Ivor,

You said this:

Maybe they are concerned about our age gap? Is that likely to be a reason for rejection? I am 57 and she is 25
I can understand your belly flies are going around now, but the age difference is common in the Philippines, so dont let the frogs start croaking yet ?

The fact is, your relationship will be scrutinized by the Entry Clearance officer I wont side step this for you, but tell it how it is...age could be looked at, their is a significant difference in your age gap to get their inbuilt prejudices going, Filipinas do tend go for older men, ( except in Keiths case hehehehehee stop it Keith.)

The Age Gap is not in itself a reason to deny your fiancee a visa, they have more imaginative ways of denying, than simply saying " The Sponsor is too old for the applicant", I have known lots of couples of similar age differences go through the system with no problems whatsoever.

If your evidence of relationship is good, say over the course of 1 year or more, then it shouldnt be an issue you should be concerned with, I think you are right not to mention your fears to your Girl, she doesnt need that worry when she goes for the interview, Filipinas by nature worry about everything, and can often feel intimidated by official sounding interviews and officials in General.

Ivor, what I see in your situation is this : Your GF will need to satisfy entry clearance officer that the two of you are likely to remain living together as man and wife in the United Kingdom indefinately.

That is where the onus of proof is on the applicant, so my advice to you right now, is to start training your GF in how to act on an interview, by all means refer your GF to my website, and to the relevant section I gave to you in a previous post, applicants who visit my site and others where this kind of information is available, (although I have yet to find a UK one that is as descriptive as mine), generally perform better on visa interviews and are granted visa's.

The Proof as I have said is on the applicant, although as We have said previously, you can attend with your GF, but you have already said you will not be attending, that is sad, as she may have needed your support, even if you are keeping the 7-11 in business round the back of the Embassy, that would have dispelled any fears the ECO may have.

I will always try to be honest with you, about what the ECO is thinking, in your relationship, I bet this is on his or her mind when they interview your GF.

"Is this young woman going to do a runner after a few weeks once she gets to UK and gets in with the Filipino Community"

This has never been mentioned on this forum before, but to be truthful, it is what is in their minds, some Girls come to Uk with older Guys, or often younger ones as well, no special age for this Ivor, then they get in with the local Filipino Group in the town where they live, and after a few months or even week, ( in one case I know of 14 days) and then they simply dissapear and start working in the Informal Economy).

Im sure, your relationship is not like that, and is a very stable one, so Ivor, dont be offended by what I am saying, its not me who she has to convince, its an ECO who looks through his or her own inbuilt prejudices, sadly, they would have cause to think like this, since there are so many situations in the UK where this happens, so back to what I said.

Your GF has really to convince the ECO that the two of you are going to live together as man and wife indefinately, or at least, the balance of probablity is that you will.

Thats an intersting phrase isnt it ?

Balance of probability ?

Who determines what constitutes the balance of probability, the fact is, they that is the ECO does, so you see my point, its rather arbitrary I know, but that is the system in place, there are many rules that ECO's are directed to work to, do they work to them ? in the past, ECO's have misplaced documents, lied, made mistakes, made bad decisions and had them overturned, done all sorts of howlers, so the point is this, they are human beings in a job, so Ivor, you are at the mercy of their in built frailties and prejudices.

But as Keith says, 99.99 per cent of visa's get approved, is it 99.99 Keith ? I thought it was 97 per cent..heheheheeh

Best of lUck Ivor.