Fiance Visa Questions

[Birky]

Hello,

Ive been reading this board for a while now to try and pick up on all of the hints and tips i can for applying me and my fiance to apply. Its all very confusing and i have been trying to get as much information as i can.

A little background into my situation. Im British and separated from my wife (A divorce is currently going through which is uncontested and should be finished by January.) After separating from my wife I fell in love with a long term penfriend i had who helped me out so much during the troubles and separation i had. We started talking more and chatting and video chatting a lot after the separation. We decided to meet up in October and things went so well, i proposed. I know i cant take anymore steps now until the divorce is finalised. I meet the finiacial and living arrangements comfortably. They have a B1 IELTS and a degree taught in English. They are fluent so i have no worries here either.

However my worries are these things:

Due to being in a marriage before and only just getting a divorce. I already have two kids who i pay maintenance for and have each weekend. Do these bump the financial requirement or is it only kids that come with the proposed fiance/spouse? Does a recent divorce complicate things or is it just the fact that you can now re-marry all they are after?

They are Syrian and living in Syria (Is there any discrimination in the process of applying, because hey....you fall in love, you fall in love.) We understand she will have to travel outside the country to visit the embasy/VFS centre.

We only met once for a week but have known each other over a year, first as friends and then in a relationship. Would this go against us? The guidelines only say you have to have met. We did this and got plenty of evidence. Like i said before, Its very hard to continually meet someone from Syria. Im not allowed to go there and our last planned trip to see each other somewhere else got cancelled due to the troubles in Lebanon.

We have all the chat and video logs to prove out relationship and our letters. Could get cover letters from family aswell since they are very traditional and i had to ask her father before i proposed etc! Im just confused to if i can do much else or just try my luck.

Finally...

Is it worth hiring one of the immigration solicitors to put everything together for you and to do all the communication?

Thanks for any help and advice and for every poster on the board because reading a lot of the posts has helped me out no end.

[geoeng]

Due to being in a marriage before and only just getting a divorce. I already have two kids who i pay maintenance for and have each weekend. Do these bump the financial requirement or is it only kids that come with the proposed fiance/spouse? Does a recent divorce complicate things or is it just the fact that you can now re-marry all they are after?

Assuming the children are British citizens, there is no impact on the financial requirement. Recent divorce shouldn't complicate things too much, mostly just allows you to legally re-marry.

They are Syrian and living in Syria (Is there any discrimination in the process of applying, because hey....you fall in love, you fall in love.) We understand she will have to travel outside the country to visit the embasy/VFS centre.

There shouldn't be any "discrimination". It may take longer for the application to be processed though.

We only met once for a week but have known each other over a year, first as friends and then in a relationship. Would this go against us? The guidelines only say you have to have met. We did this and got plenty of evidence. Like i said before, Its very hard to continually meet someone from Syria. Im not allowed to go there and our last planned trip to see each other somewhere else got cancelled due to the troubles in Lebanon.

We have all the chat and video logs to prove out relationship and our letters. Could get cover letters from family aswell since they are very traditional and i had to ask her father before i proposed etc! Im just confused to if i can do much else or just try my luck.

The criteria is that the relationship must be genuine and subsisting and that you have met in person. Sounds like you have a good handle on what to provide as evidence of this. Can't guarantee anything, but usually that is sufficient; any photos of you together would also probably help.

Is it worth hiring one of the immigration solicitors to put everything together for you and to do all the communication?

Mostly depends on how confident you feel in putting together the application yourself. Many people do it themselves and have no issues, especially if clear evidence of meeting the requirements can be provided and the applicant's immigration history is simple.