Spouse Visa

[iklondon]

Hello everyone, new to the forum so please excuse me if I post something incorrectly here, but need your advice.

I am a British Citizen that was born in USSR (modern day Ukraine). I have received my British Passport in 2008 and lived in the UK since 2000.

In June 2018 I have met the love of my life, and proposed to her after 1 month when she was here on a student visa (she is from Moscow, Russia). Since then she has visited UK on a tourist visa around 4-5 times, and I have visited Russia for 3 months to stay with her, and also to meet her family. When we are not together we are always talking on Whatsapp or FaceTime.

We now wish to get married, and for her to settle with me in the UK. I am a company director with an annual salary of £23k. She has her own business in Russia, but she doesn't own a property. I am at the moment living with my parents (3 bedroom detached house). (I am 28, and she is 27). I am planning to get a mortgage as soon as she moves here.

What is the best way for us to procceed? As far as I know we have 2 options - either apply for a fiance visa in Russia now, or get married somewhere like Cyprus and then apply for a spouse visa.

I've had a look at the required documents for the visas, and I only see 3 issues:

1) My salary has gone up to the required level only 2 months ago
2) My bank account is always in overdraft
3) She was born in Armenia, and changed her name legally in Moscow in February 2018. For the Russian authorities to pass the documentation to Armenia in order for her to get a new birth certificate can take up to 1 year.

We are going crazy without each other, and would like to start living together as soon as possible. We have all the photos of our time spent, whatsapp conversations etc. What would you advise as the best way to go forward for her to come and live with me?