Marriage in UK broken down

Hey all,
Emailing from the states, I have a lifelong friend in the UK with a big big problem, and have been asked for help.  I felt it might be a common thing but cannot find any legal advice anyplace on the www.

She emigrated from New York to live in the UK as a fiancee of a Briton, married within the six months allowed, but now things have gone very sour and her husband is cold to their relationship.   She does not want and cannot stay in there with him for nearly two years to get the ILR, but doesnt want to leave the UK and cant afford to go home anyway.  She is desperately worried she will be deported if she files for divorce - as the spouse visa would be then invalid - and has not told her parents or friends (only I), or immigration.  There is no domestic violence AFAIK.  She has many friends over there and thinks she may have met someone else she could live with, still without claiming needing any 'benefits'.   What is the position?  Can I tell her to seek advice, will she be asked to leave?  Is there a period she can stay over there while filing for divorce?  If they separate but do not divorce, does that change the situation?  Can she waive the spouse visa and get a visitor visa and work permit while still there?

Or, if she does leave and come back over here, will it be easy to return back there, what are the timescales and how likely is it that any applications to return (even second applications for fiance visas) will be successful?

Any advice would be gratefully received and passed on to my friend.  She is at her wits end!
Catherine

Hi Catherine
From what I know, for her to continue living in the UK under her current visa then her and her husband need to be together and live together ,they can not live apart even if its a seperation and not a divorce. Same as if you are here on a work visa you can't lose your job,if you do you have to leave the UK.
  Also she can't change from spousal visa to visiting visa while still in the UK she needs to go through immigration again. For a work permit then she needs to go through the consulate and apply for that outside the UK I believe. The best thing to do is for her to contact the consulate in UK & explain her situation, if she needs to be deported then thats what will happen. If she stays here while breaking immigration rules that will only be hard on her in the future. Also if she leaves here and applies for a another fiance visa with ANOTHER person, I don't think that will look too good in the consulates eyes and it could quite possibly raise some eyebrows and questions. Maybe her and her husband could get some counsling to help?

But I think Garry will be best to answer this, he knows more about these situations then anyone

Yep I think Engalnd's Yank is right on all counts - to change to another kind of visa she will need to return to the US and apply from there.  To get a work visa, the employer has to show there is no UK or EU resident who can do the job - I think they have to show they've advertisied for 4 weeks or something.  Does your friend have a job here already? if yes she might want to ask her current employer if they can sponsor her. If she's worked there for a while and knows the job inside out they might be able to make a case to keep her on a work visa rather than have to take on a total newbie.

Or, if she does leave and come back over here, will it be easy to return back there, what are the timescales and how likely is it that any applications to return (even second applications for fiance visas) will be successful?

Any advice would be gratefully received and passed on to my friend.  She is at her wits end!
Catherine

The general category is called Curtailment, and it's covered in HC395 and in Chapter 8 of the IDI's.  They won't issue a curtailment if there's less than 1 month remaining on the LLR, but otherwise they will - because most of the time she's been shopped by her ex.  It's a nasty business, and a nightmare when there's children involved.

In my experience - which I hope to be a specialist in Curtainment - it can be forestalled if the wife insists that the separation is temporary and that there is progress being made towards reconciliation.  It needs to be pretty much true because if they think she's lying, they will issue an AR on the spot.  And that's bad.  Worse than curtailment.

Switching to a work permit is possible - especially if there's a relationship with the employer already in place, but there's a minefield of pitfalls affecting the outcome.   Mostly because going that route is an admission that she's aware that her marriage has premanently broken down - and she needs to clear the EU hurdles in addition to credibility hurdles.  It's high risk casework for the applicant and the sponsor.  

Crazy enough, and in this crazy world, switching to a new partner is pretty common.  Yes, it requires leaving the UK to submit the application.   They don't hold it against you if your nose is clean and your motives are transparent.   I helped a Russian woman who was curtailed three times (count 'em 3 times) as a fiance because the men were such twits.  Now she's happily married in a little village north of Birminham.  

It's a lot more common than people think.  Hope that helps.

Catherine, it's much better if your friend represents herself in the forum hereafter.