Family visa application after minor overstays

[felamaslen]

I'm a British citizen, my fiancée is Chinese. She's applying for a fiancée visa through an agency (UVIC) to stay with me in the UK.

We're going to submit all the documents fairly soon, but have an outstanding worry. She has been to the UK before on several different visas, and made two overstays, as detailed below:

- First, she overstayed by less than 28 days on her student visa, which ran out in January 2016. This was to attend her university graduation ceremony. We're not very worried about this.
- She also overstayed by 4 days on a tourist visa, more recently. She visited me in April 2017 for 9 days, then again in July 2017 for 175 days. We fully admit it was our fault, but this was simply because we misunderstood the rules of the visa and didn't realise that the 180 day limit accumulated over six months.

Will the four day overstay on the tourist visa mean that she will likely be refused a fiancée visa, given that we have sufficient documents and evidence to prove we are in a stable relationship, our financial situation is adequate, etc.?

Would it be worth writing a letter explaining (completely honestly) why she overstayed?

Edit: we have internet chat history detailing our plans for her to visit me for 175 days, which shows that we misunderstood the terms.

Many thanks

[Londoner007]

Yes explain your overstay and acknowledge to them you shouldn't have done it. Since you are using an agency to apply, best to take into account their guidance.