Advice needed as I'm wanting to bring my GF of 2.5 years to the UK

[mrako]

6 months ago I returned back to England after living in the Philippines from Oct 2004 - Oct 2008. I have a girlfriend who was living with me since 2006 up until I left to return to England. Since I hae been back I have been supporting her sending money twice a month via Western Union and I have kept all of the slips as well as phoning her daily (spent around £600 on calls) since I have been back.

So I would like to outline my situation and to see what I must do in order for her to have a successful application for her visa as I plan to marry her once she is here. So below is my financial state and living conditions:

1) I have no savings

2) I am currently un-employed due to havaing an operation but although am on sickness benefit will now be looking for full time employment.

3) I am living with my Father but am now looking for a 1 Bed Apartment which whilst I am unemployed the Local council will pay for.

So I would like to know the following:

1) If I were to get a full time job taking home earnings around £170pw, I would still be getting some financial help towards my rent from the local housing Association.

What I am wondering is the following points:

a) Will my earnings be enough for the visa to be accepted?

b) Will the Embassy be able to (and will they) check if I am on any kind of benefits?

c) How long should/do I need to be in employment for in order for her to have a successful application?

d) We have lots of prove that our relationship is real and that we are very much in love. My only concerns is concerning my current financial state and what I must do in order for when we apply for it to be successful.


Also one last question... How much should I be looking to spend on the visa application and interviews etc?

I would very much like help with this and if any other info is needed please ask and I will provide. I am in such a flusture at the moment and am so worried that I will not be able to bring her over and it is hurting us both being apart. Thank you in advance.

[Mrs.JMajor]

1) you need saving if its fiancee visa
2) you need 6 months payslip
3) on fiancee visa cant recourse to public funds,if your parents allow you both 2 stay there,father need to make a letter for the ECO that his no objection living both of you on his house
1)you will need to do budget statment if you can take care of her,obviously she isnt allowed to work until you didnt get marry
a) i will post some link for you to read more on applying fiancee/spouse visa so you will know at least how much
b)Yes,embassy can check a single details to both of you,especially to you
c)at least as i have said 6 months payslip and enough savings....
d)prepare 100k php 50k for the visa fee and if granted airfare 50k and bits of documents

Good luck ,wish u all the best under the sun

[kimmi]

hi mrako,

welcome to the forum..

just wondering, if u wont mind why u dont decided to marry in the Philippines?since uve been togeter for nearly 3 years now?

oh well, about ur query with fiancee visa weve got lots of threads/posts in here that am sure will be of great help of u..these might be of help..

http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....sa+application

http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....sa+application

also this is the link for VFS, so u will know how much will it costs for the visa and other stuffs..

http://www.vfs-uk-ph.com



Goodluck and just keep reading and posting in here..

[Ann07]

Welcome to the forum mrako

Start saving now for your gf future application.
Kimmi had given you the link

If you have more q's feel free to ask


Goodluck

[joebloggs]

1) I have no savings

2) I am currently un-employed due to havaing an operation but although am on sickness benefit will now be looking for full time employment.

3) I am living with my Father but am now looking for a 1 Bed Apartment which whilst I am unemployed the Local council will pay for.

So I would like to know the following:

1) If I were to get a full time job taking home earnings around £170pw, I would still be getting some financial help towards my rent from the local housing Association.

What I am wondering is the following points:

a) Will my earnings be enough for the visa to be accepted?

b) Will the Embassy be able to (and will they) check if I am on any kind of benefits?

c) How long should/do I need to be in employment for in order for her to have a successful application?

d) We have lots of prove that our relationship is real and that we are very much in love. My only concerns is concerning my current financial state and what I must do in order for when we apply for it to be successful.

find someone, family or friend who will lend you £2000+ for the next 6 months or if you've got a CC transfer £2000 to your current account, and wait til you have 6 bank statements but don't send the one with the money going in your account, when you've got 6 bank statements showing £2000+, wait til you have submitted your visa app, then pay the money back..

find a job, as you've already mentioned you will look for, you really need steady money coming into your account.

stay with your father if he will sponsor your accommodation, don't waste money on rent and utils bills, especially if you have little.

no set amount of money you need, but a figure of around £95 a week has been used for a couple, after paying rent and utils bills. so you see why it be better if you stayed with your father.

yes the embassy can do checks, so don't lie about anything..

i don't think there is a set period you have to be working, but you need 6 months of bank statements and payslips would help.

so plan now, find someone who can lend you some money, ask your father about staying with him, and find a job, 6 months from now apply for a visa.situation your in, is not good, and you have to minimise your chances of refusal as much as possible, and the risks she will need recourse to public funds.


you lived with her for more than 2 years ? do you have evidence you lived togther ? bills in both names etc ??

