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In the UK tourist visit visa application my partner stated the stay would be 3 weeks, but once in the UK actually stayed 4 months.

In the future we will apply for a spouse visa to stay in the UK and not to visit. Would staying longer than specified in the visit visa application affect a future spouse visa application at all, or just future visit visas?

Is there any issues with staying in the UK longer than specified on a UK tourist visit visa as long they go home before the 6 months runs out on the visa?

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  • There can be issues with subsequent visitor applications after staying significantly longer than stated in the original application eg travel.stackexchange.com/questions/87229/… but AFAIK that does not apply to spouse visas where the intention is to move to the UK permanently.
    – Traveller
    Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 19:20
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    As @Traveller notes, a spouse visa doesn't present the ECO with the same "Will this applicant leave on time" issue that's raised in a visitor visa. But I think it'd be human nature that, having evidence that the applicant previously said one thing and then did something else, the ECO may well examine any subsequent application very very carefully.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Dec 11, 2021 at 2:25

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Is there any issues with staying in the UK longer than specified on a UK tourist visit visa as long they go home before the 6 months runs out on the visa?

Yes, there can be. See for example UK visitor visa refused due to previously staying for too long and not having strong ties. How should I reapply? Visas are issued on the basis of an assessment of the information provided in the application. Staying significantly longer than stated may call into doubt an applicant’s truthfulness for example (did they deliberately mention a shorter visit in the hope of improving their chances of success?) and/or ties to home (how is it that the applicant is able to spend months in the UK and does that accord with having a compelling reason to leave?). It’s a good idea for anyone who has stayed much longer than originally stated to explain why in their subsequent visit visa application.

Would staying longer than specified in the visit visa application affect a future spouse visa application at all, or just future visit visas?

The Immigration Rules governing applications from spouses and civil partners https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-8-family-members are a completely different set of eligibility criteria than for a Visitor visa. The applicant is intending to settle in the UK, therefore considerations of length of previous stays as a visitor should not have an impact, providing the Rules relating to Visitor visas were not breached, which might be construed as grounds for refusal https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-9-grounds-for-refusal.

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  • From looking at that I can't seem to see any issues with staying longer than the intended dates on the visit visa application, its not classed as deception or anything like that is it? If we intended the visa to originally be for 3 weeks but then gone to 4 months I cant see why it would break any rules since its a 6 month visa looking at them immigration rules.
    – Jenjg
    Commented Dec 12, 2021 at 12:33
  • No, it doesn’t break any rules, but the fact that the visa is valid for 6 months doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to stay much longer. It might be interpreted that the visit visa application was deliberately untruthful if eg the visa would not have been approved were the real intention to stay much longer to have been disclosed. IANAL, there’ve been previous questions on this topic and the answers all relate to subsequent visitor visas. I’ve seen none where a longer stay affected a subsequent spouse visa. But it might if eg pieces of information given at various times don’t match up.
    – Traveller
    Commented Dec 12, 2021 at 14:11

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