Not really sure where to start...

[Ellie]

Hello all.

I'm a 31 year old female with a Filipino boyfriend. We met 1 year ago, whilst I was on holiday in the Philippines and I have spent 8 months of the last year out there with him. The plan is for us to get married next year and eventually I would like him to emigrate to the UK, only I have a couple of concerns...

1) As I haven't been here in the UK full time, I've only done very short spells of temporary work in the UK, so have no full time job...

2) I have been staying at my brother's house, so I also have no accommodation of my own

So, questions...

a) Will the above points cause problems when applying for a spouse visa after marriage?

b) Am I better off moving back to the UK, leaving my husband in the Philippines, and getting permanent employment before applying for the spouse visa? Or could a family member sponsor my husband, once we are married?

c) Does anyone know whether I may be at an unofficial disadvantage being a female applying for a spouse visa for my husband?

d) And will we be better off applying in the Philippines, whilst both there next year, or should I apply when back in the Uk, after our wedding?

e) Finally, I have been reading some excellent advice about getting married on www.british-filipino.com, but does anyone know if it is up-to-date info?

Apologies for so many questions and feel free to direct me to other threads- I perhaps didn't look at other threads for very long before posting this!

Thanks in advance,

Ellie

[ginapeterb]

Ellie hello and welcome to the forum.

Firstly, I cant make out from your post as to what nationality you are ?

You say you are a female fair enough, but are you Filipino yourself ? or are you a British passport holder born in the UK ? in other words a non-filipino ?

I am assuming from your short spells of work in UK, that you are White British if I am allowed to say that, firstly let me put your mind at rest about certain issues, no doubt others will comment, but let me set out your options.

Your short spells of work in UK may be a problem, but can be fixed, if you take the good advice being offered.

Firstly lets assume that you do return to the Philippines and have a Filipino wedding, at that point, you may decide to have your husband apply for UK Entry clearance.

The application as you will have read on the website http://www.british-filipino.com must be made in the applicants country, so your new husband must apply at our embassy in Manila Republic of Philippines, you cannot come back to UK and simply apply here, since there is no mechanism for you to achieve that.

Now lets deal with your employment situation, you say you have been having temporary jobs in UK, Firstly, you must take a look at your own residency situation.

If you are not ordinarily resident in the UK, i.e. are now living and residing within the UK Jurisdiction you may have a problem being a sponsor of your husband.

To satisfy the rules, you must demonstrate on your husbands application form, that you are presently settled and resident in the United Kingdom, you must also demonstrate that you can support your husband during his first 24 months in the UK without recourse to public funds.

This effectively means you cannot rely on any state funds that are means tested to support your husband, other benefits such as DLA and IB and other non means tested benefits seem to be ok, if my information is correct from previous cases.

Ideally, you would have a full time job, which an demonstrate sufficient salary, income from self employment, or substancial savings which will mean your future husband can be taken care of from your own personal income and savings.

If you are not working full time in the UK, or are between jobs as we would say, then your first priority is to obtain full time employment, when you do so, you must have at least your last 3 months wages slips or salary credits or other documentary proof if income.

You will also require your last 6 months banks statements, they ideally must not show that you are in the red, or seriously overdrawn, you must demonstrate that you have adequate financial stability to support your husband.

Now lets deal with your Accomodation situation, you say you stay at your brothers house, thats not a problem in itself, but to accomodate your husband with you at your brothers house, you must have a signed letter from your brother stating that he has no objection to you being accomodated with your husband and that rooms are available for your use, your brothers house must not be overcroweded through multi-occupancy and sometimes it is better to have a certification from your local authority that the house is not overcrowded, however this is not a hard and strict rule.

In aswer to your question about a family member sponsoring your husband, the answer to that is generally no ! you must sponsor your husband, since ECO's have a hard time making decisions when family members promise support that can be withdrawn once visas are issued.

To answer your question about Gender, the answer is [B]NO[B] you will not be under any diasvantage applying as a female sponsor, the rules are hard and fast on this.

From the facts placed before me, it seems the best advice for you so as not to get an outright refusal through lack of planning, is to get back to UK, stablilize your employment situation, sort out accomodation and then let your husband apply at a later date.

It may not be what you want to hear, but its good advice, and you will thank me for it later.

The last thing you need is to apply after your wedding, and then find that you are issued an outright refusal through failure to provide evidence of subsisting employment and suitable accomodation.

In answer to your final question about the website your visited about marriage information.

I can tell you that it is correct and updated, since I am the owner of that site and author of it.

Best of luck Ellie and let us know how it goes.

[Ellie]

A super-fast response... Thank you very much for the detailed and clearly-communicated reply. Much appreciated.

Incidentally, I am a British woman, with a Filipino partner who currently lives out there.

Thanks again & I'll be back to your board for more wedding advice...

Ellie