Can I employ my Long Distance Partner?

[UKLDR]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help me with some advice regarding immigration and my long distance partner.

We are currently in a long distance relationship (2 years so far), she's a US Citizen and i'm a UK citizen (both living in our respective countries). We have seen each other in person many times and i've lived at her place for up to 3 weeks at a time as well. We do plan to get married one day but would prefer to live permanently with each other first.

I run my own business doing various things with Marketing and Social Media. My girlfriend wants to start YouTubing and Twitch, but at her place the upload speed capability isn't really fast enough to do it to a good quality. I would like to employ her and have her live with me in the UK (I currently live with my parents but I would rent or buy a house for us two to live in).

Having her living here would allow me to train her each week, provide her with quality equipment and live in an area with a fast upload speed for high resolution uploads. It would also benefit our relationship as it would no longer be long distance. I also truly believe she has great potential in achieving a lot in the Vlogging / Twitch market. My business wouldn't recoup back instantly from it but I strongly believe long-term it would be very successful.

I have the following questions regarding my situation:

1. Does this sound like something that would be accepted to gain a work Visa / Permit for her in the UK?

2. How much would I have to pay her as a wage?

3. Are there any other costs involved?

4. Does being in a long-term long distance relationship make this easier, harder or neither?

5. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

Our target date of getting something sorted is approximately December 2017. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[srsw]

1. Does this sound like something that would be accepted to gain a work Visa / Permit for her in the UK?

Depends on the genuine vacancy. Did she visited UK earlier and gave your details, etc.? If yes, that may prompt ukvi to consider it as nongenuine job.

2. How much would I have to pay her as a wage?

Check relevant SOC codes for that type of job and see minimum salary requirements.

3. Are there any other costs involved?

Assuming you don't already have sponsorship licence, that's an additional cost. Skill charge is another, £1000 per year that you need to dishout. Immigration Health Surcharge (your partner has to borne that cost if she gets the job, apart from visa fee).

4. Does being in a long-term long distance relationship make this easier, harder or neither?

Probably harder, if you or her declared relationship in any previous visa application.

5. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

If immigration authorities find out that deception involved, she may be banned to enter UK for many years and potential sponsorship licence revoking for your company. Lots of other things to consider if you really go this route, i.e. sponsor responsibilities, etc.

Thanks!

Best for her to get a job in any other UK based company to be honest so she can first come down here and you can live together... rather than complicating things with this idea.

[UKLDR]

[quote="srsw"][quote="UKLDR"]

Apologies for the formatting of this post, didn't quite work out as intended... Thanks for your reply! Here's some answers / extra info:

Depends on the genuine vacancy. Did she visited UK earlier and gave your details, etc.? If yes, that may prompt ukvi to consider it as nongenuine job.

She has never been to the UK before, I met her out in the US and have visited numerous times since. We have been to conventions out there based in this sort of market (gaming / stream ing).

Check relevant SOC codes for that type of job and see minimum salary requirements.

Where can I find this? Am I right in thinking for a usual permit she needs to be offered a job of at least £29,000 per year?

Probably harder, if you or her declared relationship in any previous visa application.

Ok, no it's never been declared. Are they likely to ask me if we're in a relationship at all during the application?

If immigration authorities find out that deception involved, she may be banned to enter UK for many years and potential sponsorship licence revoking for your company. Lots of other things to consider if you really go this route, i.e. sponsor responsibilities, etc.

There is no deception involved, it's a genuine job she'd be doing on a daily basis from home and i'm very confident we'd both succeed from it (Me for my business and her for having a job she enjoys). It would just coincide very well with also being in a relationship. Do you think living together would create a problem at all?

[srsw]

SOC codes: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... illed-work

Minimum salary depends on the soc code guide and whether she falls under "new entrant" or "experienced" category (details in above link).

As part of her application, she may have to declare if she has any friends/relatives, etc, in UK and if she doesn't mention you as boyfriend/partner, then that's withholding information, which may go against her in future (again depends on what's already been declared or known to authorities I guess).