[adam&chryss]

When Chryss applied for her visa I only had £1500 in savings which I transferred only the week before I sent her the documents.
I`m not sure how they saw that but we got the visa quickly.
Having said that, the more money the better I guess.

[mrako]

When Chryss applied for her visa I only had £1500 in savings which I transferred only the week before I sent her the documents.
I`m not sure how they saw that but we got the visa quickly.
Having said that, the more money the better I guess.

Firstly thank you to all who have posted I will look to see how my financial standing could be altered for the better.

Adam thank you for your post, please could you tell me how long ago was this that you applied and how many months of bank statements, pay slips etc did you produce and if you don't mind me asking what kind of wages were you able to produce to them as if it if for a reasonable amount perhaps this is what made the savings not matter too much.

[mrako]

find someone, family or friend who will lend you £2000+ for the next 6 months or if you've got a CC transfer £2000 to your current account, and wait til you have 6 bank statements but don't send the one with the money going in your account, when you've got 6 bank statements showing £2000+, wait til you have submitted your visa app, then pay the money back..

find a job, as you've already mentioned you will look for, you really need steady money coming into your account.

stay with your father if he will sponsor your accommodation, don't waste money on rent and utils bills, especially if you have little.

no set amount of money you need, but a figure of around £95 a week has been used for a couple, after paying rent and utils bills. so you see why it be better if you stayed with your father.

yes the embassy can do checks, so don't lie about anything..

i don't think there is a set period you have to be working, but you need 6 months of bank statements and payslips would help.

so plan now, find someone who can lend you some money, ask your father about staying with him, and find a job, 6 months from now apply for a visa.situation your in, is not good, and you have to minimise your chances of refusal as much as possible, and the risks she will need recourse to public funds.


you lived with her for more than 2 years ? do you have evidence you lived togther ? bills in both names etc ??

No as all of the bills were in my name. Would it be easier ie criteria wise to apply for a Spouse Visa (of course I will have to travel there and marry her) rather than take the Fiancee visa route?

[IainBusby]

No as all of the bills were in my name. Would it be easier ie criteria wise to apply for a Spouse Visa (of course I will have to travel there and marry her) rather than take the Fiancee visa route?

Personally I would go for marriage in Phils and a spouse visa. Even though this is initially the more expensive option as far as the visa fee is concerned, it actually works out cheaper in the end. The other thing is your new wife will be able to work in the UK from the day she arrives here.

I also think that although the criteria used to judge the visa applications are exactly the same in theory for both a spouse or fiancee visa, they will want to be more certain that they have very strong grounds for refusal before they reject a spouse visa application and refuse to let a wife join her husband in the UK.

Iain.

[joebloggs]

When Chryss applied for her visa I only had £1500 in savings which I transferred only the week before I sent her the documents.
I`m not sure how they saw that but we got the visa quickly.
Having said that, the more money the better I guess.

If there are disproportionate deposits and withdrawals in the bank statements, they should be explained in the sponsor's letter. not really a good idea, unless you've got good reasons and evidence to show where the money came from, the embassy is not stupid, they know people will borrow money, put it in their bank for a while then pay it back.but

if you had little in your bank, then money appears, this could attract their attention and possibly a refusal, because they don't believe you have the finances to support her and will refuse you 'on the balance of probabilities' she will need recourse to public funds.

get it right first time, because refusal, appealing, re-appyling will cost you time,money and heart ache

probably better to get wed in the phils, as you will not need all the evidence of your proposed wedding in the uk,

if you wed, its cheaper in the phils, you've already made a commitment getting wed, and you have lots of evidence of a genuine relationship already. just a place for her to live (if you can live at your dads for a while) thne its just your finances - a job and some savings .

[joebloggs]

Personally I would go for marriage in Phils and a spouse visa. Even though this is initially the more expensive option as far as the visa fee is concerned,

cost is the same Iain, a settlement visa cost 42,100php, whether for a spouse or fiancée

its actually cheaper for a spouse as you shouldn't need to apply for FLR if you wed in the phils, but you will have to on a fiancee visa once your married in the UK. saving you at least £465.

