Immigrating to UK from South Africa

[sp3ctre]

Hi all,

My girlfriend is a South African national and I an a UK national. We want to be together but seem to have limited options and wonder if anyone could clarify the situation for us?

She is 32 and works for a large company in Johannesburg in the IT industry but has no degree background. She has a strong CV with 10 years experience in her field, but does not qualify for the highly skilled migrant category.

A second option we throught about was an educational visa for university study, giving us time to live together for a few years, at which time we could apply for the unmarried partner visa if that is possible?

I understand if she got a job offer the employer could apply for a work permit. How easy is it to get a job offer from abroad? Any tips or agencies that would assist with this? I live up north so that would be preferable, but relocation to London is possible too.

Obviously marriage is an option, although I think if it weren't for this situation then we would be doing that further down the road... obviosly if we dont have other options it could be considered. If so, would it be better to do that over there and apply for a spouse visa?

Any other options open to us would be greatly appreciated...

Many thanks,

Jim

[sp3ctre]

... and as a second question, is it possible to get married while on a student visa?

[VictoriaS]

To answer the second question first, yes this is possible, as long as the student visa is valid for more than 6 months.

You seem to have several options here. The first thing which is probably already considered is whether or not your gf has the right to UK ancestry, ie a UK born grandparent.

Secondly, do her employers have a UK office to which they could transfer her? Thsi would be the easiest way of getting a work permit.

There are many people who get job offers from the UK and get work permits, but it might be easiest for her to come to the UK as a visitor to do a search first.

However, the idea of studying then going for the UP visa is a good one.

Victoria

[sp3ctre]

Victoria,

Thanks ever so much for the reply.

In terms of the dependents situation we are unsure. Both parents are deceased and I dont think there are records of the grandparents. I will of course try to trace this via the geneology route but not sure where to start in SA.

Her work does not have offices in the UK unfortunately, so that doesnt look like it will be an option.

We are leaning toward the studies option as she would like to do that anyway... just need to sort out logistics really, I just wanted to get all the info/options before we jump in.

Thanks again for your rapid reply!

Jim

[sp3ctre]

We are looking into the ancestry side of things but having difficulty. One thing that springs to mind is if we do find out that a grandparent was born in the UK, how do we go about proving it?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[VictoriaS]

You get a copy of their birth certificate.

Victoria