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how to apply for a visa to uk for mainlander wife

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    48

    ok, so is tourist visa the best option? no tests required for that right? and good for 1-2months? what is the website where l can download the form? where do l take it to? any other details required?

    thanks for help


  2. #12

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Pampanga, Philippines
    Posts
    29,763

    Yes tourist visa is I think your only option. Think it is 6 months. Have you looked at the website?


  3. #13

    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    CWB
    Posts
    411

    There used to be an option to get a permanent visa if you had been married for at least four years and were residing overseas. That option is now open only to selected people (mostly Government employees) who are UK-based but who have been stationed overseas.

    Even in the event that such a visa were obtained, one condition is that the holder resides in the UK. The advice clearly states that while trips abroad are ok (even where they add up to very lengthy periods, for work, study or any other reason), the immigration officer who greets you on arrival to the UK has the right to cancel your visa if he has grounds to believe that you are not genuinely resident in the UK. By the letter of the law, you need enter the UK only once every two years to sustain a permanent visa, however it is spelled out in the literature that a week's holiday in the UK every two years is not going to cut the mustard. It's not like Hong Kong where you literally have to just pass through the e-Channel and touch base once every few years. Every entry is scrutinised.

    Having said that, plenty of people I know have got permanent UK visas but reside elsewhere, so it can be done and is being done daily. You can still get permanent residency for your wife if you do it in the UK (she would need to take the Life in the UK test but can do this whilst on holiday (my wife did)), but you will need income proofs and all sorts of horrible, miserable things, as well as a huge application fee, and it will take some time.

    There are no longer any passport checks when leaving the UK (though this may change in the near future), so although your wife gets stamped in, there seems to be no clear centralised record of how long she has been out of the country. Instead the immigration officer gives her a quick, friendly grilling along the lines of "Good morning madam. Do you live in the UK? How long have you been away? Do you work, at all? How long are you planning on staying?". My wife bricks herself every time, but they always wave her through with a smile after just a few seconds of questioning.

    If we hadn't got the permanent visa under the old system, we wouldn't try to get one under the current system. We'd do tourist visas (or family visit visas) until we were ready to make the move properly. Then we might well take the Surinder Singh route via France or Italy.

    shri likes this.