Hi im daniel, i wasn't sure how to approach this so i was told about this site and decided to post my situation and hopefully some of you can point me in the right direction. Im 29yrs old and from scotland, i decided to travel through asia in january this year, i met a women on my travels through a mutual friend in vietnam. She is a phillipino teacher working in vietnam sending money back to her family. Long story short we became partners and i spent 6 weeks with her then, kept in touch while i was home and went and visited her again fr another month. whole time being in touch with Skype etc. I suggested to her that she's came to scotland for 6-9 months early next year while i saved to go travelling again. Im not sure if this helps but my situation is i make above average salary, if she came she would have accommodation with me obviously, my mother runs a company where work would be available(which is something we both want). What chances is there of her coming here for 6months or even longer and working?? sorry for the length of the post!
Welcome to the forum Daniel from a fellow Scot It is normally hard for Filipino's to get a visit visa to the UK unless they are clearly able to support themselves and have a clear reason to return to their point of origin. The key point here is that she would need a reason to be returning to Vietnam and a request for a 6 month trip is likely to create concerns for the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO). Your problem is that for such a long trip she would be clearly be leaving her employment and that would lead to the thought that she would not have a reason to return to Vietnam, even though you would be sponsoring her. Still it is worth a go as a tourist visa is not that expensive. There are others here who I am sure will chip in shortly that know much more about this than I do.
@oss has wrapped it all up for you nicely, it is extremely unlikely your loved one will get a UK visit visa under the circumstances you have posted, alarm bells are going to be ringing when she says she intends to stop in the UK for six months, as oss says, go for the visa as it is only cheap but cut the trip duration down to weeks not months. Its all about convincing the UKVI she will return to point of origin.
What chances is there of her coming here for 6months or even longer and working? not permitted to work on a visit visa.
Hello @daniel anderson and welcome to the forum. Your fellow Scot (oss) has summed up well. Firstly the maximum length of a single stay on a visit visa even if the visa is granted for a longer period, is seix months. Really, the likelihood of her getting a visa is rather small unless she has relatives living in the UK. You may want to try for a short visa for a couple of weeks but she would need a good reason to leave the UK at the end of her stay - a job to go back to, property overseas etc. I am not saying it is impossible to get a visa but it is very difficult if you are hor love interest and the reason for her visit to the UK.
Guys thanks a lot, very helpful! you said a tourist visa, would she be able to work here? i heard no from a friend. Also what about a normal visa and not specifying 6month e.g.. Someone i know in a slightly similar situation said he has to marry his lady so she can come here, and i asked is marriage his only option to allow her to stay here and he said yes. also sorry if I've missed something obv or misunderstood.
Hello Daniel, welcome aboard British Filipino Unfortunately, it can be difficult when you form relationships with someone on the opposite side of the planet when it comes to wanting sharing time together in the UK The cost of the visit visa is quite low and the decision making process is pretty quick. Why not try for a short duration visit visa as a start and build on that. Something like one month is considered short stay. As others have said it really does come down to whether the UKVI caseworker believes that the balance of probabilities points to her leaving the UK before the expiry of the visa. The visa will be issued for a validity period of 6 months and while it's not good practice to stay for the full 6 months many folks squeeze an extra few weeks from the application declared duration. Going overboard on this could impact any subsequent visit visa so try to keep those extra weeks down to a justifiable number. As British Passport holders we are extremely luck to find traveling around the world a much easier and simpler process than most other nationalities. Despite the difficulties I would strongly suggest putting together the best possible application. If the Caseworker senses she'll leave UK more or less as planned then the visa will be granted. If you have the intention to provide full financial and accommodation you'll need to consider submitting the following documents:- - 6 months Bank statements - 6 months pay slips - Proof of address (eg utility bill, Council Tax etc) - Accommodation details (including owner's agreement / rental agreement) - Sponsors passport copy (Photo page, any relevant stamp pages) - The main reasons for wanting the applicant to travel at the specific time Take a chance I say. Nothing ventured nothing gained and good luck
Welcome to the reality of what it means to be the holder of a 3rd world country passport and applying to get into the UK...for whatever reason. As Micawber has mentioned, as British passport holders,we can consider ourselves very lucky in being able to wander around the world without difficulty. Filipinos have a much harder time of it and will need to jump through many hoops before being able to legally land in this country. Always worth a try though. First consult the relevant govt. website for visa requirements.
