Advice on options for girlfriend visit - Colombian citizen

Firstly thanks to all the people that take the time to give advice on this forum - it's been a very useful source of information so far in researching our byzantine UK visa system.

Myself and my girlfriend are currently trying to work out the best way for her to visit me in the UK, ideally for a few months. We met 5 years ago in Colombia, and have stayed in touch online, with me visiting her in Colombia twice. We've entered into the dreaded long distance relationship in the last year with daily video calls etc, and she has spent the last few months traveling in schengen countries and Turkey, where I've visited her regularly.

We innocently thought she'd be able to apply for a UK visitor visa and stay with me for a few months, but have since realised this is unlikely. Before 2019 she had only made one trip to Italy (although this was as an international representative of the Red Cross), although by August 2020 she will have visited 7 or 8 European countries and 4/5 in Latin America as we continue to meet up in third countries.

However this obviously means her ties to home will appear weaker than before, when she was doing a mixture of work and volunteering with the Red Cross - although she could still get a written character reference from a senior figure in the Colombian Red Cross.

Her financial situation is also not straightforward. She shares ownership of 2 apartments with her brothers, from which she gets rental income which she lives on. She has only had a bank account for 6 months, which receives regular monthly rent payments via her brother. She does have an accountant who can draw up a financial statement for her, but there seems to be plenty of room for immigration officers to pick holes in this situation.

In this context, we're looking for advice on whether it's worth her applying for a standard visitor visa to visit me and my family (I guess only for 2 or 3 weeks) or possibly enrolling in an English language course for 2 or 3 months and applying for a short term study visa, where I would provide accommodation and support.

My work circumstances and our well documented relationship history mean a spouse visa should be a formality should we get married, but we are pretty desperate to find a way for her to visit the UK first, even if just for a couple of weeks. Ideally we could find a way to live together for a few months before committing to marriage, but it wouldn't make sense to leave my job and move to Colombia /a third country, as it would make any future spouse visa application more difficult.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hello

Often when the person has a partner in the UK, the visitor visa is refused on the basis "we are no satisfied that you are genuine visitor".

The perfect visitor should have no ties at all with the UK and strong ties to his/her home country.

The fact that she has a partner in the UK is often seen as having a strong tie in the UK and an incentive not to leave at the end of the visitor visa.

Also, they don't like a person using a visitor visa for business or enter into a family life. For them, visitor is to be understood in the most restrictive sense of the world: you talk a selfie in front of the Big Ben and you go home.

Only a marriage can help you in getting your relationship recognised for the purpose of immigration.