Help and Guidance needed for Ukrainian problem...

[Graybo]

Hi,
My Fiancee is Ukrainian and I am British, we met 3 years ago when she was working on a Fruit farm for six months. At the time we had a brief relationship before she went back to Ukraine. In september of last year we resumed our relationship and we are now Engaged to be married.
I have visited her in Ukraine twice in the last six months, and She has been to the UK twice in the past, once in 2003 and once in 2004, both times as a student working on a fruit farm.
We are now planning for her to come to the UK so that we can start a new life together. But first we want her to come over for a two week holiday in April, then She will return to Ukraine for a few weeks before hopefully coming to the UK for good.
I was wondering if the following would be possible: She applies for a six month Tourist Visa for April, comes for the two weeks and then returns to Ukraine. Then when She is ready She comes back to the UK to live with me on the same Six Month Visa. We will get married in the UK before the Visa expires and will then immediately apply for a marriage Visa so that she can continue to stay in the UK. Is all of this possible? I read somewhere that with a visitors Visa you can re-enter the UK as many times as you like before it expires. One problem I can see with applying for a visitors Visa is that she will not have a job to go back to after her visit in April and so we cannot prove that She has any reason to go back to Ukraine, Is there any other way that we can prove that She intends to leave when She is supposed to?

Of course the other option is to go straight for a Fiancee Visa, but this has its own problems, firstly my Divorce is not yet completed and I don't know when it will be, secondly I will have to sort out accomodation for us both in the next few weeks which would be a challenge. And we have no evidence that we met 3 years ago, so I'm not sure if our relationship has been going on for long enough (5 months since we 'found' each other again).
Any advice would be very much appreciated, when we started our relationship back in September, I had no idea that it would be so difficult, even to bring her here for a two week holiday! We are both so afraid that we will have problems bringing her here.

Many Thanks in Advance...

[vinny]

Unfortunately, it is not normally possible for visitors to switch to spouse status from within the UK.

[Wanderer]

And returnabilty is number one reason for rejection from FSU in my experience so I'd say it's essential she gets some sort of job.

Good returnability things:

1. Job

2. Kid

3. University

4. Property

If there's none of these I reckon it's almost 100% chance of refusal, esp from Kiev where last time I checked refusals ran at 35%. Compare that with 3% for Russia.

However her previous visas and returns will help. It's a lottery mate, believe me, been there...

S rozdestvom i s novym godom vas, mate and all that.....

[paulp]

Also, using the words "tourist visa", "boyfriend in the UK" and "close to getting engaged/married" usually sets alarm bells ringing for the ECO. Do a search for other posters who were refused in similar circumstances.

[Graybo]

OK thanks for the advice, looks like A Fiancee Visa is the only way forward for us. One problem with this is that my divorce is not yet complete, will this affect the application at all? It is uncontested and will be completed within the next 8 weeks. Is there any kind of evidence I can produce to show that the divorce will be done within the next few weeks?
The other problem I am worried about is the length of our relationship and the number of times we have met, is there any minimum length of time they expect you to have been together?

Thanks in advance

[Wanderer]

OK thanks for the advice, looks like A Fiancee Visa is the only way forward for us. One problem with this is that my divorce is not yet complete, will this affect the application at all? It is uncontested and will be completed within the next 8 weeks. Is there any kind of evidence I can produce to show that the divorce will be done within the next few weeks?
The other problem I am worried about is the length of our relationship and the number of times we have met, is there any minimum length of time they expect you to have been together?

Thanks in advance :)

All I can add is that mine was uncontested and ended up taking two years!

You can apply for Fiancee visa while ur divorce is coming through, I think you must show some sort of prove though - like a letter from your solicitor.

The ECO's in the FSU can give a bit of a grilling at the interview, so make sure she has her answers straight.

Accomodation should be ok if it's only u and her, a room of over 50 sq feet is the only requirement, but u need proof of it, not just a say so.

So you need to show:

1. You have a roof over your head.

2. You can afford to live without her attracting public funds.

3. You intend to marry

4. It's not a marriage of convieince.

Collect photos, tickets, everything that documents your relationship. The onus is on you to prove it, remember just a say so won't do.

Oh, and don't forget the 500 quid visa fee.....

[Graybo]

She has just submitted her Fiancee Visa application Online tonight. We just have to get together our documents to take to the Embassy in Kiev at the end of January We will try and make it as water tight as possible and leave no margin for error, but who knows how it will turn out? I think we will be pretty devastated if it's declined, however we will never give up and will try again as soon as we can rectify whatever the reason for decline may be. We will see what happens...

Thanks for all your help.

[Graybo]

Sorry, I have one more question, If She is denied a Visa, and the appeal also fails, how long do we have to wait before re-applying (with a solicitors help this time) and trying again?

Thanks in advance.