Fiance Visa / spouse visa

[Chris M]

Hi , this is my first post , so my apologies if its in the wrong place.

I intend to marry a beautiful Filipino girl from Tarlac , but who is currently in Mindanao.
I intend to visit her at christmas this year when we will get engaged,
The plan after that is for her to live with me in Belfast , Northern Ireland , where we can save as much money as we can for about 3 years , so we can both go to live in Mindanao in a house that will have been paid for already.
We only want to ise the UK as a kind of work-base to save .

Can anyone give me advice on what we have to do to make this plan a success ? what visas do we need to apply for ? Will my lady be able to work in the uk or is something extra required ?
When we both return to Mindanao , will i have to apply for a visa to live and work in the Philippines ?

Any help anyone can give would be really appreciated as the official sites are so unnecessarily convoluted , and advice from someone whos been here , done this is better.

Many thanks in advance !!!

[LadyJ]

If you want your lady to work here in UK when she comes here she will have to apply for spouse visa which you will have to marry her in Philippines before you bring her here..

YOu said you and your lady plans to save money within 3 years and move to Philippines, I guess that will give her enough time to apply for settlement and British Citizenship before you move to Philippines.

[LadyJ]

wait for some experienced members to answer your other questions.

[KeithD]

Christmas!!! Can't you go before then?

[Chris M]

Christmas!!! Can't you go before then?

Believe me , i would love to , but i need to save the money to actually go , buy an engagement ring , and have money to spend for 3 weeks.
Christmas is better because it'll be easier to get time off work due to it being quiet business-wise , and she has suggested she'd like me there for my birthday on new years day.
Id be there yesterday if i could

[LadyJ]

btw, welcome to the forum Chris_M!

[LadyJ]

Believe me , i would love to , but i need to save the money to actually go , buy an engagement ring , and have money to spend for 3 weeks.
Christmas is better because it'll be easier to get time off work due to it being quiet business-wise , and she has suggested she'd like me there for my birthday on new years day.
Id be there yesterday if i could

Oh Chris_M our clowns here loves to make a laugh

[kimmi]

welcome to the forum, Chris..

[Chris M]

Thanks for the welcome. I knew it would be nice here as the Filipinos are so extraordinarily friendly. I'd hope to make some friends here as the situation might be difficult at times

[Pepe n Pilar]

Welcome to the forum Chris

[kimmi]

you can always gain a lot of friend here..Cheers mate..

Goodluck on ur plans..

[telford]

when we both return to Mindanao , will i have to apply for a visa to live and work in the Philippines ?


My husband is living here with me in mindanao more than a year now...he didnt apply for any visa,he was granted to stay here 1year for free since he is married to me a filipina.then he anly apply for extention to stay here every 2 months. In 3 yrs time are u already a pentioner? coz to be frank with u ,its so impossible for u to get job here.its ok if u can have lots of savings by that time coz u can live with the interest of your money in savings account as what most of the foriegners do here.they invest there money, and there money will work for them,not that u will work for money. Think about it a million times before you make that decision.Lots of young foriegners here went home and have no money anymore.for me,only those pentioners are having a good life to stay here and for those foriegner that have lots of money. Here in Phils,its not expensive but not a good idea to live here if u have no income....THIS IS MY FRIENDLY HONEST SUGGESTION!!!

[KeithD]

Thanks for the welcome. I knew it would be nice here as the Filipinos are so extraordinarily friendly

Just watch out for those Mancs

[kimmi]

and for Scousers..

[KeithD]

and for Scousers..

Here's hoping she doesn't notice that bone in the fish

[lanstuart]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum

Lanie and I got married in January

Here's how we achieved this in 4 weeks

Dec 21 – arrive Manila
Dec 27 – go to Embassy for local CONI ( you must get one in the UK first ) – pick up same day
Dec 28 – Fly to Mindanao
Jan 3 – Visit Mayor to ask him to marry us
Jan 4-6 – Arrange reception , cake , Lechon etc
Jan 7 – Marriage and reception
Jan 8 – Pick up Marriage certificate
Jan 9 – Return to Manila
Jan 10 – Pay 45000P to get Managers cheque from bank
Jan 11 – Submit application to UK visa centre
Jan 15 – Return to UK


You can ask the mayor ( as we did ) to waiver the 10 days between the issue of the wedding licence and the actual ceremony

Not sure what part of Mindanao your gf is from but we got married in Alaron.
Also we managed to get our marriage certificate next day after the ceremony

Good luck !!

[kimmi]

Here's hoping she doesn't notice that bone in the fish

dont worry about the bone Boss, I am used to it..

[Chris M]

are u already a pentioner? coz to be frank with u ,its so impossible for u to get job here................ Think about it a million times before you make that decision.Lots of young foriegners here went home and have no money anymore.

