South African marrying UK citizen?

[Megan23]

I'm a UK citizen and I've been dating a South African man who has lived in England for a few years now. He applied for an extension for his Visa but it was denied and his Visa expires in January. We have been talking about marriage, does anyone have any advice?

[New Judge]

Have you thought about joining him in South Africa?

[Megan23]

I did consider that, but we both agreed we'd like to live in England.

[bednobs]

either bring your marriage forward, or have him go back, and then get married

[themas]

I think he will need a spouse visa, which normally can only be issued in his home country, & it can take some time to get. There may be circumstances where one can be issued while he is in this country - I'm not sure about that.

You need some immigration advice, which may cost you (or him), but you might be able to get some from your local CAB.

My main advice is that he should not overstay on his present visa. If he does, he will be liable to deportation & will be far less likely to get a spouse visa later on.

[plowter]

You don't say what type of visa your partner has or why his application for an extension was turned down. They're important things to know.

He could apply for a spouse/partner visa but that's an extension and you can't normally apply for an extension with less than 6 months left on the current visa.

As themas suggests, get some immigration advice from someone like CAB.