Marvie is over here on a visit visa at the moment and has managed to open a bank account, it was opened with HSBC and is called a HSBC Passport Account and is costs 8 pounds a month. She had to give two items of identification with her address in the Philippines (driving license etc), and then provided my address in the UK for the statement address. This gives her a visa card, an easy way for me to transfer money to her and good evidence for the fiance visa later in the year. They did advise that once she is permenantly resident that she can very easily change the account type.
It's made her living in the UK for the last 4 months very easy.
