Is it worth applying for a fiance visa or will it be refused

[Ariadne]

I have numerous reasons I think that it would be refused, but I am really fed up of waiting, lonely and miserable and I have to do something before I go nuts.

Here's just the start of it, I lived in Japan for 4 years, was married there but my marriage broke down and I met somebody else, an American. This was two years ago. Last August I came back to the UK.

My divorce only went through in December and the economic climate has meant getting down a job is hard. I am on a 6 month contract right now but it is only part time and only £800 a month. I own my own business that pays a furthur £800 or so a month. It is stable and an ongoing thing based on work I did in Japan. However I have paid no taxes on it in the UK as yet. I only registered it in the UK in February. So I don't have the excruciatingly unfair 3 years of tax returns (who wants to wait 3 MORE years) and I'm guessing my extra wages won't be counted.

My P60 only mentions £300 or so paid for the tax year up til April because I only started the job in late March. But I'm sick, sick SICK of waiting. I have funds enough and my partner has funds enough to afford 3 visits a year. We spend thousands on plane fares so don't have much savings at all. I live with my parents at the moment because I know a fiance visa will more likely go through if they cite they will act as cosponsors. The infuriating thing is that with wages of £1600 a month in a cheap northern town I don't technically need cosponsors. I just don't know if they'll even factor my business as earnings. Yet I don't qualify for things like tax credits and am not claiming them.

I am creased up with worry over factors like my previously being married to stay in a (different) country hurting my application, although I am a British citizen.

I have credit cards with credit to the tune of £15K which are all paid up. Will stuff like this be counted? I mean if I needed money I could rely on those. Would putting 6K in the bank (I think if you have this, you cannot claim any benefits) be a help?

I was going to wait for 3 pay slips then chance it but am I effectively doomed? I'm s completely sick of waiting. My partner went home after the last visit this weekend and I'm miserable. I have been waiting for some kind of chance for 2 years now. My last plan was to study in the states but the crash of the value of the pound wrecked any hope of saving the money to get a student visa.

Please don't suggest my going to live in the states, it is not an option. Fiance is still in education and will be continuing it here, we cannot afford the 10K a year a UK uni charges a foreign student so OU+a fiance visa, eventually marriage visa is the plan.

[Ariadne]

Does anyone have any advice at all?

Is it advisable to apply after 6 months of employment? I really don't want to. I read that 3 months was the minimum. I'm only on a 6 month contract and there is obviously a risk of losing the job after that. There always is and I don't know how in this climate the government expects employment to another party to be any more stable than self employment. Obviously that would mean I could not apply for a spouse visa later but it would least give us 6 months together if the fiance visa went through. And it would bolster any future applications if we had proof of living together.

I could expand my business but I do not want to, preferring to do half employment on a contract and half self employment and the reasoning for this is obviously the highly unfair 3 years tax returns they want for self employed people vs only 3-6 months of payslips for those working for another party. It boggles the mind that were I to work for a self employed person in a small business I'd only need the 3 months proof but just owning the business means I need 3 years.

The other stupid thing I have done is, not having a habit of photo taking I only have one picture of us together. There are lots of proof of visits stamped in his passport and mine, plus travel tickets for journeys taken together and hotel receipts - trouble is they never put both your names on these, only the name booking the ticket.

My other serious problem is that up until I was 28 I was on hefty disability benefits. I am still eligible and I don't claim, instead I battle through work trying to act normal despite a diagnosis of high functioning autism and a brain missing considerable functioning in the temporal lobes. And I feel somewhat forced to do so given the government's stance on "claiming public funds."

I'm quite miserable and I really need some advice.

Also quite considerably angry at what I see to be an unfair situation of my sister having lived in my parents' home with her husband for years yet the government don't consider it suitable for me to do so on a spouse visa. The rules are extremely unfair and obviously slanted to make it nigh on impossible to ever bring anyone here.

[batleykhan]

Hi

Seeing you are not getting a response from some one, I will let you have my two penneth of say regarding your post.

first of all I sympathise with your disability, as I have a close friend who is suffering from the same as you, and it is not nice.

Getting to your problem.

I know you are over 21, but is your fiance the same. If not then you cant apply till she is 21 and over.

If she is 21 then you can either apply as a fiance.

In order for her to get the visa, you have to meet the criteria in the link below
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/chapter13/

The biggest problem that you are going to face is "Can you support, miantain and accomdadte your fiance without recourse to public funds?.

You can not unfortunately get your parents to bail you out as the law doesnt now allow third party finacial support( but you can accomdation wise).

The miinimum amount the Rules say you need to live on is what a couple might get in income support benefits ( I think around £100+ mark ).

The other problems that might be against you is that you have already been married and divorced in a foreign country. Furthermore your fincail sittuation doesnt sound that good( but might just do) if you can provide evidence of it.

dont what ever you do is to put a lump sum of money just before you make an application without proof as to where it has come from.

You will also need a letter from your employer satating what you do, how many hours you work and how much you earn. If you are going to back it with your self employed business side, you will need to show how much you are earning from it ( going to be difficult).

As regards photo and the meeting between your girlfriend, that is the least of your problem. One photo of you is enough, although if you chat to her via email/phone, you need to keep this as evidence

Read the above link and come back and let us know whether you can meet all the requirements.

Good luck