huders2000

Hey folks,

Appreciate your time on this. I'll try to be concise:

- I'm British, my girlfriend is Russian
- Met 2+ years ago in China
- Spent over 1 year of that time outside of the UK traveling together.
- Almost always together (2 months apart once early on and only a week or two apart thereafter, but very seldom)
- We have a previous apartment rental contract in both our names for 6 months in Thailand
- 6 months in south America moving around but matching Visa stamps in our passports
- My partner has previously had two 6 months UK tourist visas granted - one each year. (We've been totally up front with UKBA about our relationship and have never had problems or broken the visas terms)
- Met each others families (I've been to Russia twice for a total of 2 - 3 months)
- My partner meets the financial and English languages requirements
- Shared bank account for 1 year 6 months, although with rather limited use


My questions are:

1. Will UKBA agree with us that this is a relationship that is materially similar to a marriage, despite the moving around. My concern is that they may perceive us as being too casual due to our traveling rather than simply living in one place.

2. We would like to carry on traveling and just begin to settle in the UK. So for half the year we'd both like to work in the UK and probably settle more permanently in a year or two. Will UKBA view that negatively. I understand there are limits as to how often you can leave in order to gain Citizenship (which isn't the priority right now).

My hope is that we can just keep renewing Partner Visas until such time that we want to stay in the UK for the required time limit to attain Citizenship.

Many thanks in advance for your feedback.

Best,

Paul

BritInParis

Sounds like a partner settlement visa is not what you're after if you plan to spend so much time outside of the UK. I would look at other options to bring your girlfriend in for the time you wish to spend and then apply for a partner visa when you're ready to settle permanently. If you wish to continue to travel then working in the EU for six months or more and then going down the Surinder Singh route would probably be your best bet.

huders2000

Thanks very much for the response. Seems very daft that I would have to use the Surinder Singh route for this. I've just Googled it and while we'd both love to work in Europe for a year or so. I'm uncomfortable with doing it for the explicit purpose of getting into the UK.

Is the Partner Settlement visa absolutely not for the sort of initial semi-permanent settlement we're after? If I just told them we want to settle permanently, but spent half the time out of the country would I not be able to extend or apply for a second one?

englishguygoinghome

I'd expect a few issues with getting a partner visa. Firstly - the rules say

with no reference to "akin to marriage" - that phrase is one I've only ever seen in EU regulations. I may well be missing something so feel free to point out if I'm wrong on that.

Secondly:
And finally the only way you could satisfy the financial requirements under this lifestyle would be to have £62,500 in the bank. If that's what you mean by your girlfriend fulfilling the requirements then that's great!

Otherwise I'd say Europe is the way to go

BritInParis

Settlement is just that - settlement. What you're described is short term periods of residence. Settlement is also being made increasingly difficult and hellishly expensive by HMG. Surinder Singh on the other hand will give you your girlfriend a five year residence permit for £50 automatically and then ILR after that. If you are planning to continue travelling together then it's a no brainer for me. Plenty of people do it for the explicit purpose of getting their other half into the UK - you on the other hand were planning to live together overseas anyway. Just need to make sure that's going to happen in an EEA country

huders2000

Thanks very much for the input guys. We had hoped to live and work in Europe for a while so I guess that suits us fine really.

Bit silly that something more convenient isn't available.

So, I understand that I could work in the EU with no problems. What would be the normal process to obtain a working visa for my girlfriend in the EU?

Thanks.

BritInParis

The government wants to reduce net immigration to appeal to Daily Mail readers and this is an easy way of doing it.

As for a visa for your girlfriend, it will impend entirely on which country you choose as each will have their own immigration policies. I'm not sure about Russians specifically but check out Germany. Their comparative good economic situation means that employers find it easier to sponsor non-EU citizens for visas.