Student visa... getting there... slowly...

[sp3ctre]

Hi all,

I have posted a few threads on here in the past months. Thanks to all who have replied.

Here is where we are at:

My GF lives in South Africa
She works in IT over there
The owns a house
After the house sale she will in effect have 100k GBP, so funding should not be a problem.

She has had an offer from a good UK University to study Computer Science in September, for 3 years.

She plans to sell the house to fund the course and the stay.

She will be living with me while she is over here (I have a good job and can support us both), but I am not sure if that looks bad immigration-wise and if she should base the application on getting her own place or not?

Ideally she would apply as living with me, that way when we have been living together for 3 years we could apply for unmarried partner visa (although we may be married by then, making that irrelevant).

I realise she does not need to say she is going back after her stay as long as she passes the course 2:2 or higher she can apply as a foreign graduate.

What I want to know is, is the fact that she is selling the house a negative, and also is there any negative aspect to her saying she will be living with me?

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this has already been posted in a slightly different way elsewhere, I just want to make sure everything is done 100% correctly in order for the application to be successful.

Thanks,

Jim

[Wanderer]

My random thoughts:

I hear conflicting reports as to whether it's ok that a student visa applicant can admit to a bf in this country. To me it;s smells of an attempt to circumvent the immigration rules, ie there is likely no intent to return home after studies. Added to this selling her house and effectively cutting ties to her home country and lowering her 'return-ability' looks like she has no intent to return.

I'm not having a go - we did exactly the same for my gf's student visa!

Our circs where slightly different but here's what I'd do if I was you...

First, I wouldn't admit any hint of a bf in the UK, u keep totally out of the picture. She must seem to be applying for the visa purely to study. My gf arranged uni accomodation and when she got the visa we just cancelled it - cost a deposit but that is the price of love.

Second, selling the house. Not sure on this, one cos it reduces her retun-ability, and second a sudden huge deposit in her bank account looks dodgy not matter what the circs, but she can most likely provide documents to prove the sale etc.

I wonder if she can do a bit of creative accounting - only show a portion of the funds, I dunno...

Once she;s here theres no issues but in order to get past that first stage u have to play the ECO game.

[sp3ctre]

My random thoughts:

I hear conflicting reports as to whether it's ok that a student visa applicant can admit to a bf in this country. To me it;s smells of an attempt to circumvent the immigration rules, ie there is likely no intent to return home after studies. Added to this selling her house and effectively cutting ties to her home country and lowering her 'return-ability' looks like she has no intent to return.

I'm not having a go - we did exactly the same for my gf's student visa!

Our circs where slightly different but here's what I'd do if I was you...

First, I wouldn't admit any hint of a bf in the UK, u keep totally out of the picture. She must seem to be applying for the visa purely to study. My gf arranged uni accomodation and when she got the visa we just cancelled it - cost a deposit but that is the price of love.

Second, selling the house. Not sure on this, one cos it reduces her retun-ability, and second a sudden huge deposit in her bank account looks dodgy not matter what the circs, but she can most likely provide documents to prove the sale etc.

I wonder if she can do a bit of creative accounting - only show a portion of the funds, I dunno...

Once she;s here theres no issues but in order to get past that first stage u have to play the ECO game.

Thanks for your reply, I would agree with all your points.

One thing we have no control over is she needs to sell the house to pay for the study (9k per year), there is no way round this. Saying that, it is a 3 year degree course, so leaving for that amount of time a lot of people would sell the house anyway, wouldn't they?

As for return-ability, since it is a degree course she does not need to show this (I think), but I take your point regarding it looking like she is taking this route just to be with me... I am thinking your idea of proving she is looking (or has found) her own accommodation is a good one.

Thanks again for the reply,

Jim

[Nowty]

I agree its swings and roundabouts whether you own up to your relationship or not. We did and it did not stop my Brazilian girlfriends student visa although her first application was refused on all sorts of other grounds.

My thoughts are 100k is more than enough money to show that she has enough to support herself. As its a degree course, i think that selling the house would not be out of order either and it would show where the money came from. So on that basis she could apply alone and keep you out of the picture.

But there are risks in that, if they find out from a visa interview about your relationship, then I would think it would be game over. Not because you have a relationship, but because you have withheld relavent facts.

Also she needs to have a good reason for studying in the UK, would that reason still apply without your relationship ?. i.e. why can she not do the degree in her home country ? What job back in her home country would she do with this degree ?, is the cost of the course (and living expenses) comensurate with any enhanced job back in the home country, etc, etc.

[sp3ctre]

yeah, it's the whole "swings and roundabouts" thing that worries us...

At the moment I am thinking of going along the lines of she will be getting her own place (the uni IS 35 miles away) and saying we are close, but not in a relationship (we have only met face to face once, albeit for a few weeks).

She has the funds to show this is possible on paper so that shouldnt be an issue.

In terms of the course, a degree from a uni in the UK (I suppose) is more well though of than one from SA, but am not sure... and there is the foreign graduate scheme which may mean she could work here... again, from what I've heard this is not a negative, but again, swings and roundabouts.

[VictoriaS]

If you don't declare the relationship it could cause problems in the future.

Victoria

[sp3ctre]

If you don't declare the relationship it could cause problems in the future.

Victoria

That's a point,didn't think of that... do you envisage there being an issue if we declare the relationship though?

[Wanderer]

If you don't declare the relationship it could cause problems in the future.

Victoria

That's a point,didn't think of that... do you envisage there being an issue if we declare the relationship though?

The way I see it if u keep completely out of the picture - whose to say u didn't meet the first week she arrived on the student visa?

[sp3ctre]

Thank you all for the replies... you see why I am confused? LOL

[Nowty]

The way I see it if u keep completely out of the picture - whose to say u didn't meet the first week she arrived on the student visa?

If you later apply for a an UPV then you need to declare how you met and how your relationship developed. Its surprisingly easy for lies to unravel in an interview and then you risk being refused for lying. The immigration advisory service advised me to be open and honest about our relationship, we did and she got her SV and subseqent SV extension. I think many people get refused because they try and make up "other reasons" for coming here, when if they were honest up front, they would be ok.