Living together - again, if she in her application mentions that she will be living with you or at your address, then that will be contrary to what she may declare about your relation. So one way or the other you end up giving conflicting info (?). Even if she initially resides in separate location/address, and then moves to your place, she needs to inform immigration authorities about change of address.

As I said, in future extension or settlement applications all the previously declared info will be reviewed and if there is any conflicting info, it will go against you/your partner.

[Djsuccess]

Your long distance partner being an American can travel to the UK for three months without a visa. So I believe she can visit you.
While the position you are creating for her might be genuine, you might need to conduct Residents Market Labour Test to show that nobody can do the job in the UK and EU. What qualifications or experience does your partner have to make her the best person for the role?
Even if the role is genuine, it is obvious that your main purpose of bringing her in is for the relationship and not declaring that to UKVI might count against you as using deception.
There might be a route for Unmarried Partner. I will advise you gather evidence to prove that your relationship is genuine and then try to apply for unmarried patner visa (please check if this is possible). If you bring her to UK as an unmarried partner, you can then offer her a job and then train her. I think that's a more sincere approach than trying to recruit her directly from the US. This is just my personal opinion. I guess some more experienced members of the forum will give you more responses.

[srsw]

While the position you are creating for her might be genuine, you might need to conduct Residents Market Labour Test to show that nobody can do the job in the UK and EU. What qualifications or experience does your partner have to make her the best person for the role?

+1 for that. RLMT is must and if other candidates are better suited, then it becomes even harder to recruit the candidate that he wants.

[vinny]

There might be a route for Unmarried Partner. I will advise you gather evidence to prove that your relationship is genuine and then try to apply for unmarried patner visa (please check if this is possible). If you bring her to UK as an unmarried partner, you can then offer her a job and then train her.

We are currently in a long distance relationship (2 years so far), she's a US Citizen and i'm a UK citizen (both living in our respective countries). We have seen each other in person many times and i've lived at her place for up to 3 weeks at a time as well. We do plan to get married one day but would prefer to live permanently with each other first.

This would be insufficient for leave as an unmarried partner.

[Djsuccess]

While the position you are creating for her might be genuine, you might need to conduct Residents Market Labour Test to show that nobody can do the job in the UK and EU. What qualifications or experience does your partner have to make her the best person for the role?

+1 for that. RLMT is must and if other candidates are better suited, then it becomes even harder to recruit the candidate that he wants.

Exactly, RLMT is key and even some big companies get it wrong. It's one the biggest hurdles to cross when sponsoring a worker from abroad when they don't fall under the shortage skill.

[CR001]

There might be a route for Unmarried Partner. I will advise you gather evidence to prove that your relationship is genuine and then try to apply for unmarried patner visa (please check if this is possible). If you bring her to UK as an unmarried partner, you can then offer her a job and then train her. I think that's a more sincere approach than trying to recruit her directly from the US. This is just my personal opinion. I guess some more experienced members of the forum will give you more responses.

She won't qualify for an Unmarried Partner visa. The mandatory requirement of 2 years cohabitation 'in a relationship akin to marriage' will not be met.

I don't believe the OPs 'plan' will work. I personally know of at least 3 people in the UK (2 x EU and 1 x BC) that do exactly this (vlogging, twitch etc) and trying to make a living from it.

Also, OP hasn't stated if he has 'business premises' as he did state she would be working from home one trained.

[UKLDR]

The mandatory requirement of 2 years cohabitation 'in a relationship akin to marriage' will not be met.

Also, OP hasn't stated if he has 'business premises' as he did state she would be working from home one trained.

Yes that's the reason why I couldn't take the unmarried partner route, I have known her for two years but not lived akin to marriage with her. The home would be the business premises as it's essentially stream ing from home.

[CR001]

Yes that's the reason why I couldn't take the unmarried partner route, I have known her for two years but not lived akin to marriage with her. The home would be the business premises as it's essentially stream ing from home.

So she would be living at the same address you list as business premises. If you choose to go ahead, expect a very high level of scrutiny.

What technical or highly skilled attributes does she bring to the UK job market?? What would she actually be doing or would her job title actually be? I cannot see any success here for an application with HO for a 'live s_treaming job from home'.

[Wanderer]

Basically there's no way this is ever going to work, sorry....