Shenzhen Don

Hi guys,

I'm a new user here, specifically with a few questions regarding my situation. I'm sure you get a lot of people asking for advice so I apologise if these questions have been asked many times before.

I am a British national currently living in the UK. My girlfriend is Chinese and has returned to China in the past 2 months because her UK student visa just ran out. Neither of us particularly want to live in China and I imagine me planning to move there would suffer some visa problems.

I work but don't earn anything near the £18,500 required. I also dont have enough money in my bank to meet the requirement for savings and the additional money I need because I don't earn £18,500.

At the moment so that we can be together we are planning on going down the following route;

• My parents are willing to transfer enough money into my account so I meet the savings requirement (including the added difference between £18,500 and my wage multiplied by 2.5).

• I plan on going to China for a long holiday. This will either involve me quitting my job and reapplying for it when I come back (My manager has been really supportive of me and says I can have my job back if I do this) or getting a "career break" from my job if my manager can persuade HR to allow me to do this.

• Whilst in China me and my girlfriend plan on getting married.

• Once I am back in the UK, after having had my parents money in my account for over 6 months, we plan on applying for her spouse visa here.

My following question that I hope you can help me with are as follows;

1. Is borrowing money from my parents and putting it into my account going to cause a problem? Can they make an issue out of the fact that 6 months before applying for the visa I obtained a large sum of money into my accounts?

2. Is there any rule on having to have been married for a certain length of time before applying?

3. If I do have to quit my job and reapply would this be an issue? Is there any rule on how long you need to have been in the job that you are using to meet the financial requirement? I work part-time, would this be an issue (I plan on going full time anyway)? Would a "career break" have any effect on me meeting this requirement?

4. If we did get her the visa and gave the money back to my parents for them to transfer it back to me after 2.5 years when we re-apply, is this likely to cause a problem or do you simply have to have that amount of money in your account for 6 months, full stop?

5. Is there any thing else I should be warned of?

I hope you can help clarify these points for me. I would be very grateful for any replies.

Thanks guys,

BritInParis

No, it is perfectly acceptable to do this but it cannot be a loan, only a gift. You or your parents shouldn't expect it to be repaid.

No. However you should include a statement each describing your relationship to date and evidence to support your claims to ensure the ECO doesn't think you are in a sham marriage.

If you are planning on leaving your job to go to China on extended holiday then you'll need the full £62,500 to meet the savings requirement.

See answer to Q1.

Marrying in China may cause you problems in regarding to translations and apostilles. The FCO has ended the service they previously offered where you could deposit your foreign marriage certificate with the General Register Office.

Shenzhen Don

Thank you,

That possibly ruins my plans then.

Does anyone know how they would calculate my earnings if I was employed for the full 6 months but for part of it my employer let me have a career break. So I'm still employed but having an extended holiday without pay?

I may have to look at the surinder Singh route but that comes with its own issues

not2old

my suggestion with what you have posted that you are trying to accomplish through gift/borrow money, meeting the financial criteria, a work break, time away in China, then getting married over there is complicated.

The SS route might be best for you. On a marriage in China, I'm thinking you'd need to do it right, have translations certified... the usual cross the 'T's' & dot the 'i's'

on the SS

Surinder Singh : British Expat Wiki

Some folks on BE have reportedly done this either through Ireland or Malta

Good luck with your plans

HKG3

Shenzhen Don

You may be able to overcome the above problem by marrying in Hong Kong. Hong Kong marriage certificates are in Chinese and English. Please see link below -

GovHK: Registering a Marriage

Wish you the best of luck.

Shenzhen Don

Thanks very much for that.

BritInParis

I think your plan is doable but you just need to be smarter about the timing.

Go to China as planned, get married around two weeks later, and in Hong Kong for preference, and then return to Shenzen to lodge your visa application. The visa processing times if applying from Shenzhen can take anywhere between two to eight weeks and once the visa was issued your then-wife would have a maximum of three months to enter the UK without it adversely affecting her next application in 2.5 years time for FLR. This should give you at least four months in China before you need to return together to the UK.

I would however look into the visa requirements for China and the requirements for a non-resident British and Chinese couple to marry in Hong Kong.

Shenzhen Don

Thanks guys, there's a lot to think about and obviously not any easy route.

I'm going to have to take a risk either way.

Shenzhen Don

The problem with this is that I need the money in my account for 6 months and (it's not there yet) before I apply. I also need to be earning what I'm earning now during those 6 months or I need even more money to meet the requirements.

BritInParis

Then you'll need to either wait and work another six months before going to China to get married or come up with £62,500 to meet the financial requirement using savings only. I think you need to be a little bit more flexible if you want to make this happen.