some one help our wedding is booked for 26th feb my fiancée is from iraq he cam ehere illegally 4years ago when we thought about getting married 18months ago he was told he had to ask permission from the home office they told him they were sorting his case as fast as possible and he should be expecting to be granted access now were still waiting so swe called again and weve been told we could be waiting up to 6months or more and they cant guarentee a pass does any one have any advice or help please xx

Hi, I might be able to help, I used to work in Immigration at the Home Office.

Need a bit more info from you though - he came here illegally, but what's his immigration status now? And where is he living? Is the plan for him be in Iraq and apply for a spouse visa from there? Or is he applying from the UK?

In general, the proper way to be granted access to the UK to get married is to be in your own country and apply at the embassy. It's very common for the Home Office to say that people who are in the UK cannot have their applications considered while they are in the UK, because this amounts to 'queue-jumping' - gaining an advantage over those people who went through the proper channels.

I don't know what the current situation is like in Iraq (it will have changed since I was considering appeals) but if there's an embassy he can reasonably expect to go to, it may be that he has to do that. This will however depend on his current immigration status!

It is unfortunately the case that the Home Office has thousands of applications to deal with and so yeah, these things can often take time :( And it's also true that there's no guarantee of success.

But you can maximise your chances by reading what the relevant Rule is - in your case, it sounds like he needs a fiance visa;

Requirements for leave to enter the United Kingdom as a fiance(e) or proposed civil partner (i.e. with a view to marriage or civil partnership and permanent settlement in the United Kingdom)
290. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a fiance(e) or proposed civil partner are that:

(i) the applicant is seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom for marriage or civil partnership to a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement; and

(ii) the parties to the proposed marriage or civil partnership have met; and

(iii) each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse or civil partner after the marriage or civil partnership ; and

(iv) adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse to public funds will be available for the applicant until the date of the marriage or civil partnership ; and

(v) there will, after the marriage or civil partnership, be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in accommodation which they own or occupy exclusively; and

(vi) the parties will be able after the marriage or civil partnership to maintain themselves and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds; and

(vii) the applicant holds a valid United Kingdom entry clearance for entry in this capacity.


(i)You can satisfy this by presenting your passport or other proof of your nationality - dead easy this one
(ii) Should be easy enough - this is rarely disputed. It's to try to prevent forced marriages, usually. Couple of pictures might not go amiss!
(iii) this is the bit they refuse you under if they think he's just using you to stay in the UK :) Good idea to point out the length of your relationship, what you like doing together etc.
(iv) and (v) this is what they refuse you under if they think you're going to be living off benefits. You need to provide evidence of where you both (and any children you have) will live - rent documents, mortgage stuff if you've got it. If there are a lot of people in the house and it's quite small, sometimes they'll say there's not enough room for you. If this is the case you might need a report from the council about how many people can live in the house. Also you'll need to show that you can both (and any children) live off whatever money you will earn. If he has skills that will help him get a job here, then tell the Home Office. I assume he speaks good English - point this out, it will help him when job hunting. Any benefits you currently get will probably NOT be taken into account as money you can live off. Unless he is allowed to work, it's best not to say he's working here already - it will be seen as a breach of his conditions.

(vi) is the doozy - if he's already here, he hasn't got entry clearance, which is why normally it is desirable for people to go back and apply in their own country. Only if this is completely impossible (not just 'a bit tricky', or 'he doesn't want to) is this requirement not needed. And the Home Office is often quite stringent in applying this Rule.. If they weren't, then the system would be abused.

It's also worth pointing out that a Fiance visa is valid for 6 months, so the earliest he could come in is August. The visa can be extended, but only if the wedding didn't take place as planned in those 6 months..

It's hugely complicated I know! I hope my essay has helped a little. If you need any more help, let me know.

Yeah, sorry.. Didn't realise this was so long until I pressed post..