Does anyone know if this difficulty in getting a tourist visa apply to wives as well as girlfriends?Originally Posted by IainBusby
I don't want to put a downer on things for you Mark, but getting a passport is the least of your problems if you are planning for her to visit here (UK) - "so she can visit her" - was this a typo, did you mean "so she can visit here". If so the real problem will be getting a tourist visa because unless she is wealthy, or has a businesses or lots of property in Philippines etc, the chances of her getting a tourist visa to visit you in the UK are almost nil.
Iain & Louella
My wife (still in the Phils) wants to visit the UK while I finish my work contract, maybe from October to January, then we head off back to the Phils together. It's just too difficult to live apart. In our favour, I have enough money to look after us both (can provide pay slips), professional job (respectable? lol!), we're married, and I've travelled over there 4 times to be with her (totals a few months of living together there). Her situation is that she still lives with her parents (so no property) and has just resigned from her job (voluntary redundancy with a nice pay-off). My work contract will end in January also which could be evidence that we don't want to stay long.
The tourist visa seems a lot cheaper than the settlement visa which is overkill for what we need, but I've also heard about the high refusal rate. I wasn't sure if that was because the tourist visa applications were of a poor standard, the authorities are working to a quota system or or because they're just tightwads.
After reading this site, I've seen a few people have had tourist visas to visit boyfriends / fiances, but there is a high refusal rate. Would being thorough like the recommendations for settlement visas make a difference?
