Cohabitation Rule Feels Like Catch 22

[Enfield55]

Hello All,

I'm thinking ahead about how my Chinese girlfriend could live with me in the UK in the future and am looking at the unmarried partner visa. However I can't see a way to meet the requirement to 'have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more'

She can't live with me in the UK, because the visitor visa prohibits working.
Even if I supported her so that she could stay here for periods at a time on the visitor visa I have read that 'Only time spent continuously’ in the UK can contribute to your partner’s future chances for permanent residency in the UK'. With the visitor visa requiring leaving the UK every 6 months it would not be continuous. I also read elsewhere that any time spent in the UK on a visitors visa would not count towards the living together rule.

I would find it very difficult to spend more than 4 months per year living with her in China.
So the only other option I can think of is that we both live together in a third country as digital nomads. However, I have read that ' If the applicant, their partner or both have spent the majority of the period overseas, there may be reason to doubt that the couple intend to live together permanently in the UK.'
This seems like a catch 22 situation that I can't find a way around. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[THO]

Enfield,

There is no way around it. You either bring her here and marry her, or live apart travelling back and forth to see her until you are both ready to marry. I faced the same issue with my now VN wife.

She did get a job offer in the UK by her global employer, (who actually created a job that would make it unlikely that anyone else in the UK could meet the requirements of) but then the COS points requirement suddenly shot up from 21 points to around 65 to qualify for the visa, and it stayed that high for months, so the offer had to be withdrawn. However, maybe your GF could get a job offer in the UK, if she can find a sponsor and she has a profession that is needed? That way you could get two years together.

You have two marriage visa options, the less expensive Marriage Visitor Visa, what we did, or the more expensive Fiance visa. The MVV she would be able to stay for 6 months and then have to go back, where you would apply for the Spouse visa for her to return to the UK. The MVV should only take a couple of weeks to get, if there are no hick-ups with the application, like ours.
The Fiance visa, she can stay put in the UK and apply for the spouse visa from here. You need to meet all the criteria, which I am sure you have heard is going to change.

Good luck,

THO.

[Enfield55]

Thanks for your reply.

I've never been the marrying type but perhaps it's time to reconsider. It's still early stages yet but at least I know what the choices are, even if limited.

It would be a lot easier if she lived in Vietnam. Having travelled there it's a place I could see myself spending a lot of time in. Not so much China.

[THO]

I know, I have been to China and it's not somewhere I could live either. Long distance relationships are always hard, and not being able to live together for a long time before marriage, makes taking that step a little more daunting, because you don't get a chance to see if you really get on when together for a long period of time.

I was lucky in so far as I could work from anywhere, and so was able to live there for a month at a time, but we were still apart for 6 months between. Hours and hours spent on Skype or Whatsapp is what you have to put up with until you are sure.

Could she look for a job in the UK?