Marrying on a visitor's visa

[Fanclub]

My friend ... let's call him Boris is around 12 years older than the woman. Would that be considered a large enough age gap to warrant particular scrutiny?

[AmazonianX]

My friend ... let's call him Boris is around 12 years older than the woman. Would that be considered a large enough age gap to warrant particular scrutiny?

Not only the age difference, CW will look at the whole circumstances surrounding their meeting proposal, marriage and leading to spouse visa application.

[Fanclub]

Doesn't look good. Is the home office so efficient that nothing slips through the net?

[THO]

I can't see how they will get a visa, nothing is right about this application. Has he wondered if he is being taken for a ride by this girl, keen to exploit a lonely pensioner so she can get a visa to the UK. That is certainly my conclusion, (rightly or wrongly, but you have provided no evidence to suggest it a real relationship) and I am sure the ECO will come to that conclusion too.

[Fanclub]

Ah well
I tried to tell them it wasn't right .His family must have been the same hence so few of them in attendance.
I fell out with him on the Thursday before the wedding and it was mainly about what little I knew about marrying on the tourist visa.
As I said I started this thread too late ,cause if I'd shown them the helpful replies I have received he surely would have come to his senses.
No sugar coating on this thread, which is always the best policy.Much appreciated

[THO]

Not worth you falling out with him, I would just keep quiet now and let them get on with it, maybe tell him to join the forum and get first hand advice and opinion from people who have been through the process with the HO. Then you will not be the bearer of bad news.

I bet when she does get back to Botswana she will be asking him to send more money to support her there, but you won't be able to tell him not to send it, because if he is in love, he will not want to hear that you think she is cheating him, as that is like saying you don't think she is a decent person.

Does she have kids?

[Fanclub]

My wife has said the same thing, and his brother,who conveniently went on holiday just before the wedding.
She says she has two kids supposedly at university
Her being 57 they must be mature students.

[Fanclub]

Well now
I haven't seen much of my friend since the marriage.
Last time I saw him he said that his new wife had to go back on the date her visitor's visa ran out and had booked a flight.

The latest is she cancelled the flight and they have a meeting with home office to apply to stay. I don't know the details yet but he has a lawyer now and he thinks she can stay indefinitely due to his mental health issues.

Is this possible ?and does this mean she doesn't need to
apply for a spouse visa due to exceptional circumstances

[Fanclub]

Well now
I haven't seen much of my friend since the marriage.
Last time I saw him he said that his new wife had to go back on the date her visitor's visa ran out and had booked a flight.

The latest is she cancelled the flight and they have a meeting with home office to apply to stay. I don't know the details yet but he has a lawyer now and he thinks she can stay indefinitely due to his mental health issues.

Is this possible ?and does this mean she doesn't need to
apply for a spouse visa due to exceptional circumstances

[ALKB]

Well now
I haven't seen much of my friend since the marriage.
Last time I saw him he said that his new wife had to go back on the date her visitor's visa ran out and had booked a flight.

The latest is she cancelled the flight and they have a meeting with home office to apply to stay. I don't know the details yet but he has a lawyer now and he thinks she can stay indefinitely due to his mental health issues.

Is this possible ?and does this mean she doesn't need to
apply for a spouse visa due to exceptional circumstances

She still needs to apply for a spouse visa.

The best she can hope for, trying to circumvent immigration rules like that, is:

- high lawyer´s fees

- possibly a grant of leave outside the rules which means a 10 year track (4 applications every 2.5 years), high application fees for each application, no recourse to public funds for that time

- probably refusal(s), lengthy, expensive appeals during which she will also have no right to work or claim public funds.

[vinny]

Difficult.

[THO]

When is the meeting with the HO? I can't imagine how they could arranged that for anytime soon, and during the waiting time I would expect she is here illegally.

Plus, the fact he has mental health issues would raise suspicions with the HO. The HO would rightly ask, why would she take agree to marriage after a week of knowing him, especially as he has mental health issues, that means he can't be without her. Very suspicious indeed, and looks very much like she is a gold digger who came here to find any man (sucker) in a safe giving country, to look after her, and her kids before they arrive on a visitor visa and do not go back.

Alarm bells are ringing loudly.

[Fanclub]

He seems to think his disability will work in his favour.
I don't know when his interview with the home office is but she has now overstayed her visa.
I can't find anything about changing from visitor visa to a spouse visa from within the UK, maybe that is part of the exceptional circumstances route.

As for her being a gold digger,,,my friend is not a wealthy man. I don't even know if he qualifies for legal aid in Scotland for immigration disputes.

[vinny]

I can't find anything about changing from visitor visa to a spouse visa from within the UK, maybe that is part of the exceptional circumstances route.

Explained in the link.

Difficult.

[Fanclub]

I think I am meeting my friend today.
I might find out more about why his lawyer thinks he has a case.
He was always reluctant to seek legal advice. I don't know why he has employed a lawyer now.
Is it possible the home office have asked him in to explain his hurried marriage on her visitor's visa.

I sometimes think he doesn't understand what's going on, or keeps certain information from me.

[Fanclub]

I happened to meet my friend on the street today.
He was with his wife and they were meeting up with her Botswanan girlfriend.

I managed to find out he doesn't have a meeting with the home office but he has been in touch with a lawyer, who if he explains his situation over a zoom call they will get him a meeting with the home office ....... All for the princely sum £150 flat fee. And told him not to worry about his wife overstaying her visa.

I give up........ Has anyone heard the likes of this before?

[Fanclub]

I can't find anything about changing from visitor visa to a spouse visa from within the UK, maybe that is part of the exceptional circumstances route.

Explained in the link.

Difficult.

Well that was was a helluva read.
I know my friend's wife has no young children but the Chikwamba case relies on the principle her visa would have been granted.
How does that relate to a spouse visa application which may well be refused.