well I don't think my misses would qualify for tier 1 ( because of her ) and she's spent more than 10yrs at uni maybe that's why she is too

yes things are not good at the mo for non Europeans, not sure if you need a masters degree for tier 1, you didn't and then you did, I'm not sure you do or don't now
and with a quota now on the number of tier 1 apps

why hasn't your b/f ask you to wed tell him if he takes tooo long someone else might .... ... SHREK