I'm British, GF here for 6 years - need to stay

[joules]

I am British, Born and bred. I have been in a relationship with a girl who is Chinese and have been together for 4 years. We have not been living together during this time, however this is to take place over the next few months, absolutely. We have been on holiday over 5 times per year nd have spent a great deal of time with each others family, both here and in China. I have visited China twice and she has spent Xmas with me every year and family holidays etc... she is dearly loved by everyone and most of all, me!

She has been on an entrepreneurial visa and is about to submit it. The accountant has raised the fact that the income has not been particularly high and this will cause an issue with staying.

I am therefore wondering how she can stay if this does not work out.

Her current 3 year visa will cease to remain within 3 weeks. Previously she was here under a student visa, so in all has been here for close to 6 years.

Any ideas in this are welcomed. Thank you

[Casa]

Marriage? You don't qualify for an Unmarried Partner visa as you haven't been living together in a relationship 'akin to marriage' for a minimum of 2 years. At present you would be considered as 'boyfriend and girlfriend' which isn't sufficient,

[joules]

Wouldn't a load of holiday pictures from over the last 4 years suggest that we are getting there. As you may have gathered, am not one to jump into marriage though we are certainly heading in that direction with plans to move in together. It's crazy as this is modern living methods and we should not have to feel pushed into marriage for a visa
She has been here for a total of 6 years so am thinking that there may be another way? Anyone with ideas?

[joules]

Thought i should also note that she got a masters degree here in communication & international business. She is a teacher and committed.

[Wanderer]

Wouldn't a load of holiday pictures from over the last 4 years suggest that we are getting there. As you may have gathered, am not one to jump into marriage though we are certainly heading in that direction with plans to move in together. It's crazy as this is modern living methods and we should not have to feel pushed into marriage for a visa
She has been here for a total of 6 years so am thinking that there may be another way? Anyone with ideas?

No way, unmarried partner visa is a strict 24 months as it needs to show some level of commitment. With respect a few months isn't that. Multicultural relationships are tough enough (look at the stats) so visas aren't going to be chucked out willy nilly.

Options are: marriage (drastic), students visa (expensive), work permit (difficult) or T1Ent (need £50k/£200k), Investor visa (need £1m).

[JamesMA]

I'm in a similar situation to the OP, so thought I'd chip in. I've been with my chinese girlfriend for 3 and a half years... except we've lived in London and Beijing together (my company relocated me there). Unfortunately they want me back back now and I have to get her back into the UK. The only two options you really have are a sponsored work visa, which isn't easy (my girlfriend is a doctor and has been doing a ton of examinations to get her UK license). The other option obviously being the marriage visa, which you would need to get her a temporary visa to marry in the UK and then after you marry get a spouse visa but there are even restrictions to this to make it hard - such as you need to on 20k a year or so can't remember what it was.

In short there is really no easy solution, especially if she is on low earnings. Even in my case the fact we've lived together in two separate countries and traveled many countries doesn't count for much.