Greetings!

Hello,
I just joined because I've been browsing through the topics and have about a million questions about the very complicated and confusing visa process and was hoping to find someone here who can give me the answers I so desperately seek. I am currently living in Florida but would really like to move to England to be with my boyfriend. My problem is that I have no idea which visa I'm supposed to apply for. Every time I think I have it figured out I find more information telling me that it's not the correct form I'm looking into. Any and all help and or advice will be greatly appreciated. Please forgive me if this is not the correct spot to post this particular topic. I'm just very desperate for help in this matter.

Julie

Is your boyfriend a UK citizen?  Unfortunately there is no visa that you can apply for that will allow you to move over to the UK to be with him unless you are willing to get married.  The other option would be to do a full-time degree program in a UK university.

He is a UK citizen. Is there a visa that will allow me to move to the UK at all? I'm too old for a student visa and don't want to go back to school anyway. Is there a residency visa of some sort?

No, there isn't.  The only option is for you to marry.

But don't people move to the UK without having to get married? There has too be a way to do it.

They get student visas or work visas... or they discover that they don't qualify for a visa and therefore cannot move to the UK.

Do UKBA (or whatever they're called this week) still do unmarried partner visas? I had one after my post-graduate student visa ended. My now-husband and I had to show that we had been living together for two years (bank statements, council tax bills, rental agreement on our house, etc) plus proof of income for both of us (and I suspect the requirements have gotten tougher since we did it). Of course, if you've been living in separate countries for the whole of your relationship, this isn't an option.

You could get engaged and get a fiancé visa, but then you have to get married pretty soon after (6 months?), so probably not worth the added expense.

You can't be "too old" for a student visa. The eligibility is based on your course and not your age. I started my MA when I was 31 and still had a student visa. I also had a student railcard and a student Oyster card; boy do I miss them!

Hello,
I just joined because I've been browsing through the topics and have about a million questions about the very complicated and confusing visa process and was hoping to find someone here who can give me the answers I so desperately seek. I am currently living in Florida but would really like to move to England to be with my boyfriend. My problem is that I have no idea which visa I'm supposed to apply for. Every time I think I have it figured out I find more information telling me that it's not the correct form I'm looking into. Any and all help and or advice will be greatly appreciated. Please forgive me if this is not the correct spot to post this particular topic. I'm just very desperate for help in this matter.

Julie

Unfortunately, it's marriage or nothing, unless you have what immigration considers another good reason to be there.  My husband came to the US on a student visa, then met me and we fell in love.  Neither one of us believed in marriage as an institution, as we aren't religious, but we knew we wanted to spend our life together and have children, and it wasn't possible without being married. 

I think maybe yall need to evaluate what you really want.  I'm not trying to be harsh, but if you are willing to move to a foreign country to be with him, isn't he worth marrying??  That was what made the decision for me.  We had time, as he was only a couple of months into his Master's degree here when we met, but when we were living together and agonizing that day we knew would come when his visa expired, it really was an easy decision.

Does he not want to get married? I know it sucks to make these permanent life changing decisions from two different continents, and probably much sooner than you'd normally have to in a standard relationship, but that's life and the law, unfortunately.