Son & his Philippino girlfriend help!

mandrose

Can anyone please help me with a bit of a dilemma?

BACKGROUND
My son is 26 yrs old and last year met the love of his life, who became part of our family very quickly! She was in the UK on a students visa (living with an aunt in London), studying nursing. Although she is a qualified nurse in Phil, her qualifications are not recognised in the UK. She could not afford to continue with the studies and returned to Phil in January, when her visa ran out. There was a lot of heartache before Christmas, wondering if they should apply for a Fiance Visa but they sensibly decided that although they are deeply in love, they didn't want to rush into marriage.

DILEMMA
She cannot afford to come back to the UK to continue her studies and is thinking of taking a 2 year job in Riyadh. Her family cannot afford to support her in the UK, so there isn't anyway she can come back under her own steam. My son has about £15K in savings, inheritance from when his dad died. It looks like it would take the whole amount to sponsor her to come back. He has just started a new job in London and although not a low salary, he would struggle to support both of them as he is going to have to move to the city. I know this is one of his biggest worries!

I live in a house with my mum and we have a self contained annex, which we would happily let them live in but its not really practical for them both to commute to London.

My son is asking me for advise and I'm really at a loss to help!

Can anyone help me with these answers?
1. Where can he go to ask for advise about visa's for Anna etc?
2. If they decided to get married, would Anna be able to stay in the UK as soon as they were married?
3. Would she be able to study for nursing?

It's the first time I've felt really inadequate as a mum - not a great feeling! Although he's a grown man, I hate to see him in such a dilemma and want to help him make the right decisions but I've no idea what direction to point him in!

If anyone has any advise I would greatly appreciate it.

Many thanks
Mandrose x

Loanranger

Have you looked at the UK Border Agency website:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/

mandrose

Thanks Loanranger, will pass the link onto my son to look at!

Mk14:37

Mandrose,

Check out the MSE equivalent for immigration and visas - http://www.immigrationboards.com/ particularly the Immigration for Family Members threads.


I met the love of my life at Uni and we married about 11 months later. I was aged 22 at the time, we've just had our first child and this summer we will be celebrating our 8th anniversary.

Admittedly, if there hadn't been visa pressures then I probably would not have married quite so quickly, but why should this be less of a valid reason than any other? If you truly love someone then there's no point in beating about the bush, living together for 10 years before finally committing etc.

My advice to him would be to bite the bullet and marry the girl. Realistically, there's no other way for her to come here (what category of visa did he expect to sponsor her under?). You say that they "sensibly didn't want to rush in" but what is so sensible about waiting? Let's say that she had a "Jolly Nice Person" category visa that allowed her to stay as long as she liked. Your DS and girlfriend move in together and live together for 10 years. Maybe they break up, maybe they don't - but is that really any different to having been married?

In the words of The King: Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you.

ailuro2

I think they do sound very sensible, and are right not to rush into marriage purely for the visa.

Love will always find a way, they might not be together right now, but something will turn up and they will manage to be together.... they just need to have faith in it happening.

Having said that the current govt. are likely to do something to tighten up immigration levels, so perhaps they need to bear that in mid too.

good Luck to them.

building_with_lego

My brother met his now wife while she was studying and working here (originally from Jamaica) and they fell in love. They have spent literally years hemorrhaging money to get her Leave to Remain, in one case £700 got her an extension of a week on her visa :mad:. She had to take an English test too, even though it's her native tongue, and all this for a country that I thought had historic ties with ours...
They got there in the end though :T Good luck to your son.

blackEyes_2

My husband and I did not want to wait, it was too much money but we wanted be together.
i came here with an invitation letter first, then with a fiancee visa, then after 6 months i got married and applied for settlement after 2 years.
i just applied for citizenship last july after taking the test Life in the Uk... and everything is fine, have a 3 yo dd and been married for 5 years
Visas cost a fortune, i think we paid £400? for the fiancee visa then 650? or around for settlemend and finally £720 for citizenship.

Tish_P

My father and brother both married (wonderful!) foreign women. It is a horrible, expensive, long-drawn-out process. Visas can be denied at any stage with no reason given, and you are constantly treated with truly upsetting suspicion. It's not the kind of hassle they should put each other through unless they are already sure they want to make a huge commitment.

Despite the common sense of not rushing into things, sometimes situations force us to make decisions more quickly than we otherwise might want to. Pregnancies and job dilemmas, for example, often put couples on the spot in the same way. I wish it were easier for couples in your son's situation but as it stands they may well have to decide whether this relationship is permanent right now, because "leave it a few years and see if we still feel this way" might not be an option. A similar thing happened to a friend who was 6 months into a relationship when she was offered a permanent job in Australia; they talked it over, married, and 10 years later are very happy. A quick decision needn't be a bad one.

All you can do is be sure of the legal implications (a chat to an immigration lawyer might help) and support your son in his decision. Wishing you and the young couple all the best of luck.

richardw

mandrose wrote: »

My son has about £15K in savings

Is she aware of this?

Lara44

Hi Mandrose, has your son considered living in the Philippines for a while?

thatgirlsam

I work with quite a few nurses and midwives who qualified in other countries and I'm sure there is some sort of conversion course to transfer the nursing qualification over to this country - has she looked into this?
Its called the Adaptation Course for overseas nurses

Found this - http://www.get-uk-jobs.com/overseas-nurses.html