Moving from Youth Mobility to Family Visa

Dear All

As per the title, has anyone got experience doing this?

I’m a UK national, born and raised citizen. I work in the legal industry but never studied immigration and it’s nothing similar to the field of law I practise. I’m currently a trainee solicitor.

I live with my fiancé, a South Korean man. We met at uni when he was on a student visa, and then he had to leave for 2 years to do mandatory national military service, then came back to join me in the UK on a two year long tier 3 youth mobility visa.

We are getting married this May. Followed all the proper procedures and haven’t heard from home office so can assume they’re not doubting I genuinely really love this man and not objecting.

His youth mobility visa runs out this December, so, we are hoping to apply for a family visa for 5 years from inside the UK. For context, we both work full time, he’s an unqualified GCSE teacher but starting a PGCE this September with his school to start the process to be a fully qualified teacher. Won’t say what subject for privacy reasons but his school gets a grant for it, because he teaches a subject we have a national shortage of teachers in and is desperately needed. Both our names are on all our bills and letting agreement for house etc. We don’t have kids (yet).

If you’ve got experience with this, do you think I need an immigration solicitor? This stuff is expensive enough as is not to mention paying for the wedding in May! And I am a lawyer myself (albeit not in immigration), but I don’t want to get cocky and shoot myself in the foot if this is gonna be majorly complicated and I need a proper immigration lawyer.

My main concern is by December we’ll have been living together for one year in December, not two, but as he did national military service it’s not like I could’ve helped it? Also I did live with him and his family in Korea for a few months after I graduated.

Any advice is very much appreciated!