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]

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

[LadyJ]

btw, welcome to the forum Chris_M!

[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

[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

[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

[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!!!

[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.

[kimmi]

and for Scousers..

[KeithD]

and for Scousers..

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

[kimmi]

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

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

[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 !!

[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.....

[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.

[tomoboyle2000]

welcome to the forum chris!!!

[Sim11UK]

Hi Chris

When you familiarize yourself a little, with this forum, you will realize it runs & relies on humour.
Most of the posts, go wildly off topic, with humour, some of it hilarious never far from the fore.
It's just a bit of light relief

Many on here, my self included have all sorts of questions etc. that need answering, but if you can have a chuckle along the way, it's all for the good.

I would take your time & try not to suffer from information overload.

Anyway, all the very best to you, I'm sure everything will work it's self out.

[Chris M]

Hi Sim -- as a musician , i frequent forums a lot. I ws admin of my own for a long time.
I just wanted answers to my question thats all.
thanks for the welcome.

Anyone got any success stories out of a similar situation to ours ? , cos the advice so far seems to be pretty negative

[mhynne]

hello chris...
often people here in the forum really rely on humor.. it gets us by with all the pricey cost of visa fees i think hehehe but i tell you this is the best site to get information for visa applications.. as i got mine through advises here..
to answer your question.. i suggest try to get a spousal visa instead of a fiancee as the approval rate of a spousal is higher than a fiancee visa... also with the spousal visa she can work outright here in the UK .. as a fiancee visa holder though she cant work under that visa unless she files for her extension FLR visa which will happen after 6 months.. correct me if im wrong...
my husband and i also intend to settle back in the philippines once we have saved up... we though are eyeing for 10 years instead... i suggest try to setup a house already in the phils whilst in the UK then estimate the cost of living per month.. would help also if you have money coming in when you retire there.. like a business or maybe just a house/flat to rent out...
as a husband of a filipina you can apply for a non quota immigrant visa to be able to stay permanently in the phils.. this kind of visa is only given to husbands of foreign nationals.. correct me if im wrong again... you can view the details of that visa under the philippine embassy, london webpage under visa information.
hope to have helped!

[Chris M]

hello chris...
often people here in the forum really rely on humor.. it gets us by with all the pricey cost of visa fees i think hehehe but i tell you this is the best site to get information for visa applications.. as i got mine through advises here..
to answer your question.. i suggest try to get a spousal visa instead of a fiancee as the approval rate of a spousal is higher than a fiancee visa... also with the spousal visa she can work outright here in the UK .. as a fiancee visa holder though she cant work under that visa unless she files for her extension FLR visa which will happen after 6 months.. correct me if im wrong...
my husband and i also intend to settle back in the philippines once we have saved up... we though are eyeing for 10 years instead... i suggest try to setup a house already in the phils whilst in the UK then estimate the cost of living per month.. would help also if you have money coming in when you retire there.. like a business or maybe just a house/flat to rent out...
as a husband of a filipina you can apply for a non quota immigrant visa to be able to stay permanently in the phils.. this kind of visa is only given to husbands of foreign nationals.. correct me if im wrong again... you can view the details of that visa under the philippine embassy, london webpage under visa information.
hope to have helped!

Thanks MHynne
I was getting kinda negged out til you turned up. That gives me some hope. The visa bit is straightforward....its just what we do after that , that is the thorny issue.
We were thinking of maybe getting married at christmas , instead of getting engaged........but one of her friends said that would make it harder to get into the UK if we did that. Would that be the case ?

[LadyJ]

We were thinking of maybe getting married at christmas , instead of getting engaged........but one of her friends said that would make it harder to get into the UK if we did that. Would that be the case ?

If you can show to the British Embassy that you both have a genuine relationship and can provide all the requirements then she will have a big chance of getting a visa.

You must provide evidences
-that you have met each other ie. pictures or
-letters/emails, online chats, plane tickets to Philippines, copy of stamps on your passport that you have entered Philippines, hotel receipts etc.
- letter from employer that you have stable work, etc.
-your healthy bank account.
-accomodation for you and your partner, letter from the landlord (If renting) saying the landlord is allowing you to live your partner with you in the property.etc. etc.