We're trying to apply for a visitor visa for my wife to come to England from the Philippines. I have a wife from the Philippines and we've been married since 2018. She has been to the Netherlands before as an au pair for one year and when she returned I was visiting her in the meantime. Covid19 happened, so between 2018-2021 we haven't been together. We cannot meet the £18.6 financial requirement, although I am comfortable to save up that amount whilst we work on her Spouse Visa. We're okay with just visiting for now. We really want to be together again, since it's been two years. Our main questions are; - What would be your best suggestions? - Would she need to take the vaccine before she comes to the UK? - What proof would we need to present? - and what do we need to do from A to B? - And we're trying our best to find a good reason to convince them that she will return to the Philippines after her visa is up. It's just composing the wording. Thank you so much for your feedback and help! Much appreciated.
Financial requirement is £18.6k income, savings of (2.5 * 18.6k +16k = )£62.5k or a combination of the two for spouse visa plus all the associated visa fees under the conventional spouse visa route. As Philippines is red category country then need to do quarantine on arrival which is £2,285 on arrival in UK and then when she returns to Philippines will be another quarantine requirement but not sure on cost for that. Don't believe at present that being vaccinated makes any difference going either way in terms of quarantine requirement. Not sure at present if they are processing visit visas from red countries - I think need residence visa to travel from a red country but may be wrong. Key issue is demonstrating evidence that will return to Philippines which normally means work (normally letter from employer agreeing to time off) or property ownership. That said my fiancee at the time got a marriage visit visit along with visit visa for both her kids to allow us to get married in UK and strongest commitment we had in Philippines was a rented house - I treated as dry run for spouse visa and provided most of info required for that so it may have helped. Alternative option is for you to go there and probably easiest option as you can get visa as spouse of Filipino citizen. You still have costs and time stuck in hotel for quarantine going out and coming back but probably the easiest option to meet up. UK vaccinations as I understand it don't count in Philippines (need to be vaccinated in the Philippines for Philippines authorities to take account of them ) Alternative option is to wait and see if things improve. It's a difficult situation at the moment in terms of travel and UK quarantine costs/time requirements seem to be the biggest hurdle. Wish you all the best but don't think any easy option.
