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maldito
21st September 2009, 13:57
Hi to you all out there,

I am a newbie not just to this forum but to any forum, please bear with me if i make any mistakes.

My wife(Filipino) and i(British, resident of the Philippines) have been married for almost 7 years. In that time my wife has been issued with 4 visit visas to the UK, 2 for 6 months, 1 for a year and 1 for 2 years. We move around due to my work commitements and have lived in 4 counties in the last 7 years.It is our plan to live and retire in the Philippines but would look for an easier way for my wife to travel to the UK for vacations. It is quite difficult to keep records and all the documents required for each and every application considering we do not always apply in Manila..

My question is is there a way my wife can get a long term visit visa or something similar as we do not intend to live in the UK but wish to visit frequently. So a British passport is not an option. Is our only option to keep applying for visit visas? my concern is that my wife is somewhat younger than me and i would wish her to able to go to the UK anytime she wishes to visit her new family as she has a excellent relationship with them.

Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Maldito.

IainBusby
21st September 2009, 14:21
Hi to you all out there,

I am a newbie not just to this forum but to any forum, please bear with me if i make any mistakes.

My wife(Filipino) and i(British, resident of the Philippines) have been married for almost 7 years. In that time my wife has been issued with 4 visit visas to the UK, 2 for 6 months, 1 for a year and 1 for 2 years. We move around due to my work commitements and have lived in 4 counties in the last 7 years.It is our plan to live and retire in the Philippines but would look for an easier way for my wife to travel to the UK for vacations. It is quite difficult to keep records and all the documents required for each and every application considering we do not always apply in Manila..

My question is is there a way my wife can get a long term visit visa or something similar as we do not intend to live in the UK but wish to visit frequently. So a British passport is not an option. Is our only option to keep applying for visit visas? my concern is that my wife is somewhat younger than me and i would wish her to able to go to the UK anytime she wishes to visit her new family as she has a excellent relationship with them.

Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Maldito.

Hi Maldito,
Welcome to the forum. Being flexible is not one of the British government's strong points. I take it that in the part of your post that I have highlighted that you are thinking ahead to a time when you may not be around to travel to the UK with her. I honestly don't think there is anyway around this apart from spending the time in the UK and getting firstly ILR and then citizenship.

Unfortunately it looks like even if you came to the UK to live today, she would now (probably) have to stay here five years to qualify due to the recent changes made by the government here in the UK.

Iain.

darren-b
21st September 2009, 18:03
Unfortunately it looks like even if you came to the UK to live today, she would now (probably) have to stay here five years to qualify due to the recent changes made by the government here in the UK.

She would already qualify for ILR now if you moved to the UK - though she would need to show sufficient knowledge of the English language and about life in the United Kingdom. At the moment you can get away with ILR as a long term visit visa as long as you make regular trips to the UK.

But if you don't plan to move to the UK for any period of time then this is not an option.

maldito
21st September 2009, 19:01
Hi Maldito,
Welcome to the forum. Being flexible is not one of the British government's strong points. I take it that in the part of your post that I have highlighted that you are thinking ahead to a time when you may not be around to travel to the UK with her. I honestly don't think there is anyway around this apart from spending the time in the UK and getting firstly ILR and then citizenship.

Unfortunately it looks like even if you came to the UK to live today, she would now (probably) have to stay here five years to qualify due to the recent changes made by the government here in the UK.

Iain.

Iain,

Thank you for your response.

maldito
21st September 2009, 19:04
She would already qualify for ILR now if you moved to the UK - though she would need to show sufficient knowledge of the English language and about life in the United Kingdom. At the moment you can get away with ILR as a long term visit visa as long as you make regular trips to the UK.

But if you don't plan to move to the UK for any period of time then this is not an option.

Darren,

Thank you for the information. I will find out more with regards to the ILR.

Regards.