Specific Fiance visa questions + alternatives. HELP!

Hi, I'm new, I hope you will indulge me...

I am a 20 year old Music student currently studying at university.
I met my g/f on the internet aproximately 8 years ago. We began to have a serious relationship, all be it online, around 18 months or so ago.
We have as yet to meet. However, I have scores of emails saved over the past 3 years and we have exchanged 'phone calls for the last few months.
She is currently living in michigan, America with her mother.
I live in england with my parents in the summer and study at a welsh university for the remaining 8 months of the year.
We wish to be together and get married.
I have been reading these boards and various websites diligently over the last 10 days in the hope of finding a way to get my g/f over here.

It is our intention for her to come over to england at some point next year to stay with me over the summer on a visitors visa.
She is currently putting aside some savings such that she can prove she has money to support herself. I, being a university student have no such ability to support her. My parents are quite happy to support her entirely during her stay. To this end, I believe that the financial aspect is covered for her visit.

The reason she has not come over here sooner is that 2 years ago she was involved in a fatal car crash. She recieved a 5 year suspended sentence and 1 years probation. She is currently just over 3 months through her probation period. A condition of said probation is that she is not allowed to leave the state, let alone the country. As such she currently has no passport. She is, however, making double payments on her sentence so that her probation officer can terminate the probation early.

So, after that rather long winded opening, my questions are as follows:

1) In order to apply for a fiance visa one of the terms is that we must have met. If when she visits it turns out we get on as well in person as we do now, and I ask her to marry me, and she accepts, we would then be engaged.
She must return to the USA at the end of her visitors visa. This is without question. However, would we then be eligable in theory to apply for a fiance visa on the principal that we are engaged?

2) Would the sponsor of her fiance visa have to be me?
As I have stated, I am a student and am in debt so obviously would not be able to support her as she would be unable to work. My stepfather, however would be in a position to offer financial security. Would he be able to write a letter stating that he is prepared to support us both whilst she is here on a fiance visa?
He has no criminal convictions. He retired from a managerial position from an international electronics company around 5 years ago, at which point he was earning circa £50k pa. He is now a technition at a secondary school to give him something to do in the day whilst also drawing his company pension.
Space in the house is not an issue there are only three bedrooms but there are also very large downstairs rooms with 5 people staying the house including my g/f if the application were to be succesful.

My g/f is 20 years old and an american citizen from birth.

How successful is the above likely to be? Also, are there any further suggestions as to other options that I could investigate to get my girlfriend here?

Thankyou in advance for any help / advice / comments that may be offered.

Regards,

-JC.

To be honest mate I think your jumping the gun a bit. What have is a penpal, virtual relationships aren't like real relationships so my advice would be to visit her in the US and take it from there.

In any case, you wouldn't get a fiancee visa without meeting, and it doesn't look good for her for a tourist visa either with a criminal conviction like that.

Another important issue is money, and having a foriegn partner myself I can atest you need a lot of it. Flights, international calls, visa fees, FLR fees, ILR fees, all mount up, i reckon 15k so far and more to come....

1) Yes, Fiancee visa is the correct one, as you know you can't change from VV to FV incountry so she'd have to go home and appliy. So more flights and 260 quid I think for the visa.

2) Think sponsor can be anyone.

I'd wait for others to chip in, but I'd have thought the criminal conviction will be a major stumbling block.

Good luck, you'll need it but please don't rush into things, eight years chatting on internet counts for practiaclly nothing until u meet face to face.

Wanderer wrote:please don't rush into things, eight years chatting on internet counts for practiaclly nothing until u meet face to face.

Not sounding to be rude but I wonder how can one term a relation to be serious without having met the person as yet....

I would repeat the same as the earlier poster, don't rush until you meet the person face to face and get to know her more....

JC,

Basically, her conviction could be a problem at some point.

The core requiremets are :

- you have met
- you intend to get married withion the validity of her fiancee visa
- you can suport yoruself and your dependant without recourse to public funds
- you have sufficient accomodation

You are a sponsor. The immigration rules allow a short term 3rd party support - relative etc.

Sufficient accommodation : a minimum requirement is a single bedroom which must be in your exclusive use.

The minimum amount of funds per person per week, according to the law, is about 85 UK pounds.

Depending on the quality of your evidence as well as representation your fiancee may be granted a fiancee visa. If refused, she will have a right to appeal.

So do make sure you have all the necesary evidence...just in case...

