UK Spouse Visas - Does our government hate us and want to punish us

[Col_M]

I married my partner of two and a half years this year which was a massive high point in my life. As she is Japanese we're now in the process of applying for a UK spouse visa for her and her two girls to move here. I was hoping that as she's from a rich developed G7 nation, she'd have it easy, but no, she has to go through the same process as people from countries with a higher risk of fraudulent applications, I suppose it's fair and equal though.
I just thought I'd share the process in case it's of any help to people here who may go through it in the future as the actual advice online is thin on the ground. Below is what we need to prove and the documents that we need to prove it.

I meet all the requirements:

• I'm a British citizen
• I have a full-time permanent job that pays over the minimum financial requirement
• I own my own flat so have adequate accommodation

My partner/we

• Are in a real relationship
• Speaks English to the required level

All not too bad and relatively simple, some things require a few documents to prove but they're not too hard

To prove I have a right to reside in the UK and prove my identity

• Passport
• Birth certificate

To prove my income

• 6 months of payslips
• 6 months of banks statements
• Signed employment contract
• Letter from my employer confirming that the payslips are genuine, my salary, start date and that I'm a full-time permanent employee

To prove we have adequate accommodation

• Statement from my mortgage provider
• cover letter from my mortgage provider
• Copy of my property's title deed
• Council Tax bill
• Shared Ownership contract

My wife then needs the following

• Passport to actually put the visa in
• IELTS Life Skills certificate
• Copy of Divorce Certificate together with a translation
• Family register - to prove she is the parent of her daughters who will be coming as dependents with translation
• Cover letter - explaining our relationship, how we met, future plans, where we will live etc.

To prove our relationship we have the following, it's a bit more as we haven't been living together apart from a few months when I've headed over to Japan

• Marriage Certificate together with a translation (we were married in Japan)
• A Page explaining the timeline of her previous marriage
• A Page explaining our relationship history
• A page explaining my wife's previous travel history
• Selected WhatsApp chat screenshots
• 20~ photos over 4 sheets showing us together with friends and family at various places and also our wedding photos
• Scan of my flight receipt/itinerary and my boarding cards
• Receipts for gifts, hampers, and flowers that I've ordered over the years with the shipping address as my wife's address in Japan
• Letter written and signed by my parents outlining that we have a real relationship
• Cover letter written by me explaining our relationship, how we met, plans etc.

Though it's a fair amount of documents, nothing is beyond a little effort to obtain or create.

So far this is going to cost us

• English test £150
• Acquiring Japanese Documents £20
• New passports £50 - old ones had expired
• Translation of documents £200
• Visa fee x3 = £4,614
• NHS Surcharge 1x £1,872 + 2x£1410 (£2,820) = £4,692
• Biometrics appointment in Tokyo = £60

So in total not far off £10,000 and the current processing time is estimated at 24 weeks!!

The thing that annoys me is that most other countries are a lot cheaper and quicker, for example, if I wanted a Japanese spouse visa the fee would be £35 and I would have a decision in a couple of weeks, I have all the other supporting documents and related costs but I could stomach that. From some very quick research, the USA charges $325, France charges €99, and in Germany appears to be free!
It's obscene how much the UK screws over its own citizens and their families, I could put this money to much better use decorating the girl's bedrooms, as money towards a family-sized car, etc. all things that put money into the economy.

Then there are the rules that don't really make any sense to me, one of which is my wife can't apply for a spouse visa from the UK if she was here on a tourist visa, this would make things far easier if it were possible as we wouldn't be apart, the process would be simpler, cheaper and faster, however, the rule just seems arbitrary, like, what is the practical reason that this isn't allowed?

As far as the actual process goes we've

• Got most of the documents in place
• Have filled out the majority of the online application

We just have to

• Have a final check of our documents and evidence with our immigration consultant
• Submit the application
• Pay the visa fees and NHS surcharge
• Attend a biometric appointment in Tokyo
• Upload all the supporting documents online
• Wait!

I'll try to keep this thread up to date as the application progresses or if I need to vent! I have probably missed something so I'll update this post if I remember.

