Bringing Russian Girlfriend to Visit UK

[SeedmasterStu]

Hey Guys,

Recently went to Russia to meet a Russian girl I'd been speaking to for a while, went very well, so now I wish to bring her to England, I had absolutely no issues getting my visa for Russia, seems to be more difficult for us to do it the opposite way.

She has spoken to some visa agencies, she has been told she will be refused because she hasn't traveled outside of Russia before, she does not own her own property (her parents own her flat) and that she won't be paying for her stay with me (I will)

I spoke to the UK visa office and was told what she had been told wasn't right, I would be able to sponsor her (with proof of income/savings) and another visa agency she spoke to said I can't do that.

I think the agencies she has been speaking to will help her with all her documents and complete forms in English for a fee, but I think I will just help her with it because we don't need paid help.

From researching the Internet it seems that I will be able to prove I can house/pay for her and because she has accommodation and a job in Russia shows she should return, there are more reasons she has to go back aswell.

I'm going to make some more phone calls to officials tomorrow, but any input from anyone would be nice? She wants to come for 1 month.

Thanks in Advance.

Stuart

[Casa]

The biggest hurdle will be submitting strong evidence to show she will return to Russia without overstaying her visitor visa.

[Wanderer]

Best if you arrange for her to get a Schengen visa and meet in say Cyprus or Malta (both amenable to Russians) to prove she has a history of obeying the terms of her visa.

Without that I think you might struggle for a UK visa given the lack of reasons to return. UKVI will assume the worst case scenario, be sure of that.

I'm in Russia now, covered in Mosquito bites, mnogo komarov......

[SeedmasterStu]

I think I'm going to speak to the Russian branch friday see what they say...If its worth applying then we will...if not will have to go abroad together, have discussed this...but hope we can put a good case across.

Russian mosquitoes seemed to love the taste of me :\

[Casa]

Check out Surinder Singh route to see if this would be a route to the UK that would suit you both.
https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/surinder-singh

[SeedmasterStu]

checked Surinder Singh route mate, I dont think we will need this.

I have spoken to the British embassy in Russia and Visa office based in UK, they said everything should be fine if I can give them 6 months of payslips to prove I can support her, reasons for her to return, proof of accommodation etc...but my girlfriend thinks all she needs to prove she can support her stay is something like this from her bank (she plans to have 150000 rubles in her account) to show she can support herself, but to me this type of letter looks very...well bad, and they state you should show them 6 months of statements (or payslips) anyone have any idea on if this type of document is worth anything? (this is an example)

[Wanderer]

Pretty sure they want to see proper statements as they need to see the flow of money, i.e. no sudden huge deposits. There was a common trick of borrowing a huge sum for a few weeks and giving it back - just to show a high balance temporarily. UKVI are wise to that.

[SeedmasterStu]

Exactly what I've told her...

[Wanderer]

Exactly what I've told her...

As my partner of 12 years is Russian I can only advise you to bang your head against the nearest wall, physical pain is much more liberating than mental torture....