My girlfriend could leave me...

Me and my girlfriend have been dating for 2 years and are very much in love, we are not married yet, and she is a "foreingner" from Trinidad, I am a British citizen. so she will have to go back next year, cos her visa working holiday runs out!

Apart from marrying the girl, what other options does anyone suggest she takes for staying in the country? I have suggested for her to search jobs that are willing to give her a work permit, or we could get married next year, but we both feel this is not a reason to get married.

I wont marry her for her to stay here, but I am really stuck for other solutions as to make her stay, apart from finding her a job where her future employer will sort her out with a permit?

any other suggestion people?

How long have the two of you been living together? (If indeed you live together at all.)

Once the two of you have lived together for two years or more it would be possible to apply for an Unmarried Partners Visa.

we've only been dating for 2 years, not living together though.

What other options do we have?

We will only marry for the right reasons - LOVE! She is my angel!

But what options can she take to stay here longer?

Let us get back to basics...if you think that you are really madly in love with each other and you would like to be together - then why not marry?

She may not be in a profession for which a WP can be easily obtained!

we will get married, but not yet.

Marriage is not the answer for her to stay here. I am trying to find ways of her to stay here maybe another 3 years. She is currently working 20 hours a week, and is doing a degree level course, JUST to stay in the country. After the course finishes, she will have little options to stay in the country...

I would like to know if anyone knows what options my girlfriend has, AFTER she finishes her degree style course, next september. She has been in UK for 4 years.

Will she have to go back home?

Can she find work where someone will give her a work permit, if so, for how long?

IMHO no one can comment on the suitability/ success or otherwise of her continuing to remain in the UK in an 'employment' immigration category without ascertaining as a minimum:

1. Her current and anticipated educational qualifications with dates as applicable.

2. Her work experience to date vis a vis relevance to the sought profession, income earned and level pursuant to classification by the department of skills and education i.e. NVQ 1, 2 , degree etc.

3. As things stand she may be eligible for a WP which must be employed for by a bonafide UK employer with a bonafide vacancy as a minimum. It is easier to get employment authorisation as a degree holder as this increases your chance of a company wanting you enough to apply for a WP. You do not give her age but I presume she may not be able to meet the requirements of the HSMP scheme vis a vis work experience and income on the Tier 1/A group of countries matrix (UK, US etc).

Likewise not that answers pertaining to ability to remain in the UK indefinitley pursuant to employment authorisation are somewhat premature given the government intends to modify this scheme as part of its 5 yr immigration plan. This in turn hinges on them winning the forthcoming elections...politics is a funny (and nasty) business so who knows?

All in all your query does not give enough specifics to give you a specific answer.

I trust that helps

Krazyhorse posted :-

We will only marry for the right reasons - LOVE! She is my angel!

I totally agree with Chess, if the two of you are that much in love, and you want to continue to see each other, marriage seems the obvious answer.

But if the two of you decide to go down that route then don't leave it too long. Your gf is a non-EEA citizen and therefore, under legislation which came into force on 1st February 2005, she either needs one of certain types of visas, which she does not have, or needs permission from the Home Office to give the necessary Notice of Intention to Marry. The point is this .... she cannot apply for that permission unless more than three months are left on her current visa. So if, on reflection, the two of you do plan to get married, start the process of applying for the necessary Home Office permission no later than say six months before your gf's current visa expires.

thanks for all your advice.

My girlfriend is 31 by the way. This is all very bad timing, because, She finishes her degree this educational yr, in september i think.

It's bad timing cos, its crunch time this september, and the clock is ticking!!!

Krazyhorse,

This post is to be re-located in the family immigration forum no later than Wednesday, 27 April 2005. It would be helpful if you confirm reading this prior to the moving.