Edit: forgot to mention, the processing time has gone from 12 to 24 weeks because the government is prioritising the influx of applications from Ukraine, which is fair enough, I’m happy for people escaping war to go ahead of me!

 

[Col_M]

I’d say the US is an outlier in terms of healthcare, a better comparison would be a western European country with a social healthcare system.

What are you comparing reasonable to? It seems that most other countries can provide the a similar visa application service for a fraction of the price. I have mo knowledge of the internal workings of the home office but it’d be interesting to know why it’s so much more expensive here, is it just the government arbitrarily setting a high price, inefficiencies, expense of using external agencies?

From what I’ve seen the case officers working on visa applications are on about £12-£14 per hour so a pretty low wage and wouldn’t affect the price too much

 

[Col_M]

I doubt the government is making profits on visas. It is only appropriate the person wanting the visa pays for that and not the taxpayer. Other countries might be willing to have the taxpayer foot the bill, but the UK isn't. Costs also aren't just hourly pay, nor is it likely to involve only one person. You have to take the total department cost and divide by number of applications.

I disagree, the provision of services to citizens and their families should not be something the government profits from. Comparing the fees from other countries it seems the UK stands out from almost all other developed nations by charging high fees for family visas.

The UK has been openly hostile to immigration for the last few decades and it wouldn’t be a large leap to assume that pricing has been one of the levers it has been using to deter immigration and hit targets to reduce it. Then again correlation is not causation but it wouldn’t surprise me if this is the case.

Edit: it does seem that there could be truth in the pricing out poorer applicants, and though the article is from 2019 it does appear the actual costs are far below the fees charged with the government making a significant profit on each application.

Briefing: How expensive are UK immigration applications and is this a problem? - Free Movement

The cost of making an immigration or nationality application has risen extremely steeply in recent years. Annual increases of 20% or 25% per year became

freemovement.org.uk

 

[Col_M]

Surely you researched all of this before marrying a foreigner with the intention of you both living in the UK? You make it all sound a surprise.

Yeah I'm not the best at writing amd it was late, we knew all this before but I just wanted to highlight it to others who may think of doing the same thing.

Good luck with that, I'm glad they're checking everything. Why aren't you moving to Japan?

A few reasons:

• I don't speak Japanese fluently
• As a family, we can earn more money here and be better off, Japanese wages are quite low and I have a good job in London
• Japanese work culture
• Gender equality being a few decades behind the west

I don’t see the issue. Yes, it’s a lot of admin, but if it’s legit then no reason it won’t go through. I also think it’s fair that every country gets equal treatment; doesn’t matter where they fall economically.

Other countries might have an easier approach, especially in the EU where they have a more open and standard set of rules, but some areas are suffering because it’s so poorly managed.

Yeah, like I said, it's not actually too hard to put it all together, it's more of a case of letting people know what they're in for.

Don't forget that visa and NHS surcharge only covers 2.5 years of the 5 years she needs to be here to apply for ILR. You're in for almost the same amount again (the visa is about £500 cheaper if applied for from within the UK, 2nd time around).

i find the NHS surcharge a bit galling. My wife works for the NHS and pays NI - but we're still going to have to pay up the health surcharge when it's renewal time!

Yeah, the NHS surcharge is the cost that I don't really have a problem with, it's a fair bit but considering the expense of the NHS it's pretty fair. Yup, we've got it again in 2.5 years.

Eh? It's not clear what the processing time is, did you mean to type 14 weeks initially too and then accidentally typed 24 or something?

It doesn't seem unreasonable to check identity docs, check they can speak some English and check that you have the means to support them, are employed etc..

24 weeks would be a bit harsh but 12 or 14 doesn't seem too bad.

Your fees seem to be clearly inflated by the fact your fiance is bringing two kids with her too, that's not necessarily the norm I'd assume?

Google says the spouse visa fee is £1033 when made inside the UK or £1533 when made outside the UK, that doesn't seem all that bad either given that you've got to supply a load of documentation for people to take time checking etc. That service ought to be funded by the people making use of it.

Sorry typo, I wrote that all then I was half asleep it was 12 weeks and is now 24. the issue is that it only actually takes a few days once they get get to your application, the rest of the 24 weeks is it sitting in a pile waiting to be looked at.