Advice with getting UPV or Fiance Visa

[benermafield]

Hello!

This is my first post on this forum (and any forum really), so my apologies if my post is missing anything that should be there, or I have asked something that is potentially answered elsewhere that I have not found.

I am a UK national, and have a Chinese national girlfriend, now fiancée, and we were looking to apply for a visa for her to enter the UK sometime in 2016.
We have been together for 3 years now, and have been engaged since February 2015.

I have done a lot of digging around this, and many other, forums and websites for information, including Gov.UK itself, and I believe we satisfy all requirements: income, accommodation, her English level, intention to live together, etc. However, for the UPV I am unsure about our situation regarding the 2 years marriage-like relationship. I understand that this is a very commonly discussed issue on this forum, and have seen many varying situations and responses, so I am looking for some experienced opinions on whether or not people consider the evidence we have would be good enough to satisfy the requirements.

We are open to other visa options, such her studying here, to potentially live together for another year towards the 2 year requirement, and even going or the fiancée visa and get married over in the UK. However we have a personal preference to avoid them based on financial situations.

The potential evidence we have unfortunately is not that which is commonly advised, such as shared finances, or utility bills etc.
We do however have the following:

• - I have an acceptance to a Chinese University for 1 year, and the documents attached with this
  - I have a residence permit for her residence in China, this was used for the latter 6 months whilst studying at said university
  - She has her IELTS (English test) results in an addressed envelope to my address in the UK
  - We have many photographs of us being together, and holidaying together in the UK, China, and around Europe. I understand that these do not necessarily attest to cohabitation, however I was wondering whether they would count towards a legitimacy of the relationship, as some of them are of noticeably personal events such as Birthdays, Christmases, our Engagement party etc.
  - We both have many flight bookings, receipts and visa application forms and documents for our times we have spent together over the past 3 years (these times include my year in China studying, her time in the UK studying when we initially met, and 2 smaller trips each of 2-4 weeks duration)

Thank you for any advice or information!

[Casa]

The crucial question is whether you have been living together for a minimum of 2 years and have the documented evidence to prove co-habitation 'in a relationship akin to marriage'. i.e not simply in a legitimate boyfriend/girlfriend relationship or even as fiancés It you are unable to demonstrate this under considerable scrutiny, a UPV application will fail.
As she is your fiancée and you appear to be able to meet all the standard conditions including finances, why don't you apply for a fiancé visa and marry in the UK? After the wedding you would apply for a Spouse Settlement visa from within the UK on form FLR(M), which would grant her an initial 2.5 year visa. She could of course apply for a student visa, but bear in mind this involves considerable expense. I believe you may be looking at tuition fees of around £10,000 a year.

[benermafield]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

Regarding the UPV, that was what I was aware, and afraid, of. We have been together for 3 years, and spent at least 2 years of that together, however proving it as official "marriage-like" cohabitation is the crux of the issue.

It's reassuring to hear that the fiancée and marriage visa route seems like a good and relatively straightforward option for us. As I stated the only dis-inclinations towards it were mere preferences based on not being in an overly comfortable financial situation and the added complications of have a wedding ceremony both here in the UK and one for her family and friends over in China. These issues are easily overcome however.

And the financial situation regarding tuition is a big factor to take into consideration, especially regarding my previous comment. However we would at some point during her stay here be looking to apply for university anyway, and could potentially get those fees together, so the only question there would be if (and if so, to what degree) it would be easier to apply for a visa allowing her to remain post-university.

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

Regarding the UPV, that was what I was aware, and afraid, of. We have been together for 3 years, and spent at least 2 years of that together, however proving it as official "marriage-like" cohabitation is the crux of the issue.

It's reassuring to hear that the fiancée and marriage visa route seems like a good and relatively straightforward option for us. As I stated the only dis-inclinations towards it were mere preferences based on not being in an overly comfortable financial situation and the added complications of have a wedding ceremony both here in the UK and one for her family and friends over in China. These issues are easily overcome however.

And the financial situation regarding tuition is a big factor to take into consideration, especially regarding my previous comment. However we would at some point during her stay here be looking to apply for university anyway, and could potentially get those fees together, so the only question there would be if (and if so, to what degree) it would be easier to apply for a visa allowing her to remain post-university.

You're gonna have to have a job offer in UK of £18,600pa or more or have worked in UK for six moths at that level to be able to apply for spouse/fiancee/UPV visa. Or savings of £62,500.

[benermafield]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

Regarding the UPV, that was what I was aware, and afraid, of. We have been together for 3 years, and spent at least 2 years of that together, however proving it as official "marriage-like" cohabitation is the crux of the issue.

It's reassuring to hear that the fiancée and marriage visa route seems like a good and relatively straightforward option for us. As I stated the only dis-inclinations towards it were mere preferences based on not being in an overly comfortable financial situation and the added complications of have a wedding ceremony both here in the UK and one for her family and friends over in China. These issues are easily overcome however.

And the financial situation regarding tuition is a big factor to take into consideration, especially regarding my previous comment. However we would at some point during her stay here be looking to apply for university anyway, and could potentially get those fees together, so the only question there would be if (and if so, to what degree) it would be easier to apply for a visa allowing her to remain post-university.

You're gonna have to have a job offer in UK of £18,600pa or more or have worked in UK for six moths at that level to be able to apply for spouse/fiancee/UPV visa. Or savings of £62,500.

Thanks for the confirmation! I do already satisfy this requirement, however I have yet to reach the six months, currently on 2 months, but we would be looking to start the application as soon as I get my 6 month payslip