tariqbutt

My girlfriend is Japanese and is currently a student here in the UK. I am an Irish citizen. She has 1 year left on her visa (ends around Oct 2015). We are trying to figure out how she will be able to stay in the UK once she finishes her degree here.

A couple of ideas I have had:

1. We get married. I assume this would mean she could stay indefinitely as the wife of EU citizen? This is a little extreme though as we haven’t been going out very long and I don’t think either of us are ready for marriage.
2. She applies for the Work and Holiday visa? Is this easy for Japanese girls to get? Is there any restriction considering she has already lived here (although she has never worked here and she has not got that visa before). Is there a limited number of these per year or if she applies in time would she be sure of getting it? When would she need to apply?

Any other ideas? Is there any kind of “relationship visa”? We have only been going out a few months though and we don’t live together.

formula

If she meets the critera then she can apply. She can only have the visa once; and she hasn't already had it. The UK will treat males and females equally. There are restriction on numbers for each country.

You can apply for a Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa if you’re aged 18 to 30 and you’re from:

Australia
Canada
Japan
Monaco
New Zealand
Hong Kong
Republic of Korea
Taiwan

You can also apply if you’re 18 to 30 and a:

British overseas citizen
British overseas territories citizen
British national (overseas)

You can’t apply if you have:

children who live with you
children you’re financially responsible for
already been in the UK under the scheme or in the former ‘working holidaymaker’ category

Money

You must have £1,890 in savings.


https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility/eligibility

The first page for that visa
https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility/overview

formula

There is no girlfriend/boyfriend visa.

Apart from the Tier 5 Youth visa I just posted about, can she find a sponsor willing to sponsor her for a work visa, Tier 2 (General)? It will have to be a graduate level job on a graduate wage.

The Tier 5 youth visa seems to be the best option for her as she has no way of knowing how long you two will be together and she may wish to stay in the UK for a while. If she wants to remain in the UK, then the Tier 2 General will be her best option if she can find a sponsor.

tariqbutt

Thank you for the info. Would she have to return to japan in order to apply for the working holiday visa? How soon could she return assuming she went back in Oct 2015 when her current visa expires?

tariqbutt

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