Fiancee Visa

[compldc72]

Hi,

I'm a UK resident and my girlfriend is in the philippines and is filipina.

She has managed to get a 6 months visitor visa on 2 occassions and stayed with me in the UK. In March 2005 she applied for a 3rd visa but was not working so she failed her application. We had some arguments and lost contact with each other, we went our seperate ways.
5 months later, september 2005, she calls me and 3 days later I decide that we should get married (I've known her now for almost 3 years). I was wondering if the fact that we have not really had any contact for almost 5 months (May 2005 - September 2005), that this might go against us when she applies for her fiancee visa? Will they ask lots of questions about why and what because of this???
I've been told that because she is not working and that she has already had 2 visitor visas that she will not get a visitor visa.
I'm planning to go to the philippines to meet her and help with the application in 4 weeks, before she applies.

Do you think they will ask why we did not get married sooner?? I was still going through a divorce so was not able to - will they accept this as an answer?

Do the embassey just accept photocopies of all papers? when she applied for a visa while working in Hong Kong she had to go back for an interview because I did not send the original back statements although I was told by UK embassey that copies would be ok.

thanks

Lee

[ginapeterb]

Originally posted by compldc72@Oct 1 2005, 03:32 AM
Hi,

I'm a UK resident and my girlfriend is in the philippines and is filipina.

She has managed to get a 6 months visitor visa on 2 occassions and stayed with me in the UK. In March 2005 she applied for a 3rd visa but was not working so she failed her application. We had some arguments and lost contact with each other, we went our seperate ways.
5 months later, september 2005, she calls me and 3 days later I decide that we should get married (I've known her now for almost 3 years). I was wondering if the fact that we have not really had any contact for almost 5 months (May 2005 - September 2005), that this might go against us when she applies for her fiancee visa? Will they ask lots of questions about why and what because of this???
I've been told that because she is not working and that she has already had 2 visitor visas that she will not get a visitor visa.
I'm planning to go to the philippines to meet her and help with the application in 4 weeks, before she applies.

Do you think they will ask why we did not get married sooner?? I was still going through a divorce so was not able to - will they accept this as an answer?

Do the embassey just accept photocopies of all papers? when she applied for a visa while working in Hong Kong she had to go back for an interview because I did not send the original back statements although I was told by UK embassey that copies would be ok.

thanks

Lee

Quoted post

Hmm Lee so you knew this lady for 2 years, had her to UK for 2 visits, and then split with her, no contact for 5 months, how is it in 3 days, you then decide to marry her, I would first question you on who proposed ? or how did it come up suddenly that you decide to marry, you dont make that bit very clear ? how did the marriage situation suddenly appear after 3 days, the reason I ask you that, is in the past, I have seen situations where, sudden confirmations of "I love you baby and we should get married" are generally receipe's for disaster, but of course the matter is entirely for you, no one is saying it wont work, I am just cautious when I see stories like this.

As for your contact with this lady, and the fact you have not had any for 5 months, this will only be a problem if it is brought to their attention by your GF in an interview, as at present the embassy is not conducting interviews, it maybe that she will be called for an appointment, the current visa process is to have your application collected, by the CAVA service, the fact that you are applying for a fiancee visa, should eliminate the problem of her not working, as you as the sponsor will be required to show evidence that you can support her without recourse to public funds, therefore, she is unlikely to be refused a visa based on the work issue.

I would caution you to be careful regarding evidence of contact, the fact that no contact has been made in 5 months, to me is a red flag, not for the embassy, but for yourself, why no contact for so long and then in September, a marriage proposal ? who made it you or her ? you might get away with it at the Embassy, by showing continuous contact for 3 years, the fact that she has already had 2 visitors visa's to come and stay with you, may go in her favour, I am perplexed by the fact her 3rd visa was refused.

But then again maybe she did not meet the rules at that time, my suggestion is, you carry on with the application as you have nothing to loose, submit the relevant paperwork, your bank statements, can be photocopies, however, the rules are as follows:

You must submit the original bank statements, with at least 1 photo copy of each document, for a fiancee or spouse visa, so you must have the originals to apply.

The Embassy is unlikely to ask why you did not marry sooner ? that is irelevant, since they only process applications on the basis of whats in front of them, the ECO Entry Clearance Officer, will make a decision based on the probability, that the marriage will take place in UK within 6 months, and that on the probability of the evidence before him or her, that you will live together as man and wife.

If your GF is sucessful, you will need to apply to the Home Office in UK on her arrival for special permission to marry, through your local register office, they will issue you the forms to apply, the fee is £130.00, once the home office grants permission for the marriage, you must marry within 6 months, then you will be able to apply once again for Further leave to remain at the Home Office.

Hope this helps

[Pauldo]

Originally posted by compldc72@Oct 1 2005, 04:32 AM
Hi,

I'm a UK resident and my girlfriend is in the philippines and is filipina.