[mrako]

If there are disproportionate deposits and withdrawals in the bank statements, they should be explained in the sponsor's letter. not really a good idea, unless you've got good reasons and evidence to show where the money came from, the embassy is not stupid, they know people will borrow money, put it in their bank for a while then pay it back.but

if you had little in your bank, then money appears, this could attract their attention and possibly a refusal, because they don't believe you have the finances to support her and will refuse you 'on the balance of probabilities' she will need recourse to public funds.

get it right first time, because refusal, appealing, re-appyling will cost you time,money and heart ache

probably better to get wed in the phils, as you will not need all the evidence of your proposed wedding in the uk,

if you wed, its cheaper in the phils, you've already made a commitment getting wed, and you have lots of evidence of a genuine relationship already. just a place for her to live (if you can live at your dads for a while) thne its just your finances - a job and some savings .

So I have to also submit the wedding plans? What will I need to spend in order to show proof? I have intentions to marry her but with finances obviously being low we would marry in a registry office and spend as little as possible then have a proper wedding once we were financially stable.

I have proof of the money that I am sending her twice monthly and all of the phone calls that I make. Also we have pictures of us together at different times and I have my visa stamps for the past 4 years of me living in Phils. I have my rent book which shows the rent that I paid for my duration there so I am quite confident that I can prove that I can support her and that our relationship is genuine.

A stumbling block for us is the fact that I do not have funds for us to get married so of course we would have a very cheap wedding with only immediate family members attending. Not ideal I know but what is the solution? to spend 3 years plus apart?

I want to make sure I have everything in order for when we apply and I know that I am going to find all the answers here and trust the advice from seasoned members. I have looked across the forum for info but I had to start this as I feel that each individuals application can be different and I feel that mine is somewhat complicated.

[mrako]

So if I were to travel back there and marry her will I still need to meet all of the necessary financial demands that are needed when applying for a Fiancee Visa?

I wish I married her there now. The only reason I didn't was because I was told that it was best to marry in the UK because it is so difficult to get a divorce in Phils should things go wrong. :(

[mrako]

One other thing that I need to know. If on a low income you are entitled to help from the local housing association. Well if I am in full time employment but receiving some form of help with my rent will this go against us when applying for the Fiancee Visa?

If this will affect us then what if I were to have help with rent from the local housing association once we have already submitted our application?

[trader dave]

if you are already married to someone it is harder for an eco to refuse your wife to come to live with you but as you say its no divorce in the phils well to me THATS GOOD and least she could not use our pathetic divorce rules to take you for 50% if it does not work out if you are both commited them jump in both feet but make sure you have a back up plan

[PAT]

Welcome to the forum...!

[jackmac452]

Hi mrako, I don't know if this applies to you, but myself and my missus (before we got married) applied for her to come back here with me, we went through all of the rigmarole of sorting it all out at the British Embassy in Hong Kong, but decided not to bother. Then we got married in Guangzhou (China) and low and behold, she could come to the UK if she wanted to, as she was now my wife. So if you marry out there, as the good folk on here say you should, you should have no problems. If she had a child, well, it would automatically become a British citizen and they can not stop a mother and child that is being separated..I know because when we arrived here for her one and only visit, the immigration started getting uptight about a legal technicality on her papers, so I just said, right, here's Junior, you take care of him, and they freaked out, and so when they noticed Junior was a UK citizen, she was let in straight away. We went back to HK. after 2 weeks and now she refuses to come here and I agree with her( too cold, too expensive and living in Bradford...too violent), unfortunately I'm in the same boat as you my friend, back here now, no job, not a lot of money in Bank etc. but hopefully in December I'm off back when I get my pension from the Buses and I will not be back. Good luck to you mate, just think though, will your circumstances get better if she comes over here? or would it be much nicer for you to find something out there? I don't think being on the dole and living in rented accommodation is the ideal thing to tell them, Get out there and wed her, then take it from there, go on, live a little. Who knows...you might like it.....

