Visitor visa: Is it good to mention "a girlfriend"

[jp70]

She would like to get a visitor visa to meet me. We have never met, only chatting on phone. When applying visitor visa, is it better to mention that this is about dating purposes this visit or not? This would be the first meeting, so not fiancee visit yet.

I am trying to think what UBA is thinking. They might think that because she is coming to visit the idea of being with me in mind, she might want to not to go back to her own country? Can they think like this? So it would be a negative thing then.

But the real reason really is to meet me for dating purposes. So what to do?
Is it better not to mention at all the dating issue and just put that she wants to visit the UK for holiday purposes? And I am only providing/giving place to stay.

But on the other hand, isnt it that UBA does not easily give holiday visitor visas to African people (because of the scams)? So would it be better to mention the dating which is more serious thing?

[Casa]

If she doesn't mention the existance of your relationship/friendship in the visitor visa application this will present a problem in the future if you want to apply for a fiancee or spouse visa and you have to give evidence of how long you have known each other.
If you withhold the truth now, you will have to give a false statement in future applications which may have serious implications.
In order for a visitor visa application to succeed your girlfriend will have to show strong ties to her home country as a reason for her to return home...continuing employment, studies, ownership of property etc.

[jp70]

If she doesn't mention the existance of your relationship/friendship in the visitor visa application this will present a problem in the future if you want to apply for a fiancee or spouse visa and you have to give evidence of how long you have known each other.
If you withhold the truth now, you will have to give a false statement in future applications which may have serious implications.
In order for a visitor visa application to succeed your girlfriend will have to show strong ties to her home country as a reason for her to return home...continuing employment, studies, ownership of property etc.

But I do not think (factually speaking, or course UBA might have their "own facts"/logic which they use which is different how I see it) its lying to say that she is only my friend at this stage. In reality , thats what it is actually. I will not make any dating moves until I see her, so until that she is just a friend. The UBA should also understand this. So me saying "she is just a friend" or "she is a friend, but we are planning to start dating" are both according to facts... it just depends how we see it. I do not think its lying to say she if only a friend, because thats what it is until I have seen her.

Ok, so its good to put that and they do not necessary see it a negative thing? hopefully, ... it would be totally unlogical if they did see that a problem.

Yes , she already provited a letter from her employr that she is having a holiday. Does she need to give other proofs as well, or employment enough? She also gave a letter from her relatives approval for the trip. but our first application was refused mainly because of lack of evidence about funds. So thats where I need more help.

Also, if I mention that we have known for 1 year though phone and internet, do I have to prove that? I could obviously try to print my phone bills and Skype statements. Is this the time to prove that, or on fiancee application?

[mochyn]

If she doesn't mention the existance of your relationship/friendship in the visitor visa application this will present a problem in the future if you want to apply for a fiancee or spouse visa and you have to give evidence of how long you have known each other.
If you withhold the truth now, you will have to give a false statement in future applications which may have serious implications.
In order for a visitor visa application to succeed your girlfriend will have to show strong ties to her home country as a reason for her to return home...continuing employment, studies, ownership of property etc.

Agree with Casa with a few addendums

There already is one refusal on record so the application will be looked at more closely.

If you want to see her have you tried webcam or other method?

[jp70]

Agree with Casa with a few addendums

There already is one refusal on record so the application will be looked at more closely.

If you want to see her have you tried webcam or other method?

Yes, but this is not about seeing her. This is about meeting here live. That is needed for applying the next step fiancee visa. I cannot apply for fiancee visa if I have not met face to face.

I have recorded many webcam meetings we have done. They can be used maybe as an evidence (plus I sometimes watch them myself because she looks pretty good ).

Can I use webcam recordings to apply fiancee visa instead of meeting her? I do not think so. The rules say I must have met her face to face.

"There already is one refusal on record so the application will be looked at more closely. "

Although I dont think there is any contradiction if I first said that "we are friends" and in the second application I add more details "We are friends + we might want to be more than friends also and start dating". There is no contradiction there logically speaking. If I have not met somebody, they are only friends. I do not call such a person "girlfriend" or "we are dating". But obviously I do not know what UBA is thinking about this.

There was also other details missing. So why would this be a problem that if we did not tell all the details about what kind of meeting it is? Its just giving more details like giving more details also about our financial situation. So using the same logic, will it also be a problem if I tell more details about my financial situation which was missing in the first application?

[Angel5128]

hi,
ive got a similar prob to u,but ive seen met my bf for three years.
have u applied?
what docs did u provide to sponsor her?

[jp70]

hi,
ive got a similar prob to u,but ive seen met my bf for three years.
have u applied?
what docs did u provide to sponsor her?

"what docs did u provide to sponsor her?"
She (African) gave her bank details for 6 months. Problem was that there was not constant monthly income (although she is working full time). Its just the way they do it in Africa: they pay in cash. So UBA did not believe the money was hers even though there was a lot of money. So you must be carefull to link your money to your job/income source. I did not provide any docs to support her, because I though its enough that she has the money (she did have about £1500 which is more than enough). Also not sure if they would have believed that my £2000 are really mine and I can use them... they are not from my job. So it was a problem.

Good and bad news :
1) What happened is that we first tried to apply a visitor visa for her to come to UK for 2 weeks. The visa was refused. Main reason beeing that they did not believe that she had the funds. I in reality she does have the funds though, I am sure... see below. But UBA was basically against almost anything we said in our application .. then I read other peoples experiences and decided that this is way too comples/difficult and also expensive (one try more than £75). So:

2) I made up my mind and thought: "I dont like to go to Africa, but... on the other hand that would be propably very easy and cheap". And so it was! I fillled up the Visa application last Wednesday. £25. No evidence needed! Just passport, £25, filling up a simple form and 1 photo. Thats it! I was laughing how easy it was. And they gave the Visa next day! So I have it now and going to Africa 14/June.
I bought the plane tickets, and will book the hotel when arriving there.

So... why not visit your gf/bf in the other country if its easier?