She has managed to get a 6 months visitor visa on 2 occassions and stayed with me in the UK. In March 2005 she applied for a 3rd visa but was not working so she failed her application. We had some arguments and lost contact with each other, we went our seperate ways.thanks

Lee

Quoted post

Strange, but when my wife applied for a 6 month visit visa in 2000 we were told they don't do six months anymore, that all visit visas were now (then) for 12 month multiple entry. They must have changed the goal posts once again.

I don't see how her not working would make her fail the visa application, because if she is going to go to the UK for six months how could she be working? Sounds a little suspicious. And why would she need a job just to show she could leave it?

And no employer would let an employee off work for six months, so she'd basically have to quit the job they demand she needed anyway to utilise the visa.

All very confusing, unless she was applying on her own, with no mention of a sponsor in the UK.

The embassy will want to see originals AND copies of the documents. The copies they keep, the originals they give back straight away, just so they can confirm they are copies of genuine documents, not something you pumped out on Photoshop I suppose.

[Admin]

If I didn't talk to someone for 5 months, I sure as hell wouldn't want to marry them the first week they say hello!!

If fall out like that before marriage, it'll get worse when your together 24/7, I may be wrong, but I know others that have been strange situations in relationships that haven't worked out.

Do you know what she has been doing for 5 months? Not pregnant by someone else is she??

I'd leave the application till January, and get some recent paperwork together to support it, and it'll also give you a little bit more time to think everything through.

Remember their are around 5 million Filipino girls looking for hubby, so make sure you've picked a good one, you can't take it back later!!

[compldc72]

thanks Peter, Pauldo, Keith - Very honest and relevant replies, helps me a lot - lets explain some more.

We were planning to get married after she got her 3rd visa but of course she failed - I spoke to someone at the UK visa embassey in London yesterday and they said, basicly if a filipina does not work then they will not get a visitor visa, as they have nothing to come back for - i understand that having 6 months of they would lose their job anyway but it's the visa people. Anyway, he said she is more likely to get a fiancee visa as she has little to keep her in the philippines and that she has already been to UK before.

After she failed her visa we had arguements and she got upset because I said i would not support her financially - within 4 weeks of this I could no longer contact her. I've always found it hard to be without her so perhaps thats why when she called I couldn't wait to go and see her. She has told me she later met someone else who DID support her, of course this person isn't the nice guy she thought and has no love for him. This guy also wants to marry her (still not 100% on this) and she does not want to marry him but he seems to be forcing her by threatening to hurt her....any ideas on this, is it a scam.

My initial intention was for her to get the 6 month visitor visa and see how it goes but can not do that now cos she won't get it so that's why I have got for the fiancee visa - I then have a number of months to confirm our feelings, I have nothing to lose as if I get cold feet or bad feelings I can call of the wedding within the 6 months. I know it's not an ideal situation and there are lots of other guys out there, I have met many online, but this girl has always been close to me heart. I did met another girl while we were apart (by this time I'd guessed she had met someone else) and the love from this girl was nothing like the love I get from my filipina. I have been out to see her and her family before, they are all nice.

Once again, some great replies from you guys, if you have any other ideas about this odd situation then please let me know.

[Admin]

Just seems strange that she fell out with you when she found she couldn't get back to the UK, then seems to jump straight in with another guy who offers her UK access....when that fails, she comes running back to you........

From the outside looking in, as we are, it looks iffy.

Love isn't as it always seems, lust confuses the issue.

You've both been with different people, so you couldn't have been that strongly in love, or you would have both fought hard to get back together. It seems you've split, both had a failing relationship, and decided to go back with the old.....from what I know, this senario only works out successfully in less than 10% of cases.

What should you do? Keep talking with her for now, but nip onto my database, and start talking to another, who isn't in a rush to get to the UK by any means.

You seem honest enough, if you want to talk to another Filipino to see what happens, and I bet you find nicer things with the newbie, I have 5 I haven't listed yet, so they have no contacts. I can put you in touch with one. They are all very pretty.

I wouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket, i'm a professional gambler and keep all options open, I don't do failure.

Just tell your ex'ish, you can't get a visa till 2006 at the earliest (true anyway), and see what happens while talking to another.

[Pauldo]

Originally posted by admin@Oct 1 2005, 01:05 PM

Love isn't as it always seems, lust confuses the issue.

Quoted post

And loneliness too :(
Loneliness can drive a guy to do things he wouldn't normally consider in a month of Sundays!!

You should see the $hit I've promised my wife when I've been away at sea for a couple of months on my own :lol:

I even promised to marry her once :blink: :huh:

[Admin]

Loneliness does have a good point......silence.... :lol:

[ginapeterb]

Hello Lee, may I draw your attention to my post and perhaps you can take not of some of the following points.

We were planning to get married after she got her 3rd visa but of course she failed

You say, you were planning to get married after the 3rd visa application, but by your admission you told us, this was for a tourist visa, you could not have got married in any event, as your GF visa would not have been valid for a marriage, as she is a tourist, the sensible thing to have done, was to go straight in and have your GF apply for a Marriage Visa or (Fiancee visa) as it is sometimes known.

