Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Little View Post
To Moderators Pete (ginapeterb) and Joe (Bloggs) and to Darren, Keith, Andy, Iain, PeterB and Fred - respected members all - I extend my gratitude for your valuable input and advice.

Friends, I could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be regarded as a 'Holy Willie' BUT, having been a long-standing Boys' Brigade Officer and District Elder in the Church of Scotland for more than 33 years, I feel I must act according to the dictates of (a) my conscience and (b) my heart.

Accordingly, in the end, Myrna and I will submit our application based on our joint cicumstances exactly as they ARE, place everything in God's (hopefully) merciful hands - with more than a few fervent prayers from me, and something like three-dozen 'Hail Marys' from Myrna - in order to convince HIM (the Almighty) if not the Immigration Authorities ...!!!

Now I would hardly be surprised if this site were to be deluged with ardent pleas along the lines of: "Come down to earth, Arthur, for Ch***t's sake ... you're living in the REAL world, man! So be it!

Whatever; thanks again for all your help and good wishes. Heartiest congratulations too, to all who have emerged relatively unscathed from the maze of red tape and bureaucracy, and my very best wishes to those who've yet to enter the 'lion's den'. God BE with you, in the same way as he finally was with Daniel (I think!).

Kindest Regards,

Arthur.
Hi Arthur,
May I ask which visa you have decided to apply for, fiancee or spouse? Personally, at first glance, I think the spouse visa may seem a lot riskier and a big gamble on paper, but in my opinion, this is the one that is more likely to succeed because it shows a stronger commitment on your part and even if your circumstances seem to fall below their normal criteria, I think they would have to think long and hard before they could deny you the right to bring your wife to live with you in the UK.

I think that they will assume that the rejection of a spousal visa by a born and bred UK citizen is likely to be followed by an appeal and letters to MP's etc, so they will want to be sure that their grounds for refusal can stand up to the scrutiny.

I also think that given your circumstances financially, they would be likely to reject any application for a fiancee visa out of hand. I think they would simply tick all the wrong boxes and return the application refused, because I don't think they would see engagement as any sort of serious commitment. Anyway Arthur, whatever you decide to do, both my wife and I wish you the very best of luck.

Iain.