The forms to complete and the process is the same regardless of whether you married in Russia or plan to marry in the UK.

Applying for a settlement visa:

The visa you need for your fiancee or wife to come to the UK is called a 'settlement' visa but is referred to commonly as a 'fiancee' visa. The first thing you need to do is download form VAF 2 - settlement

Download the form: VAF 2 - settlement

You will need Acrobat reader installed on your computer to be able to view these forms. To download and install Acrobat Reader click on this graphic:

This information below is taken from the British Embassy website in Moscow.

How does my fiancee qualify to come to the United Kingdom?

Your fiancee must show that:

• You plan to marry within a reasonable time (usually six months);
• You plan to live together permanently after you are married;
• You have met each other;
• There is somewhere for him or her and any dependants to live until you are married without help from public funds; and
• They and any dependants can be supported without working or having to get help from public funds.

We will give your fiancee permission to stay here for six months but they must not work. When you are married, your wife may apply to stay here. If we approve the application, we will give your wife permission to stay and work for 2 years. Near the end of 2 years your wife may apply to stay here permanently.

Your fiancee must get entry clearance before they travel to the United Kingdom.

What they don't tell you!

Now they don't really give you all the information in this statement. You will need to provide as much information as possible to help your application. Provide copies of your correspondence, phone bills, photo's of you together in Russia and airline travel tickets to Russia. You will also need to provide financial proof that you can support your future wife and her children (if she has any). You will need to provide salary statements, bank statements, savings statements, mortgage details and anything else you can provide that proves you are financially stable and can support your future wife without recourse to public funds. You must take original copies of these documents. But make scans of these documents. They will keep the copies and you will have the originals returned. Your fiancee will also need to provide 3 passport sized photo's as well as her international and internal passports. They will be photocopied and returned to her on the day of the interview.

You really can't provide enough information! All immigration want to see is that your relationship is genuine. If you have provided most of the above there shouldn't be a problem.

What next?

So now you have the form completed and all the relevant documents, ready what do you do next? Contact your country's embassy in the country where your fiancee lives and arrange a date for an interview. This will usually be about 1 month from your call. You may get an earlier date depending on the time of the year and how busy the embassy is. Of course Christmas sees many Russian's applying for visa's to visit family in the UK. Queues at this time can be very long!

Interview Day

On the day of your interview all your documents and papers must be presented in the morning as well as the payment. The cost for the settlement visa application is about 13,200 rubles (£260) at the time of writing. The same fee will also be applicable for each child. Once you have submitted your papers you will receive a receipt with a number and time of your interview. This will usually be in the afternoon. There's a British pub nearby where most people go for lunch. Make sure you leave plenty of time to get back for the interview as there may be a queue. You will then sit in a large waiting room with dozens of other people. You could be called in minutes or even a couple of hours! So be prepared for a long wait.

The Interview

You are not required to be present at the interview. However if you are present when your fiancee is interviewed it will go in your favour. Let's face it. You are supposed to be in love and wishing to marry this woman. The interview is quite an ordeal for a woman on her own. Not supporting her through this is not only a little selfish but it may give the impression to our immigration officials that you are not serious or they may think it is a scam. If you are present you will be called in to be interviewed all though not together. Your fiancee will be interrogated, well it will seem like it to her! She will be asked why she wants to leave all her family and friends and move to another country. She will be asked why she joined the Internet to find a partner. She will be asked why she doesn't want to marry a Russian man and so on. And if you get called in you will be asked the same. They asked me how I could marry someone that I knew so little. But I'd been looking for a Russian woman to marry for over 4 years so it wasn't as though I proposed to Elena on the spur of the moment! I'd also been to Russia 3 times to see her in which time I spent nearly 3 months in total living in Russia and we had been to Thailand and Cyprus together. Most of the people taking the interviews are women. As you can imagine they probably have their own views before you even enter!

After the Interview

Decisions are now made on the day. We had to wait 4 weeks but I've been reliably told that in most cases a decision is made on the day.

Approval?

If your fiancee's application is approved she will be given a date to return to the British embassy and will need her international passport. She will queue again for a few hours and will deposit her passport and be given a time to return later that day and to queue again! Your fiancee's visa will have a multiple entry settlement visa stuck to one of the pages in her passport. This will expire exactly 6 months to the day that the application was approved. So the clock is ticking right away! Now your fiancee has her passport and visa she can catch the first plane to the UK as and when she is ready!

Useful links:

Questions and answers on the official British embassy website in Russia:

British Embassies - Russia

• Moscow
• St. Petersburg
• Ekaterinburg

British Embassy - Ukraine

• Kiev

British Embassy - Belarus

• Minsk

37 Karl Marx Street
Minsk
220030
Telephone
+ 375 17 2105920
+ 375 17 2105921
+ 375 17 292310 (Visa Section Recorded Information)
Fax:+ 375 17 292306
+ 375 17 292311 (Visa Section)
E-mail: postmaster@minsk.mail.fco.gov.uk

IND home page.

Immigration & Nationality Directorate
Lunar House
40, Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

Telephone: 0870 606 7766
Minicom: 0800 38 98 289