UK Vistor Visa advice required

[AlbyBack]

I am a UK citizen. My girlfriend is a Russian who lives in Marbella and has Spanish Residency (but not Spanish citizenship). She owns a car and property there, and has an income which allows her to live independantly. She also has a pet dog.

We are considering a life together and I would like to bring her here for a week's holiday to see if she likes the country. She would have to put the dog in an animal hotel for this week. All being well, she would then return home and apply for a fiance visa, and then wind up her affairs in Spain, then bring her dog and come to live with me in the UK. My salary is almost double the £18K required to show that I can support her. But actually she is solvent and can support herself.

She is being told by other Russians that it is important not to mention anything about our relationship when she applies for the visitor visa. These people are saying that any suspicion of our relationship would cause an automatic refusal of the Visa.

I want to do everything in the correct way. The way I read the rules for a Visitor Visa, they should only be concerned with whether of not she will return home after her visit. She has a good life in Spain and absolutely will return home. So can someone please advice me on whether or not we should be up front with everything on the Visa application? After all, if the visitor visa is refused, we can go for the fiance visa anyway.

Thanks in anticipation

[Casa]

If she withholds your relationship in her visitor visa application you will scupper any chance of successfully applying for a fiancee visa. All information is held on record. This means that when she needs to prove the length of a subsisting and genuine relationship in a fiancee visa application, it will be immediately evident that this was not disclosed when she applied to visit. The last thing you want is a refusal due to deception which will negatively affect any future visa application.
When applying for a visitor visa she will have to submit evidence of strong ties to her country of residence...in this case Spain. The ECO may not be too interested in the ownership of a car and a dog, but property and employment will be taken into consideration.

[noajthan]

The dog may be a plus point as it suggests another reason for the applicant to return to Spain.

[Casa]

Hmm. Easy to show property ownership and employment....how to prove she owns a dog?

[AlbyBack]

I am so pleased that I asked this question. Thank you for the useful advice.

[Casa]

I am so pleased that I asked this question. Thank you for the useful advice.

If I've learned one thing in my eight years on the forum...it's never lie in a visa application. It's bound to come back to bite you in the bottom later on.

[AlbyBack]

Just out of interest...... How about if there was a suitable period between the visitor visa and the fiance visa? 3 months 6 months, a year? Would that be looked upon more favourably?

[Casa]

The space between being granted a visitor visa and then applying for a fiance visa is irrelevant.

[AlbyBack]

hmmm.... Someone could come here for a genuine holiday on a Visitor Visa, and then 12 months later meet someone on a dating website and apply for a fiance visa. Are you saying that the first visit would be detrimental to the application for the Fiance visa, even though the couple did not know each other at the time of the first visit?

[Casa]

The space between being granted a visitor visa and then applying for a fiance visa is irrelevant.

No. The opposite. I've said it is irrelevant.

[avjones]

hmmm.... Someone could come here for a genuine holiday on a Visitor Visa, and then 12 months later meet someone on a dating website and apply for a fiance visa. Are you saying that the first visit would be detrimental to the application for the Fiance visa, even though the couple did not know each other at the time of the first visit?

They could. But you've not done that. So it's not relevant what could happen.