Remaining on Tier 4 Visa

[Purple427]

My girlfriend is a Kenyan citizen who is currently resident in the UK on a Tier 4 Student Visa. Her course is shortly coming to an end and her Visa expires in May. I'm a UK citizen who was born here.

We have gotten into a relationship that has persisted for over a year now and are wondering how we can remain together in the long-term. We are considering getting married, but want to be sure that the relationship will actually be sustainable after we do (in a practical sense).

Ideally, we'd like to convert her from a tier 4 visa to something more permanent so she can remain. However, although we meet much of the criteria for a 5-year spouse visa, we cannot match the new financial requirement at this time. With just under six months until her visa expires, we won't have time to work on this jointly either. But the ten-year spouse visa could work, if it seems to work as I believe.

She is also considering doing a masters degree and thus may be able to extend or re-apply for a tier 4 student visa which will give us more time to sort this out. At present, her lack of six months of residence is a problem as both our incomes would be taken into account if we were resident for that period (as far as I can see). In addition, although we have spent a lot of time together, we have never lived officially at the same address so we have very little official paperwork detailing our time.

The rules are quite complicated so I was just wondering if anybody here had any advice. I'd be happy to provide any more information to help if needed. We are just trying to find the best way forward from here.

Thanks!

[Lucapooka]

You would have to marry if you take the family route as you don't have 2 years of interpersonal relationship akin to marriage; you don't even live together now. The 10 year route would demand that there are insurmountable obstacles that prevent you living with your partner outside the UK.