Should I use Ukraine or Brit Lawyer to help gf student visa?

[gromans]

Help Please ' '

I am thinking of enlisting the help of a lawyer to assist with my girlfriends application for a student visa. She is a Ukraine National and I am British and sponsoring her.

I have spoken to Lawyers in the UK ( website ones) and Mila has spoken to Lawyers in the Ukraine and they both seem to think the process should be straight forward, however after reading many of the postings on here and elsewhere I am not so convinced and are sceptical that the Lawyers are just looking to take my money quickly!

Question, could anyone advise if it would be better to use a British lawyer ( from UK) or a Ukraine Lawyer ( Kiev) I presume the people that need convincing at the Embassy in Kiev are British? Could someone please enlighten me here?

Many thanks

Gary

[Greenie]

I would generally advise against using a lawyer based outside the UK as they are unlikely to be qualifed to advise on UK immigration law and neither will they be regulated by any of the relevent UK regulatory bodies.

Whether you require a UK based lawyer depends on whether the application is straightforward or not. I would not usually advise 'web based lawyers' as they tend to have nice shiny websites but are not always the most competent or qualified.

Most reputable tier 4 sponsors (and certainly all universities) have their own immigration advisors who are usually very good at providing advice on the tier 4 requirements.

You say you are sponsoring your girlfriend I take this to mean you are gonig to be financially supporting her? Note that if she is applying for a tier 4 visa, she must have the relevent funds in her name or that of her parents, she would not be able to rely on your funds or income.

Do you have any idea as to what course she is going to study and where?

[gromans]

I would generally advise against using a lawyer based outside the UK as they are unlikely to be qualifed to advise on UK immigration law and neither will they be regulated by any of the relevent UK regulatory bodies.

Whether you require a UK based lawyer depends on whether the application is straightforward or not. I would not usually advise 'web based lawyers' as they tend to have nice shiny websites but are not always the most competent or qualified.

Most reputable tier 4 sponsors (and certainly all universities) have their own immigration advisors who are usually very good at providing advice on the tier 4 requirements.

You say you are sponsoring your girlfriend I take this to mean you are gonig to be financially supporting her? Note that if she is applying for a tier 4 visa, she must have the relevent funds in her name or that of her parents, she would not be able to rely on your funds or income.

Do you have any idea as to what course she is going to study and where?

Thanks Greenie

We are actually applying for a prospective student visa for an English Language course, but I could not find a forum for a non tier general student visa.

The Lawyers in the UK I have spoken to ( web advertised) say that it is acceptable for me to provide the finance and accomodation for my gf.

Yes you are correct I am financially providing for her as well as paying for the course, we have chosen 2 or 3 courses inLeeds and would ideally like to visit the estabilishments together before making a decision.

[Lucapooka]

A prospective student visa is not a Tier 4 application. She will need to show credible evidence that her plans to study are well-advanced and merely needs to enter the UK to complete her existing enquiries and make a decision. Is she engaged in active correspondence with the prospective sponsors; are there offers pending interview?

I think not having her own maintenance (given that she will need her own maintenance if she does indeed decide to switch) will be viewed as a problem, but good luck.

[Greenie]

A prospective student visa is not a Tier 4 application. She will need to show credible evidence that her plans to study are well-advanced and merely needs to enter the UK to complete her existing enquiries and make a decision. Is she engaged in active correspondence with the prospective sponsors?

I think not having her own maintenance (given that she will need her own maintenance if she does indeed decide to switch) will be viewed as a problem, but good luck.

i agree - in addition the course she intends to study needs to meet the tier 4 rules. what level of english will she be studying?

[gromans]

Her level of English is basic/beginner - we can communicate okay but her written skills are low.

She has had some preliminary enquiries via email with a few course providers that are all Tier 4 Approved ( according to their websites) One of them has said they would interview her once she is in the country, others have asked for the payment for the full course in advance.

I agree with me agreeing to be a financial sponsor it will be a bit tricky, but as stated earlier the lawyers seem to think it is straight forward enough, hence me being sceptical about their motives as they all want the money up front without any guarantee of success!!

I still think the Border Agency will try to force us to get married which we may do later down the line for the right reasons ( love etc) and once we can actually speak the same language efectively haha, madness really!

[Greenie]

Her level of English is basic/beginner - we can communicate okay but her written skills are low.

She has had some preliminary enquiries via email with a few course providers that are all Tier 4 Approved ( according to their websites) One of them has said they would interview her once she is in the country, others have asked for the payment for the full course in advance.