[mrako]

Hi mrako, I don't know if this applies to you, but myself and my missus (before we got married) applied for her to come back here with me, we went through all of the rigmarole of sorting it all out at the British Embassy in Hong Kong, but decided not to bother. Then we got married in Guangzhou (China) and low and behold, she could come to the UK if she wanted to, as she was now my wife. So if you marry out there, as the good folk on here say you should, you should have no problems. If she had a child, well, it would automatically become a British citizen and they can not stop a mother and child that is being separated..I know because when we arrived here for her one and only visit, the immigration started getting uptight about a legal technicality on her papers, so I just said, right, here's Junior, you take care of him, and they freaked out, and so when they noticed Junior was a UK citizen, she was let in straight away. We went back to HK. after 2 weeks and now she refuses to come here and I agree with her( too cold, too expensive and living in Bradford...too violent), unfortunately I'm in the same boat as you my friend, back here now, no job, not a lot of money in Bank etc. but hopefully in December I'm off back when I get my pension from the Buses and I will not be back. Good luck to you mate, just think though, will your circumstances get better if she comes over here? or would it be much nicer for you to find something out there? I don't think being on the dole and living in rented accommodation is the ideal thing to tell them, Get out there and wed her, then take it from there, go on, live a little. Who knows...you might like it.....

Hi thank you for your advice. I think that we are slightly in a different situation though due to the fact that we do not have any children. I was living out there for 4 years and have been with her for well... when I think about it I would say now 3 years due to the fact that she was living with me for 2.5 years. If I were able to have her here I plan to study and work for the next 2-3 years and then work abroad whereby I am able to earn a decent wage and we can save more and possibly look into returning to the PI.

You see I do have other sources of income (I make a small amount playing Poker) which is how I have been supporting her with but I would not really be able to disclose this as they would simply disregard it.

My plan is to work 1 FT and 1 PT job so I will be able to be in the position for her to come here but now I know the requirements I am just wondering if their is any way I can cut corners. I mean I have so far spent just over £600 on phone calls to her in the past 6 months, I send a reasonable amount of money to her every 2 weeks so they can clearly see that the relationship is genuine and that I am and have been able to support her for this duration.

She was living with me for the past 2.5 years although this is hard to prove unless they take statements from other people whom can confirm this such as a doctor etc. I just feel that it is very unfair that we have to be apart on technicalities when I am able to support both her and myself so long as my health allows.

Please if anybody else can advise me on my situation I would appreciate it so much.

Perhaps this thread could be moved to the visa forum?

[mrako]

I have just read on a website that since 28th November 2008 the requirement for a Fiancee Visa is that she has to be at least aged 21. Is this true?

[joebloggs]

I have just read on a website that since 28th November 2008 the requirement for a Fiancee Visa is that she has to be at least aged 21. Is this true?

yes if she is under 21, she will be refused, it has been law since last year

how old is she ?

[mrako]

yes if she is under 21, she will be refused, it has been law since last year

how old is she ?

She is 20 turning 21 this July. So I guess this will not affect things as I doubt we will be submitting any application for at least 6 months due to my current financial situation.

Please could someone advise me if I were to travel out there in say 3 months time and marry her will this make it much easier for us them to apply? What requirements will I need to show for her application to then be successful?

[Mrs.JMajor]

Yeah ! a bit easier for you both to get marry in PI for future application, and about the requirement,type on the search button any querry you want to know,I am trying to give you the link of pete's site but its already expired the website..will send you some link ,for your additional info... refresh this page later,I will search some for you...
http://filipinaroses.com/showthread.php?t=11759

[keithAngel]

One other thing that I need to know. If on a low income you are entitled to help from the local housing association. Well if I am in full time employment but receiving some form of help with my rent will this go against us when applying for the Fiancee Visa?

If this will affect us then what if I were to have help with rent from the local housing association once we have already submitted our application?

No it shouldnt you can still recieve whatever you are entitled to but it cant cost any more than that hence no recourse to public funds if you marry her and get a spouse visa she will also be able to work once she arrives but if you marry here in the Fils her parents will have to consent if she is under 21

[adam&chryss]

Firstly thank you to all who have posted I will look to see how my financial standing could be altered for the better.

Adam thank you for your post, please could you tell me how long ago was this that you applied and how many months of bank statements, pay slips etc did you produce and if you don't mind me asking what kind of wages were you able to produce to them as if it if for a reasonable amount perhaps this is what made the savings not matter too much.

Hi sorry about the delay in replying.
I supplied 6 months bank statements and wage slips for the same period.
I think they are concerned with the amount of excess money you have after paying all your bills. As far as my own situation, I had about £150-£200 excess per week after paying everything inc. diesel, food etc.