Thanks for your honesty , and i dont want to be negative about anything and start off on the wrong foot , but this is the only problem we have , and its something i was worried about.
I'm not rich , and im not a pensioner , and i worry about getting work in Mindanao.
Thing is......my intended is planning to buy a 3 bedroom hose there and her mum said she would lend her the money to buy it , so we could work in the uk after we're married and pay the house off quickly due to the higher exchange rate , so that part is perfect.
The only fly in the ointment is what i can do to bring in a wage as we plan to start a family at some stage too. Its worrying.

[joebloggs]

Just watch out for those Mancs

yes us mancs are extraordinarily friendly to everyone, except scousers

[KeithD]

yes us mancs are extraordinarily friendly

VERY friendly

[joebloggs]

VERY friendly

not that friendly, not on a first date anyway, unlike scousers

[Chris M]

Its all very funny , but what has all the talk about mancs and scousers got to do with the question i asked ?

If i wanted to know that , i would have registered at the mancs vs scousers forum or www.iknoweveryfootballstatisticever.com , where this topic happens daily. if you cant contribute in a helpful way , please say nothing as this is very important to me.

[LadyJ]

Its all very funny , but what has all the talk about mancs and scousers got to do with the question i asked ?

If i wanted to know that , i would have registered at the mancs vs scousers forum or www.iknoweveryfootballstatisticever.com , where this topic happens daily. if you cant contribute in a helpful way , please say nothing as this is very important to me.

Chris_M just ignore those two clowns, they love each other thats why they're always like that

[joebloggs]

if you cant contribute in a helpful way , please say nothing as this is very important to me.

sorry

we've been told off scouser keith



if it's very important to you, you should check the offical sites, make some calls, and only use what people tell you on here as guidance, immigration law changes, and as stated at the top of the page "information supplied here may be out of date, or just personal knowledge, use at your own risk", i've never just gone off advice from a forum, always check and double check, and you will not go wrong

but have you taken into account the cost of flights for you, then your g/f, the cost of visa's, your talking £1000's.

oh gotta work..

[sam_althea]

yes chris! u are right! this is a very good forum, however some people are very nice to pinch in their

[sam_althea]

oh chris, we are also moving to belfast, should your wife/gf needs someone to talk with, you or she can come to our place to eat adobo and paksiw.....

[tomoboyle2000]

welcome to the forum chris!!!

[Chris M]

sorry

we've been told off scouser keith



if it's very important to you, you should check the offical sites, make some calls, and only use what people tell you on here as guidance, immigration law changes, and as stated at the top of the page "information supplied here may be out of date, or just personal knowledge, use at your own risk", i've never just gone off advice from a forum, always check and double check, and you will not go wrong

but have you taken into account the cost of flights for you, then your g/f, the cost of visa's, your talking £1000's.

oh gotta work..

well , i shopped around and managed to find flights from belfast to manila dec / jan for only £549 so , considering its on the other side of the planet , thats very very reasonable i wouldve thought. Its maybe possible , with a bit more digging to find some even cheaper than that , although i dont fancy sitting on a wing the whole way to manila airport

[Chris M]

oh chris, we are also moving to belfast, should your wife/gf needs someone to talk with, you or she can come to our place to eat adobo and paksiw.....

thank you so much. we will most definitely take you up on that Sam. I've been told by a half-filipino that i need to look after her and help her to have other filipino friends , so she doesnt feel so withdrawn from her native country , so yeah , thats really helpful. thanks again.

[andypaul]

Its all very funny , but what has all the talk about mancs and scousers got to do with the question i asked ?

If i wanted to know that , i would have registered at the mancs vs scousers forum or www.iknoweveryfootballstatisticever.com , where this topic happens daily. if you cant contribute in a helpful way , please say nothing as this is very important to me.

So you want free advice but don't want people who give up their spare time to have a joke at the same time

Chill Chris the humour is on here for a reason we all know how blooming stressful the process is and like all people we like to lark about.

Without a little humour and talking about nonsense i know the stress might have done me in and im sure others have looked back and found it useful.

One thing i would do is due to the bleak outlook over the next few years at least worldwide make sure you factor in the exchnage rate being far worse than it is now and the amount you earn not being as great as you planned.

In the three years make sure you get your wifes citzenship sorted would be my advice but remeber this is going to cost i would estimate at least 2 thousands pounds with uk test, ilr and citzenship fees. These may rise higher by the time you get there we just don't know.

Like others say the chances of you working in phill are slim unless you run the business or move over there with a western company.
Possibly you could find work in a neighbouring country but i guess it depends on your skillset and experience.

Good luck to the two of you