I agree with me agreeing to be a financial sponsor it will be a bit tricky, but as stated earlier the lawyers seem to think it is straight forward enough, hence me being sceptical about their motives as they all want the money up front without any guarantee of success!!

I still think the Border Agency will try to force us to get married which we may do later down the line for the right reasons ( love etc) and once we can actually speak the same language efectively haha, madness really!

The colleges may be tier 4 sponsors, but if the course that she is hoping to study does not meet the tier 4 requirements then she will not suceed in obtaining a prospective student visa as the point of this visa is to show that you are finalising plans to study at tier 4, and once you have an unconditonal offer on you are required to switch into tier 4. If you cannot switch into tier 4, you have to return home by the end of the 6 months.

You cannot study basic English under Tier 4. An English course has to be at least at Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Level B2. this means she already needs to have a good command of English language (at CEFR level B1). If she wants to study English at a basic level she would need to come as a student visitor.

You definitely cannot act as her sponsor under tier 4 - she must have funds in her name or that of her parents, so even if she does manage to get a prospective student visa on the basis of your finances (which I think would be troublesome) she certainly cannot rely on your finances for a tier 4 application.

[gromans]

Her level of English is basic/beginner - we can communicate okay but her written skills are low.

She has had some preliminary enquiries via email with a few course providers that are all Tier 4 Approved ( according to their websites) One of them has said they would interview her once she is in the country, others have asked for the payment for the full course in advance.

I agree with me agreeing to be a financial sponsor it will be a bit tricky, but as stated earlier the lawyers seem to think it is straight forward enough, hence me being sceptical about their motives as they all want the money up front without any guarantee of success!!

I still think the Border Agency will try to force us to get married which we may do later down the line for the right reasons ( love etc) and once we can actually speak the same language efectively haha, madness really!

The colleges may be tier 4 sponsors, but if the course that she is hoping to study does not meet the tier 4 requirements then she will not suceed in obtaining a prospective student visa as the point of this visa is to show that you are finalising plans to study at tier 4, and once you have an unconditonal offer on you are required to switch into tier 4. If you cannot switch into tier 4, you have to return home by the end of the 6 months.

You cannot study basic English under Tier 4. An English course has to be at least at Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Level B2. this means she already needs to have a good command of English language (at CEFR level B1). If she wants to study English at a basic level she would need to come as a student visitor.

You definitely cannot act as her sponsor under tier 4 - she must have funds in her name or that of her parents, so even if she does manage to get a prospective student visa on the basis of your finances (which I think would be troublesome) she certainly cannot rely on your finances for a tier 4 application.

Yes it is a student visitor visa we are applying for sorry for the confusion:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas ... g/student/

Thanks

[gromans]

A prospective student visa is not a Tier 4 application. She will need to show credible evidence that her plans to study are well-advanced and merely needs to enter the UK to complete her existing enquiries and make a decision. Is she engaged in active correspondence with the prospective sponsors; are there offers pending interview?

I think not having her own maintenance (given that she will need her own maintenance if she does indeed decide to switch) will be viewed as a problem, but good luck.

Sorry it a student visitor visa we are looking for According to the UKBA website the funds can be provided by a sponsor, quote :

Information about your finances and employment
You may submit any of the following financial documents. You should consider including evidence of your total monthly income from all sources – for example, employment, friends, family, personal savings and property. This will help us assess your circumstances in your own country and will give us evidence of how your trip is to be funded. You should consider providing this information even if someone else is paying for your trip.
1 VER.06 12/10/2011
2 VER.06 12/10/2011
- If someone else is paying for your trip, they should consider providing the same information about their finances and employment.
- If you are providing documents from a joint account, please explain who the

[Greenie]

OK - in that case yes she can rely on sponsorship from someone other than a parent/guardian. Always best to be clear about what you are applying for in order to get the correct advice.

If she is applying for a student visitor visa she must have an offer to study on a course, and the college will need to issue her a visa letter. So what you were saying about her coming here and then deciding what course to study won't work.

The maximum she will be able to come for is 6 months unless she has an offer to study on a longer English lanuage course in which case she will be given a visa for up to 11 months. Note that she cannot switch into any other category from within the UK if she comes as a student visitor.

If she states that you are her boyfriend and are funding her studies be prepared for the fact that they may question whether she genuinely intends to study and to leave the UK afterwards.

[gromans]

Many thanks for all the replies, I think the process is becoming a little clearer to me. I still think I might use a specialist lawyer ( UK ) as it seems a little more complicated due to me providing her funds.

Cheers