Student and Fiancee...

Hi there,

I have another query for you guys - since you seem to be so knowledgeable and helpful...

I am a UK Citizen living in the UK.  I have an American girlfriend who is currently living over there.  She wants to move over here to study for 2 years starting September 2004.  From what I've seen the process seems to be pretty simple - apply to the uni, then go for the Visa.  However, what I'm wondering is will the fact that she's my girlfriend complicate things?  Actually it's pretty likely that we'll be engaged by then.  The rules (about work, time allowed in the country etc) are quite different for the fiancee and student Visas.  Does anyone have any experience of this?  Would they (immigration) be annoyed if she came here as a student and we ended up getting married  (knowing now that this is quite likely).  I did phone the INEB (is that right?) about it, and they said they couldn't see a problem with it, but I felt like the woman I spoke to didn't quite understand what I was saying, and I've also seen a lot of posts here with people having many difficulties with the whole fiancee/marriage Visa thing.

Anyway... any help/advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

Pete

Hi Pete,

You'll need to decide which visa it is she wants to come over on. You're right that there are very different rules for each of them.  

If she applies for a student visa, she needn't mention anything about having a boyfriend in the UK.  It would be pretty irrelevant.  Denalyia did things this way in fact.  She might be able to advise better on that aspect of this.

If she applies for a student visa and you then end up marrying in the UK, be aware that a trip back to the US to get a settlement visa will be required.  You cannot get married here on anything other than a fiancee visa without going back to the US to apply for a settlement visa.  

Also good to remember about the fiancee visa, if you chose to go that route, is that she won't be able to work on it.  

So there are pluses and minuses to both really.  You'll have to decide together what the best thing is for you and your situation.

Hope that helps!  Good luck!