newpin

Hello, Any advice welcome on this situation.
A friend of mine, a Taiwanese lady has visited the UK on a tourist visa 4 times for purposes of tourism - visiting London, Yorkshire and meeting British boyfriend in Manchester who she met on one of her visits here.
She has always provided enough funds from own income, has never overstayed visa or participated in any criminal activity etc. However, last time arrival at London Heathrow, she was stopped by unpleasant immigration officer and warned she should not be staying on a tourist visa and might not be permitted further entry to the UK on future visits unless she changes to a fiance visa. As weren't quite ready for this decision, was wondering if immigration officer was within rights to say that?
Previous visits via manchester airport have been fine with the immigration officials. She is wondering what to do next?
Could she be refused on next entry?
And is there any advice to get around this situation?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

SanDiegogirl

Immigration official is well within his rights to question the entry of any non UK citizen into the UK.

Maybe she has visited for lengthy periods (4 months +) on each of the 4 occasions and the official thought she was "living" too much in the UK?

She could be refused entry next time. When was she last in the UK and for how long?

newpin

Thanks for the answer.
She last came for about 5 months from sep 2014- feb 2015.
During this time she brought ample funds and made several trips around the uk (London, Yorkshire etc) while based at boyfriend's house.

Are there any other options for us? What is the way forward? Obviously we want to see each other again but don't quite feel ready for the fiance visa.

Any advice much appreciated.

SanDiegogirl

Personally I would not apply for another visitor visa until Feb 2016. That will cover the 6 months in 12 rule of thumb; however, since she has a 'mark' on her record she can expect some questioning.

Shorter visits would be advisable. She obviously has no strong ties to Taiwan having been able to spend 5 months at a time in the UK.

No other options, unless she wants to study, work or invest in the UK and obtain the relevant visa.

Boyfriend could always visit her of course

newpin

Thank you very much for your points SanDiegogirl
What you say makes sense. Perhaps waiting a bit longer would be wise.

Would also be interested to hear anyone else with similar experiences / suggestions.

Cheers

noogin87

Also, in my experience, the officers in Heathrow have always been nasty pieces of work. They've always given my wife trouble when coming to the UK for a tourist visa, however whenever we enter via Glasgow airport they couldn't be nicer. They must just see a lot of shit in Heathrow that makes them jaded.