After she failed her visa

You keep referring, to "After SHE failed her visa" may I just say this, in a British-Filipino relationship, its my experience that the 2 parties work together to obtain the required result, that has been well documented on this site many times, I've never known a situation where a British guy would say, "She failed" the fact of the matter is, it was your responsibility to ensure that you GF was well prepared to obtain her visa, that is either by supplying:

a) Adequate paperwork, i.e. evidence, support, photos, documents.
B) That she was applying for the correct type of Visa.
c) And that she was properly briefed on the Embassy procedures.

So the fact that your GF was not approved for a 3rd visa is really your failure and not hers, you may feel that is strong, but the fact of the matter is, you had your GF applying for the wrong visa, and knowing that she was not working, you almost set up the poor girl to fail, so really how is it her failure ?

we had arguements and she got upset because I said i would not support her financially

You say you had arguments ? but you dont say what you were about ? so reading between the lines, its probably that as she had in your view failed ! she couldnt come to UK to live with you, then you say " I wont support you anymore ?

Of course she will get upset if you had been financially supporting her for so long, you say 2 years, and then you threaten to cut it, have you thought about this, from the Filipino cultural angle, which i bet you havent ?

If a Filipina is in a relationship with a Western man, not a British..in this instance any man from the West, if she is receiving a regular allowance, she is proud of that, she will tell her relatives, her freinds, and just about any close person in her life, she will flaunt that, because she is proud of that fact, if you then said to her "I wont support you and then did not do so, just because she was refused a visa, it makes it look to those around your GF, that she is of no use to you anymore, and that if confirms what they always thought "That Western men, only use Filipina's for sex, when they come to visit"

This view is widely held in the Philippines, you also may not have thought, that when your GF took you close to her heart, she would have to explain her actions to her family, and freinds, and it would have taken them time to get used to the idea, although you personally may not have seen some of the various timelines that she would have had to go through in your relationship.

If you say to a Filipina "I will cut your allowance or stop your support" you should not be unduly perturbed by this, for one thing, its embarassing, it can be taken as a confirmation that actually you dont love her ! that the relationship is not as genuine as it was at first thought, and naturally, your GF is going to display Tampo !

within 4 weeks of this I could no longer contact her.

You seem suprised by this, remembering you just told her you won't support her financially ? can you not see that cutting her financial support, is telling her, the relationship is over, why are you suprised by not being able to contact her, she most likely, made herself uncontactable, maybe she changed her mobile number, or her yahoo chat ID, you cant be upset about this, you caused it !


[QUOTE This guy also wants to marry her (still not 100% on this) and she does not want to marry him but he seems to be forcing her by threatening to hurt her....any ideas on this, is it a scam.[/QUOTE]

Well I wouldnt worry too much about him, the fact is if she called you again, maybe she misses the relationship she had with you, the only thing I would say is, its rather strange, that you now decide to marry her after 3 days of her call, just remember, when you cut the allowance, its a sign that the relationship is over, so really, you should be telling her all this, and maybe apologizing for what happened.

If your GF did not get a visa, you should have carried on maybe supporting her, and then gone for a fiancee visa, instead of doing what you did, although you dont tell us, what the arguments were about, although I can guess reading between the lines.

My initial intention was for her to get the 6 month visitor visa and see how it goes but can not do that now cos she won't get it so that's why I have got for the fiancee visa

Well this is a good one ? you say, you wanted to get her the 6 month visitor visa ? to see how it goes ? what the hell is this all about ? so you wanted to test the water with her, to see if it worked ? wow you have some bottle mate ! you told us, she already came on 2 separate visotor visa's and now you wanted a 3rd to see if it works out ? that didnt happen so now you will apply for a marriage visa for 6 months, to see if that works out ? and then cancel the wedding if you get cold feet,

Listen here is a peice of good advice for you, take it, its free, dont take it, its your funeral, getting your GF to apply for a fiancee visa on the basis, of a trial marriage is a recipe for disaster, no self respecting Filipina is going to allow you to let her apply for a marriage visa on the basis of a trial marriage which is effectively what you are telling us, is going to happen, you mentioned if you get cold feet, you mentioned you can pull out of it.

Let me jus say this, if you try that trick on the Embassy, the applicatioin will fail miserably, because for one thing, they will see its not a genuine relationship, there is no intention to marry, or for you to live as man and wife in the UK, in my view, you dont have a genuine relationship with this woman, and if I was an ECO I personally would refuse your GF a Visa, because you almost admitted to this forum, that you want her here on the basis of a trial marriage, I think thats incredible, but it makes good fun to read.

My advice to you is to not apply right now for a finacee visa, re-start your relationship with the lady, and see how that progress over a number of months before you apply for a fiancee visa, because, when she comes to UK, living as a marriage is not the same as living as a holiday couple, if there is not backbone to your relationship, it will simply fail and she will go home, if you are just applying for a fiancee visa because she cant come as a tourist, then you will be found out and the situation stopped, remember, if she is refused a fiancee visa, it takes 1 year to appal to the immigration and Asylum Appeals tribunal.

Best of luck, I think you need it Pal !

[Admin]

I think you need it Pal !

Isn't that adog food?? :blink: