Can You Work on a UK Fiance Visa?

A fiancé visa, which is also known as the prospective marriage visa, allows a non-EEA national to gain entry to the UK and remain in the country with their UK-based fiancé/fiancée for up to six months as they prepare to marry officially. 

What are the Requirements of a Fiancé/ Fiancée Visa UK?

There are a set of requirements that an applicant for the visa should meet for the Home Office to approve their application. They include:

• Age: The person applying for the visa must be at least 16 years old, while the sponsor (their UK-based partner) has to be 18 years old or over.
• Mutual intention to live together: The partners must have a mutual intention to live together permanently upon getting married 
• Interaction with the future spouse: The applicant must have met the prospective spouse. This is to avert arranged marriage scenarios that might not end up being unsuccessful. However, unlike other partner visa categories, a fiancé/ fiancée visa doesn’t require love partners to have lived together prior to the visa application. 
• Proof of end of the past relationships: If any of the spouses has a past relationship with another partner, whether married or in a civil union, there must be proof showing that the relationship ended. 
• Financial capacity: You must prove to have sufficient funds to support yourselves without relying on public funds. The current earning minimum threshold for the sponsoring partner is £18,600 per annum. The figure is likely to change with time or if there are dependents to be sponsored. 
• Accommodation: The application must show the sponsor’s ability to provide decent accommodation to themselves and the overseas partner as well as their dependents if any. 
• English language proficiency: The applicant must prove their English language proficiency by taking an approved English Test and attaching their test results in the application. 

Can you Work on a Fiancé/ Fiancée Visa UK?

The fiancé/ Fiancée visa allows you to stay in the UK with your UK-settled partner for up to 6 months, upon which you’re expected to formalise your relationship with your sponsor (prospective spouse) by either getting married legally or initiating a civil union. 

During your six-month stay in the country on a UK fiancé/ fiancée visa, you don’t have the right to work. In fact, we’d recommend that you suspend any intention to engage yourself in any paid work either within or outside the country throughout the period. You risk breaching the UK immigration rules if you try to do any paid work or apprenticeship within the period. Moreover, if you decide to go out of the country for work during the period, you might not be allowed to reenter.

If you want to work in the UK under a family visa, it is advisable that you apply for a spouse visa upon marrying your UK-settled partner. A spouse visa, which is initially valid for 33 months, gives its holder the right to work in the UK. Even better, you can later (after at least five years of continuous stay in the UK) apply for indefinite leave to remain for a permanent right to stay and work in the country.