Regards,

Anton

The core requiremets are :

- you have met
- you intend to get married withion the validity of her fiancee visa
- you can suport yoruself and your dependant without recourse to public funds
- you have sufficient accomodation

- Accomodation poses no issues.
- Presumably intention to marry could be covered by the booking of the church (CofE) and a letter from the vicar? I am assistant organist at the church we would use so this should pose no issues.
- Meeting will be covered when she visits on a tourist visa. Either that or I ( sell my classic sports car and ) visit her!

The only issue I can forsee being awkward is my own financial status. As I stated, I am a uni student and therefore live on public funding in the form of a government loan plus monies from my parents.
My g/f is accumulating funds presently to satisfy the visitors visa. However, she has a trust fund to the tune of $50k which she tells me could be accessed. So, If she is able to support herself would this circumvent the clause that I the sponsor would need to be capable of supporting myself and her?

Her "criminal conviction" is a sham to be perfectly honest. She had her attention in the wrong place at the wrong time and had a car accident. Unfortunatly the gentleman driver of the other car died. This does not mean that she is an immoral person, far from it. I believe that this should mitigate in her favor if it were to be brought up?
She did mention that she thought her conviction may not come up "as the united states do not disclose information about its citazens to other nations" Is there any truth in this?

So far as the comments that I "may be rushing into things" I thank you for your concern and I acknowledge your warning. The highest priority for the both of us at the moment is actually meeting one another.
I like to go into situations armed with facts on the principal that if you fail to prepare then you should prepare to fail.

I suppose I just want some reassurance that should we decide that the thing to do is to take the relationship further it is possible for her to come here on a fiance(e) visa in lieu of permenent residency.

Furthermore, given the information I have presented thus far, can anyone invisage any hurdles that I may encounter in getting her a visitors visa?
Would she perhapse stand a better chance of success by applying for a short term visitor visa and then, once here, apply for it to be extended as far as the maximum 6 months?

I thank you all once again for the erudite discussion and helpful comments that have been put forward.

With thanks,

JC.

antontony will know the rules better than me, but I think this is ur main hurdle, aside from the potential folly of investing some much in an internet relationship (for which I still say go for it - u live and learn):

1) She wouldn't normallly need a visa to visit UK for up to six months, visa-waiver etc.

2) I think I'm right in saying tho if u have a criminal record you have to apply for a visa, certainly my brother did the other way with his four arrests for Drunk and Disorderly....

3) Obviously u know the details more than us, but it does sound like she killed someone and you think that it's somehow a good thing and should aid her visa app? Sorry, don't understand that one.

Good luck!

3) Obviously u know the details more than us, but it does sound like she killed someone and you think that it's somehow a good thing and should aid her visa app? Sorry, don't understand that one.

Yes, you are correct that she did indeed kill someone.
I do not think this is a good thing at all. Save for her probation, she would have visited me a long time ago.
Appologies for the confusion. What I was alluding to; is that simply stating "she killed someone" implies that there was some malicious act on her part. I agree on paper that this looks the case.
It is a fact, however, that she had no intentions to kill the gentleman. There were no immoral, unsavory or malicious notions on her part.
It was and is, a genuine accident that should never have happened.

Furthermore, her inability to controll a car in the rain, does not, in my eyes, make her a bad person, or, indeed a criminal. I would hope that I can convince anyone who interviews her/me/us that this is the case.

If she had a criminal conviction for shooting someone then it would be a different matter.

I am not stating that the killing a gentlemen will aid her application, far from it! I am meerly scrabbling for a way to explain the nature of the "crime" is a grey one and not black and white.

Thankyou once again for your advice, your first and seccond points are duely noted.

-JC.

Hi there!

It's a shame she can't apply for a working holidaymaker visa. Anyone know of another visa of the kind for americans? I can't find any.

In regards to the criminal offence, she'll need to declare it in her application so it isn't a matter of the US government not disclosing it. So a priori it doesn't look too good. I don't think people at the High Commission will ask themselves if she is a good or bad person but will see that she has a criminal record. The type of offence and sentence will be an indication of the gravity of the offence to the people there (the "gray" aspect of the crime).

When I made my application for my working holidaymaker visa, I had my boyfriend write a letter explaining the situation. I suggest you do the same, it might help. I don't know if they read it.

You might want to visit her, get married there if it seems like the right solution and then have her apply to come over as your wife. That way it might be easier to prove and it splits the traveling around between the two of you instead of her having to go back and forth twice. Just an idea.

One thing though is that you have to prove that you intend on living together, however, if you are in England for 8 months as a student, it might be difficult to prove that you'll both be staying in Wales.

Hope it works out ok!
Gen