Hi
I met my Filipino girlfriend in Hong Kong in December 2006, since then i have been to see her four times in the Philippines.
I have just got back from a 3 week visit to see her in the Philippines.
I posted on here a couple of years ago, and had some very hepful responses about bringing my girlfriend to the UK on finacee visa. We have delayed the application since then until i had saved enough to sponser her application.
She also got a work visa for Hong Kong last summer, the reason for this was she wanted to prove her own funds and believed she could earn more for working in Hong kong for a few months.
The issue is that it turns out the visa was not genuine. Her sister, who has lived and worked in HK for 5 years, knew of a friend who had used an agency to apply for an HK work visa and had been successfull. My girlfriend went through this agency for a work visa and had no doubt that they were genuine. She paid a lot of money for the visa, she was succesfull in the application.
After 2 months of being in HK my girlfriend discovered the visa was not genuine and she panicked and decided to head home to the Philippines. She was stopped at immigration in HK airport and ended up being detained for over 6 months in a HK detention centre. I believe they kept her for so long to give evidence against the agency, who eventually admitted their guilt. My girlfriend was finally sentenced after being held for 6 months to 6 months, and was let go for deportation (where she was held for another 5 weeks). The whole thing was a nightmare. She is the most lovely genuine girl and to believe she had been through that experience is unbelievable. She is very ashamed, that is the reason i have not used her name as she did not want me to post here.
When we come to apply we will declare this. My concern is what affect will this have on a Finace visa application. Is any body able to give advice?
Andrew