Don't lose the faith Daniel,... I visited a guy in Glasgow recently who flew his g/f over (un-accompanied) from Philippines,...met her at the airport and spent a lovely 6 months with her here. He say's it wasn't so difficult, he does have a nice bank balance although not that you would know by his lifestyle , and she had a small p/t job in the city, but as I gather she did own her own family house in the village,..(albeit very small and native). Don't think they had been together all that long, maybe 5-6 months,... but I kinda thought it was a lot to do with the fact he could support her well and she had a reason to go home. end note;;;;; It didn't work out when she got back home,...single again I'm afraid !! Jonny
Ok everybody appreciate the help and surprised at so many people contributing. Few more questions, say i applied for a 4-6week visit visa. with her saying that she is going back after that time to teach again in vietnam. And with my situation..... making a pretty good salary and have a house etc. Ive got a reasonable chance at getting it? -But if she overstayed that period, wouldn't look good for future applications? -Would it also affect her getting back into vietnam if she overstayed?
Just make sure she doesn't overstay in the UK Daniel, if she does then you may well have a problem with any future UK settlement visa, just play it safe and apply for two or three weeks only, that way you wont ruffle any feathers. In the future if you do apply for a settlement visa for her then it does ask about previous travel history, especially visits to the UK and visit visas that may have been declined. Just make sure you put a good application together when applying for the visit visa, there is lots of information on the forum relating to visit visas and the best visit visa scenario's like the girlfriend having a good job, letter from employer stating she as leave, owner of property, good travel history to different countries, property owner, strong family ties back home the list goes on. You can also write a letter stating you will be looking after her financial needs in the UK and you will be responsible in seeing that she goes home/back to Vietnam after the visit, you could include a few bank statements too if you like, go for it Above all, do not be too disappointed if the visa is declined.
Haha you guys don't fill me full of confidence! Ok ill look into what its gonna take to get a visit visa and what repercussions for overstay etc. We can chat and way up our options and see what best for us. As i planned to travel and work in asia/australia next year for atleast 1 year - longterm anyways. But wanted her here while i saved
A real overstay would be more than 6 months but in reality they are not good at tracking people who leave the UK as they don't do exit checks and exit stamps in the passport these days, although I believe they are talking about bringing exit checks back. The only way they will really know about frequent visits is on the second and subsequent trip when they get to look at the time between entry stamps. I brought my partner here many years ago, originally for two months, at the time I was well off but we had the benefit that my partner had dual nationality and was travelling as a South Korean (1st World) not as a Filipino and because of that we didn't need a pre-arranged visa, I still needed a letter of support explaining how long she would be here and so on and indeed I travelled with her both times that she came here. On the second visit I went out to meet her at Schiphol airport Amsterdam so that we would both enter the UK together (I don't trust her ability to talk to immigration sensibly ) on that occasion we said she would be here for 4 weeks and then return to South Korea (her point of origin at the time in 2010) in fact she stayed for 13 weeks, I doubt that immigration has any idea if she actually ever left, they would only know by collating data from airline passenger lists and the passport checks at flight check-in. As Micawber explained it is not good practice to stay for her to stay for the full six months allowed if you have originally stated 6 weeks, this will come out on future visits and visa applications when the ECO digs deeper, in our case there were less checks because my partner happened to have a 1st world country passport but they will look more closely at Filipino's travelling on a Filipino passport. Part of the problem with stating 4-6 weeks is that the flight tickets will have to agree with these timescales, that means you are paying extra to change the flights after she arrives! And indeed you are probably having to pay extra for the initial flight just to have one that can be changed in the first place as many economy flights can't be easily changed.
As oss mentions, an overstay means exceeding the 6 months visa validity. Yes overstaying in the UK by more than 28 days beyond visa expiry would definitely impact the chances of securing subsequent visit visas. As long as she holds all the needed paperwork for entry to Vietnam she'll be OK I'm not sure these days exactly what is stamped into her passport if she is more than 28 days overstay from visa expiry. But something else to consider. It used to the case that if you overstay for more than 28 days you cannot apply for any further leave to remain from within the UK and need to return home soonest at your own cost. If you overstay for 90 days or over you face a ban from entering the UK for at least 12 months. Could be that things have tighten up a bit since my day
Her is a thought!!!!!! https://www.gov.uk/study-visit-visa/overview Teacher wanting to learn english sounds good Do not even contemplate an overstay it will give you future issues as others have said
