Strict immigration stopping genuine couples being together.

[georgina.burkoff]

Hi,

My name is Georgina and I'm a journalism student at the university of Sheffield. My brother and his girlfriend are going through a really tough time at the moment because of the tightening up of the immigration rules. They will have ended up getting married at some point, but now they may end up having to get married just so she can stay in the country which is causing my family a lot of distress. It is really upsetting for them and I'm determined to give some exposure to genuine couple who are effected by the strict immigration rules.

I am looking for couples to talk to about their experiences for a radio feature I am making about the alleged changes to the rules and how because of the increased amount of sham marriages, genuine couples are struggling to stay together just because they have fallen in love with someone from another country.

If you are ging through/ have gone through a similar situation and want your voice to be heard then please get in touch with me to talk about your experiences.

Thanks,

Georgina

PS- I can travel anywhere in England to interview you!

[Lucapooka]

Without any further details from you, you seem to be advocating a sort of boy/girlfriend visa that requires no specific commitment or historical relationship for an officially sanctioned period. Or perhaps you can elaborate on your thinking? Would a person on holiday in the UK who meets a girl and would like to stick around to see if things work out benefit from your proposals (whatever they might be)?

[hip999]

I think you should also expose the fact that whilst UK citizens have to obtain a Visa to allow their foreign spouse to remain in the UK, a EU citizen (excluding UK citizens!) does not. So, UK citizens are at a big disadvantage in their own country!

[Lucapooka]

That is a fact! However, all things being equal (which they aren't) the UK would probably prefer to impose the same conditions on EU partners (rather than remove the conditions for UK partners) but they can't as they have signed the treaty.

[brummie]

but now they may end up having to get married just so she can stay in the country which is causing my family a lot of distress. It is really upsetting for them

You said that the relationship is genuine, and it is not an 'arranged marriage', so why the 'distress' and 'family being upset..'
I am sure they can have a small court marriage just so that they can follow the immigration rules. and have a proper white wedding many moons later for the sake of their family.That way both the parties are satisfied.
Rules are definitely there for a reason keeping in mind the broader prospective,so ask them to make the most of the day.
I myself got married in court for the purpose of extending my girlfriend - would be wife's visa.I did not have a choice, and I also did not mind.
This is just my personal opinion.

[ElenaW]

Do you realise how silly your proposal is OP? You want people to be granted a visa just for dating someone and not showing any sort of commitment?

If your brother and his gf are so reluctant to get married then they can have a long distance relationship like thousands of others.

Also I hope you realise that the immigration rules you're talking about "tightening" have been in force for a long time. There has never been a boyfriend/girlfriend visa as far as I'm aware. So maybe educate yourself in immigration rules first.