Hello one and all!!

[Arthur Little]

Chris ... thanks for your complimentary introduction. Delighted you find the services offered on our site useful to your future plans.

[chrisincebu]

Welcome to the forum Chris.

When considering bringing your lady to the UK on a fiancee/spouse visa, then of course your priority should be re-establishing yourself in well-paid employment here, building up a healthy bank balance and ensuring that you have 'suitable' accommodation, so that the necessary boxes can be ticked on the application forms.

Nice to see so many welcomes and replies already, Notably from some familiar users that i have spotted over past research on these forums.....
Judging from the ordeals some people have had to go through so far, eg. living in UK already and having to make time for the trip 'TO' the Philippines, i feel like i have a head start getting organised on this side at least.
Noted on the accommodation and savings....Been saving for a while now too, results of which came in handy for the Visitor Visa we managed to get last year.

welcome is the first thing to say, and congrats too, seems like you have thought about this for a long time, will you have work in the uk when you make the move back here

Thanks! Luckily i'm in Offshore so it would just mean relocating back to the North Sea. Goodbye to calm seas and blue skies.... I used to work there 10 years ago and my company say it is no problem to relocate back there. Phew!! However i don't have the usual 9-5 and i have to work 5 on/5 weeks off at a time. I do that here already and my GF is used to it. As you probably already know, Filipinos make up a sizable chunk of the seaman workforce so i feel that working away from home for the benefit of the family is widely accepted in the Phils. (in fact this was one of the core reasons i am here now,UK girls just didn't have the patience for my work routine). Of course the work routine i have here will be the same when we are both in UK. Luckily on our 1 month trip to the UK we did in December, my GF got on with my close friends really well there and more importantly my family, so i'm sure she will not feel lonely. We have discussed at length that my absence from her at my work will feel different in UK compared to my absence from her here in Cebu as she will be in a different country. But i personally feel that the novelty of being somewhere new will be occupying enough until she can develop a network of friends.....

Chris ... thanks for your complimentary introduction. Delighted you find the services offered on our site useful to your future plans.

Thank you Sir!..and to all the other kind welcoming messages so far!