Visa Success At Last!

[goji]

Brad's advice looks good. Using other forums to learn what other people have done is always a good idea.
A bit of research on my idea of getting married in the Shengen zone could be worth it too (~14 months to go).

As it happens, the Thai masseur I've occasionally visited over the last couple of years was in the UK to "study English", with the visa having been arranged by his boyfriend. I gather he successfully had the visa renewed, however the Thai lad went home for a holiday & seems in no hurry to return.

Over the years, I've also visited several Thai masseurs in Berlin & every single one of them came over to live with a boyfriend several years earlier (& no longer lives with the bf). So it has been done in Germany.

Not advising anyone else here, but in the unlikely event that I were ever to do that, a pre-nup would be in place. Incidentally, a friend of mine was advised by his divorce lawyer to have a pre-cohab agreement in place before moving his prospective partner in. Whether that is good advice, or to generate more legal feees, I have no idea.

[Marsilius]

And, what with Brexit in the offing, what better time is there to relocate than now?

[MiniMee]

Why bother searching for a third country, as some others have advised above, when the the UK offers a fiancé/fiancée visa specifically for betrothed intending to get hitched within 6 months.

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

But as Brad points out, you’ll have to stump up the cash to prove financial stability too, and stop whining about it.

[scottish-guy]

It's not a matter of "whining" MiniMee, it's a matter of finding the best solution to a fairly complex problem.

Nor is is a matter of "stumping up" money (although you'll have noted there's a £993 non-refundable application fee with absolutely no guarantee of success).

[MiniMee]

I see. Nevertheless, the UK fiancé/fiancée visa seems to be the simplest solution, doesn’t it?

[scottish-guy]

Yes - on the surface - but I'm getting conflicting info from the Immigration lawyer to the effect that it has to be applied for outside the UK whereas the website suggests you can apply whilst IN the UK as long as you have 28 days left on your existing visa.

So i'll need to get clarification

[Nirish guy]

Yes - on the surface - but I'm getting conflicting info from the Immigration lawyer to the effect that it has to be applied for outside the UK whereas the website suggests you can apply whilst IN the UK as long as you have 28 days left on your existing visa.

From general info that I've read re that over the year I believe that your solicitor is correct - well, both opinions are correct HOWEVER whilst you CAN technically apply for a marriage visa whilst here in the UK on a Tourist Visa and there's nothing that immigration can do to stop that and in fact you could even get married whilst here, that doesn't apparently give your spouse an automatic right to reside here with you and apparently if immigration have seen that you've tried to use that particular loop hole to try and circumvent their preferred system they take a very dim view of it and do then go out of their way then to refuse your spouse or make life a LOT more difficult for then in general.

Their advice is very clear I believe re this in that they say you should ( MUST) return to your own Country and apply for the marriage visa FROM THERE and wait for their normal processes to follow and you should not use the Tourist visa they kindly granted you ( especially if a first issue one) to then try and play smart with them.

So I think your solicitor is spot on in this regard.

[goji]

Is your Vietnamese friend still braving the Scottish winter ?

If so, well done to him. Even the English winter is bad enough right now.

[gerefan2]

Is your Vietnamese friend still braving the Scottish winter ?

If so, well done to him. Even the English winter is bad enough right now.

Haha...and it’s just got a lot worse! Is he impressed?!

[scottish-guy]

He loves the snow in itself but is a little disappointed by the restrictions it causes.

This weekend we are off to Ben Nevis area for a few days and he is going to have a ski-ing lesson or two - that's assuming I can get the car out of my driveway tomorrow!!