Vietnamese girl friend moving to UK to live with boy friend

Hi All,

I have tried my best to set out our situation and what we want to achieve, any advice/help would be appreciated.

Our situation:

I met my girl friend in January 2011 whilst studying at university, we were only friends and started going out in June 2011. My girl friend is from Vietnam is 28 and studied Electrical Power Systems in Vietnam, she then came to the UK to do a Masters degree in Power Electronics achieving a First and Distinction respectively. I studied Electrical & Electronic Engineering and currently have a job in the UK. I am 23 and from the UK.

My girlfriend had to return to Vietnam in January 2012 as her student VISA had ran out. She has already enrolled her biometric information and passed her IELTS to the required level to gain student VISA. I will be travelling to Vietnam to visit her for the whole of June 2012.

The original plan was to apply for Tier 2 (Post study work) VISA but this is now closing and she cannot apply in time. So the next option is the the unmarried partner VISA. However one of the requirements is:

"You should have been living together for at least two years in a relationship similar to marriage." we meet all the others it is just this one.

I earn sufficient funds to cover living costs for my girl friend but she would like to work as she does not want to be seen as a burden. I know that the relationship is short, but we both have the same interests and want the same things out of life. Since she returned to Vietnam I have been in contact with her everyday though email, also through skype only on weekends due to work and time difference.

What we want to achieve:

I only have one goal and that is to live happily in the UK with my girl friend as I love her very much and being apart from her is difficult. She would like to work preferably in the power generation/distribution sector. I intend to live with her permanently once she comes to the UK.

If any other information is needed I can provide it.

Any advice on the process would be great!

Thanks for your time

You might not like the choices, but as I see it, your choices are :-

• fiancée visa - assuming the two of you want to get married in the UK within the six month period of validity of that visa, the application being in her country
• spouse visa - after marriage outside the UK, she would apply for a spouse visa, in her country.

That is, as I see it, no intention to get married, no visa.

But of course, no one should ever consider marriage just to ease a visa situation.

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. We want to get married, however not for the purposes of VISA, we want to wait a while. Another thing is due to the length of the relationship I feel they will look on the marriage as fake, this is not the case. Do you have any experience with relationships of this length and VISA applications?

Thanks again for your advice much appreciated

Given :-

I met my girl friend in January 2011 whilst studying at university, we were only friends and started going out in June 2011

-: I do not see a problem in getting a fiancée or spouse visa. That of course assumes that sufficient "evidence of contact" is supplied when making the application.

Have you visited her in her country? Especially if not, maybe that is the next move.

John wrote:Given :-

I met my girl friend in January 2011 whilst studying at university, we were only friends and started going out in June 2011

-: I do not see a problem in getting a fiancée or spouse visa. That of course assumes that sufficient "evidence of contact" is supplied when making the application.

Have you visited her in her country? Especially if not, maybe that is the next move.

John, thanks again for the reply. I have booked flights and got a VISA to visit her in the month of June, I have used almost all of my holiday quota for 2012/13 to do this and will be in Vietnam with her for the whole month.

By "Evidence of contact" do you mean emails/text messages/skype call logs?

Thank you so much for your advice it really is appreciated

By "Evidence of contact" do you mean emails/text messages/skype call logs?

Yes that sort of thing, also photos of the two of you together.

Thanks John, we have lots of photographs together.

I would like to start compiling our 'Evidence of contact' so that when we apply everything is organised, is there guidelines for this?

Thanks again for your help.

That subject comes up regularly on this board. Please use the search facility. You should find lots of help from those that have gone before you.

I found the list of documents needed, at the moment I am living with my mother a single parent in her own house. I am doing this in order to save a deposit for a house. Do you know if this classes as suitable accommodation? The house is big enough and I have permission from my mother for the short period I need to save.

Thanks

Even though the Tier 1 post-study work category has been closed, people who have a UK qualification are still able to transfer into the Tier 2 (General) category if they have a job offer paying over £20,000. Normally for Tier 2 employers have to demonstrate that there is no UK or EU resident who could do the job, but I believe this requirement is waived for people switching from the student category. I'm not sure whether your girlfriend would meet the requirements for this visa, particularly if her Tier 4 visa has expired, but it might be worth looking into if you decide not to go the marriage route.