WP / Student suggestions please

[Poodlecrazy]

My partner is currently staying in the UK as a visitor (he has 4.5 months to go on his visitors visa) and would like to lay down firmer routes! He would ideally like to work full time although also could benefit from a bit of training so student approach may be an option. He is from outside of the EEA.

How do we go about getting either a work permit or a student visa?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[philgeorge999]

My partner is currently staying in the UK as a visitor (he has 4.5 months to go on his visitors visa) and would like to lay down firmer routes! He would ideally like to work full time although also could benefit from a bit of training so student approach may be an option. He is from outside of the EEA.

How do we go about getting either a work permit or a student visa?

Thanks in advance for your help.

To get a work permit you have to find an employer who has a 'skilled' vacancy to fill that he's not been able to fill with an EEA national, despite advertising the position for several weeks. If the employer wants to offer you a job then *he* will have to apply for the work permit on your behalf. It takes them time and money and there's no guarantee of success, so they have to really want you. If your partner is not 'skilled' however, he won't qualify for a work permit.

To get a student visa you simply need to enrol on a course, have the means to pay the fees and support/maintain yourself, and convince the Home Office that you're doing it for educational reasons. (If your partner is a visa national then he would have to leave the UK and apply for a student visa from his own country. If your partner is *not* a visa national then it used to be the case that he could switch from within the UK, though they might have changed the rule now... not sure).

There are other options, depending on your partner's nationality, your own immigration status, the nature of your relationship with him etc.

phil

[Poodlecrazy]

Thanks for your reply - very helpful. I suspect the best bet will to becom a student as although he is skilled I think it would be quite difficult to argue that no-one in Britain could fulfill the role.

We've been together for nearly a year although because of the work situation he works at sea for a few months before getting visitor status in his 'time off' so not sure if that would count towards unmarried partner status? If it does then we'll just carry on as we are for a year and apply for that.

We don't really want to get married yet as the relationship is still young and we haven't really had the chance to live together for a long enough period of time to know that we are meant for each other!

Do you have any thoughts on the unmarried partner question?

Cheers
Nia

[philgeorge999]

Thanks for your reply - very helpful. I suspect the best bet will to becom a student as although he is skilled I think it would be quite difficult to argue that no-one in Britain could fulfill the role.

It doesn't have to be that no-one in Britain could fill the role. The employer must just not have been able to fill the role for several weeks, despite trying very hard. (They'll have to send in press cuttings, CVs, failed interview transcripts etc to the Home Office to prove they tried).

We've been together for nearly a year although because of the work situation he works at sea for a few months before getting visitor status in his 'time off' so not sure if that would count towards unmarried partner status? If it does then we'll just carry on as we are for a year and apply for that.
We don't really want to get married yet as the relationship is still young and we haven't really had the chance to live together for a long enough period of time to know that we are meant for each other!
Do you have any thoughts on the unmarried partner question?

The unmarried partner route is only an option if you've spent enough time cohabiting, and have the documentation to prove it. The official guidelines state that you need 2 years cohabitation with a maximum gap of 6 months (basically to cater for work commitments abroad, holidays or bereavements) over the whole of the 2 years, to be eligible. Documentation will consist of official letters addressed to you at a common address, 5 covering each of the 2 years. Obviously caseworkers can use their discretion but if you have significantly less than 1.5 years cohabitation your chances of success are very slim.

If your partner only has visitor status here then he'll have to apply for unmarried partners entry at the British embassy in his home country, and I guess they're likely to apply the rules more strictly than those in the IND here.

What is your partner's nationality? If he's a Commonwealth national he could at least get a Working Holiday Visa.

[Poodlecrazy]

Hi!

He's Macedonian which makes it really complicated! Basically we just want to be able to live in a 'normal' way for a couple of years to see how the relationship goes (as most couples do). My job is well paid enough that he doesn't strictly need to work but of course this is boring and dis-heartening for him. We were hoping that if he always came back to my home when he was on leave from the ships that it may be considered towards our time as unmarried partners, particularly if his wages etc were going into a joint bank account at my address.

Just seems so frustrating!

Thanks

[philgeorge999]

Hi!

He's Macedonian which makes it really complicated! Basically we just want to be able to live in a 'normal' way for a couple of years to see how the relationship goes (as most couples do). My job is well paid enough that he doesn't strictly need to work but of course this is boring and dis-heartening for him. We were hoping that if he always came back to my home when he was on leave from the ships that it may be considered towards our time as unmarried partners, particularly if his wages etc were going into a joint bank account at my address.

Just seems so frustrating!

Thanks

Such are the perils of going out with a non-EU citizen! Best advice is to always check the other person's passport on your first date

Macedonian eh? Well in that case your best bet will be for him to enrol on a course, and then live here together with him on a student visa, so you can build up your time together. You can do the unmarried partners thing after 2 years if you don't want to get married.

A student visa shouldn't be too difficult to get provided you pick a 'believable' course, that he has enough in his bank account to pay for it, and most importantly that you don't reveal the nature of your relationship on the visa application. The only thing, though, is that if he's visited the UK regularly on a tourist visa previously then they could suspect he has other motives... so I would obtain professional legal advice if I were you before doing anything.

phil