Iain,
Thank you for the fast reply and thank you for the information you provided. From what you say, my enquiry is perhaps premature. It looks like the housekeeper route is out and the visitor visa route is likely to fail and we are not yet anywhere near the fiancee visa route although the attachment is romantic.
We have corresponded and chatted on the internet, seeing each other on our web cams, for more than 2 years and I feel that we have a very good knowledge of each other. I have read extensively about the Philippines culture and I am quite aware of how different life there is. I am at the stage of planning a visit to the Philippines to meet her in person and clearly nothing can be known about how things might progress until we have met.
My posting was really to brief myself on the immigration requirements for when she would come here. I appreciate your point about it not being simple.
I know four or five Filipinas who live here and they are all divorced. That is significant and shows just how difficult it can be to live permanently in a very different culture.
Do you have a Filipina wife who is living here with you? Is it working out well?
John
