Thanks Everyone for your advice. What am finding more and more worrying is that it looks easier to lie and say you are getting married than to be truthful and explain the purpose of the visit. However, we will stay truthful and honest and hope it is clear to the ECO etc. Here is a draft of my letter. Any comments would be gratefully recieved. I am sure I have missed something somewhere but it is late.


December 1st 2014

To: VFS Services Philippines Private Inc.,
Mezzanine Floor,
Ecoplaza Building,
Unit 606 2305
Pasong Tamo Extension
Makati City,
Metro Manila

Subject: Girlfriend, Filipino Citizen, DOB:1 June 1991

Attachment

1. Sponsorship Declaration Form
2. Employment Contract with Company Ltd
3. Earnings history (previous six months of salary slips)
4. Financial history (previous six months of bank statements, Santander Acc no.)
5. Property Utility Bill of house I own with a mortgage,
6. Passport pages, Kevin Brown
a. Portrait page
b. Entry stamp issued by The Philippines
7. Two photographs annotated on the reverse sides
8. Copy of letter to Parents of Girlfriend
9. Copy of Evidence of contact history

To the Entry Clearance Officer:
I am pleased to provide this letter of sponsorship for my fiancée, Girlfriend, as a general VISITOR.

I have invited my Girlfriend to visit me next February; and following the guidelines shown on your web site, I have prepared this letter as support. I am a British citizen, divorced, born and living in Gosport, Hampshire. I have worked for the past 3 years at My company Ltd as a Quality Manager and earn £26,500 pa.

Briefly, Girlfriend and I became acquainted on the Internet using a popular dating website, Filipino Cupid. As we chatted every day and we got to know each other better, we realized we had a lot of feeling for one another, so much so that we arranged for me to visit in May 2013 where I spent 10 days meeting and getting to know her and her family. I stayed in a hotel with a friend along with Girlfriend and her cousin, all clean and above board. What became very evident to me was how close she was to her family and what she does to help her parents and siblings. This appealed to me greatly, her love of family life.

At the end of my visit we became engaged. Initially, we planned to get married in The Philippines in January 2014 but, sadly, I had to have an a major operation which has required me to have time off work and because of the result of the operation, I am not prepared to marry until I am healed. We had originally planned for Girlfriend to visit October 2013 in order that she could see my country, get a feel for our culture and also meet my family who are keen on getting to know her before we get married. However, when my operation was booked, we knew this would appear as if she was caring for me during my convalescence which, in turn, could be deemed as working, so we decided to delay the visit.

I propose to sponsor Girlfriend for a period of 3 months to begin during the February 2014 through to early May 2014 and have estimated the all-in costs of her visit to be:

Air tickets £705
Transportation to/from Heathrow £50
Meals £450
Private health insurance £75
Entertainment & Misc £200
Accomodation £0
Total £1,480

This is roughly the equivalent of 2 weeks' net earnings for me, and I have set this amount aside in anticipation of Girlfriend’s successful application. Additionally, I have earmarked a contingency budget of £250. She will be staying at my property, a 5 bedroom house with 3 occupants. I am aware that there are no provisions for Girlfriend to extend her visit or to alter her status during the course of her visit. I helped my Girlfriend complete her VAF1A form, which we downloaded from your website. I hope you find these arrangements suitable and can proceed with granting my Girlfriend the entry clearance she seeks. Should additional information be needed, I prefer to be contacted via email at the address given below.

Yours sincerely



Kevin Brown


Thanks for reading.

Kev