tourist visa declined

[Terpe]

My girlfriend in the philippines got her tourist visa declined.

We spend some time on the application and put all the supporting evidence or at least all that we thought that was requested. Based on the result I started to search the internet for some more info and came acros this forum. I did some browsing for a couple of hours and found out that we didn't provide sufficient info. I am just wondering if anybody could give me any further advice? Really, I would appreciate here any help!

Me (42 years old) and my g/f get to know each other over the internet in May 2011. I was organising my trip to PI and searching for friends and she was just re-starting her school after taking care for two years for her younger brothers as her mother became then the main earner after the father was heavily wounded in an accident. Based on the story I started to help her financially already in May.

We met in Pi in person in July and the relationship developed well. I was a bit surprised though that she only became 18 years old in June as she was always claiming to be 19. I visited her then also in Sept'11 & Jan'12.

During last visit we put the visa application together being quite honest. As the reason for the visit she stated SIGHT SEEING. This is cause a friend of hers advised us not to say much about our relationship as it might trigger some alarm bells that we get married and she stays in the UK.

The letter of refusal pointed out the fact that I was twice her age and noted that the relationship began and remittances paid when my g/f was still a minor. The officer noted the provided affidavit from her parents supporting her visit and then just stated 'but I do not find your reason for this visit credible'

1) Do I read it correctly that the age issue was noted but at the end not the real issue?
2) Any ideas how I can explain better the reasons for her visit? We didn't provide any copies of our daily skype and ym conversations and mentioned only my visits.

The ECO mentioned that my g/f seems to totally dependent on my remittances as she didn't provide anything about the circumstances of her parents. Hence, he concluded that most probably she does not intend to return to PI. To be honest, I found this a bit perplexing.

3) Would it help if she applied again with evidence that her parents are able to provide the basic needs for her and finance the high school costs?
4) We didn't say in the application that she needs to come back in May to continue with her school. Would it have helped?
4) Any other suggestions?

Many thanks in advance!

Hello JohnPenn, welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear that the tourist visa of your g/f got refused.

Just to say that in my opinion the General Visit Visa (tourist) is quite difficult to secure. There are a number of reasons. I'm sure you did your research and discovered that.
When making a visa application it is so important to be totally honest.

Without seeing the exact wording of the refusal it is difficult to make a proper judgement about the real key reasons for refusal.

Visit visa need careful thought and supporting evidence. Sometimes with visit visa's too much supporting evidence has benefits.

In principle you are correct that the ECO needs to be convinced that on the balance of probability the applicant's reason to return to the home country outweighs the reasons to overstay the visa. The ECO will want to see evidence of strong financial and social ties to the home country.
Visit visa's also need good honest supporting letter from the sponsor that will give the ECO a nice warm comfortable feeling whenthey approve. This type of visa is totally discretionary for the ECO. There is no appeal route. It's totally up to the applicant and sponsor to present a watertight, believeable submission.

Actually regarding the wording of age difference the ECO needs to take care to avoid giving that as a prime reason for refusal.

If you feel you can overcome the given reasons for refusal then you are able to submit again.
Hope this helps in some way.

If the reason for her visit is 'sightseeing' then provide an itinerary and cost support in line with visa duration.
If the visit is a get to know each other face-to-face then be brave enough to say so. But you need to ensure you have evidence that it is in fact a genuine relationship.
Please fire away with any further questions you have.

It's a tricky visa, but not at all impossible to secure.