Help

[gentmartin]

Hi my names Martin and during my travels early last year i fell hook line and sinker for an incredible girl i met in Manila. i went back for 2 weeks in november and again had a fantastic time !! good so far...but, and theres always a but ! im going back in March for a month and weve decided that shes going to come back to UK with me for a month to visit...to be honest id prefer to live there but as a lowly working guy that will be difficult as.....shes already married...though her husband did a runner 12 months ago just before her second child was born...the kids by the way are just gorgeous....as is her family who live out in Binangonan...so..the problem is......
I want her to come back with me on a visitors visa, with her youngest..im hoping there wont be any problem with this as im going to take supporting evidence of my financial status etc and book a return flight before applying. A Taiwanese friend working in Manila got her UK Visa for a visit here in 4 days !! assuming i get her back here for a visit, if we decide wed like to live to together here as a couple, how we would we go about this ? Do the UK govt. recognise a civil partnership/common law couple ?? ive been reading up on dissolving marriages in philli and boy is that going to take some overtime and stress to sort !! wed get the other child over when we got some sort of residency/extended right to stay sorted.....just any advice or stories of your experiences would be appreciated....we just want to be together....thank you

[walesrob]

Hi my names Martin and during my travels early last year i fell hook line and sinker for an incredible girl i met in Manila. i went back for 2 weeks in november and again had a fantastic time !! good so far...but, and theres always a but ! im going back in March for a month and weve decided that shes going to come back to UK with me for a month to visit...to be honest id prefer to live there but as a lowly working guy that will be difficult as.....shes already married...though her husband did a runner 12 months ago just before her second child was born...the kids by the way are just gorgeous....as is her family who live out in Binangonan...so..the problem is......
I want her to come back with me on a visitors visa, with her youngest..im hoping there wont be any problem with this as im going to take supporting evidence of my financial status etc and book a return flight before applying. A Taiwanese friend working in Manila got her UK Visa for a visit here in 4 days !! assuming i get her back here for a visit, if we decide wed like to live to together here as a couple, how we would we go about this ? Do the UK govt. recognise a civil partnership/common law couple ?? ive been reading up on dissolving marriages in philli and boy is that going to take some overtime and stress to sort !! wed get the other child over when we got some sort of residency/extended right to stay sorted.....just any advice or stories of your experiences would be appreciated....we just want to be together....thank you

Welcome to the forum Martin.

The general consensus is that the British Embassy do not give out Visitors Visas, the chances of rejection are very high, unless your lady a) is very rich b) can provide proof that she intends returning to Philippines on expiry of visa.

You really need to get your lady's annulment sorted first - I know its a long hard road, but this is your best option at this point. If you intend to get married in the UK or indeed the Philippines, the Embassy will want to see evidence of annulment anyway, so theres no easy way out of this.

Your comment "A Taiwanese friend working in Manila got her UK Visa for a visit here in 4 days" how did this "friend" get her a visa? Was it a work visa or something?

Good luck.

[ginapeterb]

Hi my names Martin and during my travels early last year i fell hook line and sinker for an incredible girl i met in Manila. i went back for 2 weeks in november and again had a fantastic time !! good so far...but, and theres always a but ! im going back in March for a month and weve decided that shes going to come back to UK with me for a month to visit...to be honest id prefer to live there but as a lowly working guy that will be difficult as.....shes already married...though her husband did a runner 12 months ago just before her second child was born...the kids by the way are just gorgeous....as is her family who live out in Binangonan...so..the problem is......
I want her to come back with me on a visitors visa, with her youngest..im hoping there wont be any problem with this as im going to take supporting evidence of my financial status etc and book a return flight before applying. A Taiwanese friend working in Manila got her UK Visa for a visit here in 4 days !! assuming i get her back here for a visit, if we decide wed like to live to together here as a couple, how we would we go about this ? Do the UK govt. recognise a civil partnership/common law couple ?? ive been reading up on dissolving marriages in philli and boy is that going to take some overtime and stress to sort !! wed get the other child over when we got some sort of residency/extended right to stay sorted.....just any advice or stories of your experiences would be appreciated....we just want to be together....thank you

Happy New Year Martin and welcome to the forum its 2007 and visa questions dont stop, the problem with 'her freind got xxxx from xxx' is always a hard one to substantiate since we never know the true circumstances of what happened in that paticular case, thats why we never wish to comment on third party heresay.

As Rob has pointed out, we wont pretend your path to love and marriage with a Filipina will be easy, you have quite alot against you, although if you are that serious, its not a never ending problem, which can be sorted out, with time and patience, and with maximum effort from you, we have an old saying here at the forum "If you want her that much, you will do anything to get her"

Firstly, You could get your lady to apply for a tourist visa, however If you decide to do this, there is no way you should be mentioning that this lady has a relationship with you, otherwise, the visa is almost likely to be refused on the grounds of ' Applicant is attempting to gain entry to the UK on a non-immigrant basis, but real intentions are to enter as an immigrant"

The chances of a refusal to issue a tourist visa are quite high with Filipina's unless as Rob says, they are fairly wealthy, and can show evidence of at least an account showing, Php 500,000 Or more, this means they can support themselves whilst in the UK, they will also need other compelling reasons for them to return to the UK, such as a good employed position in the Philippines, or a business they are running and they are a key person within that business.

Secondly, they would have to prove to the entry clearance officer that they are not going to be a flight risk, and abscond once they arrive in the United Kingdom, visas for tourism are normally issued for multiple entry over a 6 month period, therefore, the evidence for a tourist visa is pretty hard to comply with, 85 per cent of them are normally refused on the following grounds.

"The Applicant has failed to show compelling reasons for them returning to the host country at then end of their stay."

There is nothing of course stopping your lady friend from applying providing she can prove the above.

You cannot attempt to get her over on a tourist visa simply then to live together, that is not permitted under the immigration rules in force at this present time, the only way that a civil partnership is recognized in the Philippines, Is if the sponsor is a British Citizen by birth through descent and has been living with a Filipino for more than 2 years continuously in a relationship like a marriage, provided the Filipina is not married to someone else, the British Embassy may consider granting a settlement visa to such a person, in your case, I dont think you have shown you qualify.

If you attempt to apply for a tourist visa, and any connection is made to you in the UK, the ECO will most likely refuse your ladies visa on account of the false motive.

As Rob has pointed out, you would need to establish the facts of your ladies estranged husband leaving her 12 months ago, what has happened ? why did he leave ? and also, your intended has children by the marriage ? there are issues there concerning, children leaving the Philippines when the Biological father is alive, the Philippine authorities would need to give consent to the children leaving jurisdiction.

There are a number of legal issues here that you need to research into, one of them is the Legal anulment, there is a thread I wrote on this forum if you use the search function, its in 'Help and Advice" however, dont despair, my best freind married a filipina with 2 children, and they live happily in UK right now, so its not impossible, sadly, the matter of the ladies marriage in the Philippines must be attended to under the Philippine family code before you can take this further, I know what Keith would say though, buts that up to him

Over to you Keith ?