Travel to the UK

Hi, I am Austrian citizen and regarding the child it is easy if your name is in the birth certificate of your child. If this is the case you can request a British passport for her. It might take some weeks but you might get it. My son is Philippine/Austrian dual citizen now.

Regarding your girlfriend it should be possible to get a a long term visa for her. The Austrian embassy in Manila would have given me a 3 months visa and in this time my wife would have had to attend German classes what my wife refused. So we took the Schengen visa for holiday and stay in our condo in Boracay.

Good luck and keep us updated. This info might help others.

Andy

Andy.

Thanx mate. She has my surname on her birth certificate.

Every embassy will be different I imagine, with some more effective than others. I know others who have gotten passports for their kids from the U.S, Germany and even Ireland but I don't know anybody from the UK that has done, that's why i was asking.

The major problem will be getting a visa for my Mrs and I think that where I need specific advice.

I appreciate you reaching out and enjoy yourselves in Boracay.

I think a you should make an appointment at the British Embassy in Manila with regard to getting the British passport and assuming that you can provide plenty of evidence of relationship then apply for a fiancée visa which if successful means you will marry your Mrs in the UK within 6 months.......... I assume you are free to marry. The other path is to marry here in the Philippines and then apply for a spouse visa.

I think the main question here is - do you intend to marry your girl when in England and is your wish to settle down in England?  Your options will depend on this.

@FindlayMacD

Thank you. Did you go through the process yourself by any chance?

@Cherryann01

Thank you for your reply.

I would like my daughter to see my mother, who is too ill now to travel. In doing that I would like also to take my girlfriend. So, initially we would like to go just for a visit.

It might be, eventually we go back to the UK, but currently the amount of money you need to do that is a bit out of my league. If it really helps mattes I could also get married there.

    @FindlayMacD
Thank you. Did you go through the process yourself by any chance?
   

    -@abcdefggsharp

I did with my first Filipina wife, so I know the process and what is required.

@abcdefggsharp

but currently the amount of money you need to do that is a bit out of my league

British people who want to sponsor a foreign spouse or partner for a visa must normally earn £18,600 a year. This minimum income requirement is increasing to £29,000 in April 2024 and further rises are planned.

    @abcdefggsharp
but currently the amount of money you need to do that is a bit out of my league


British people who want to sponsor a foreign spouse or partner for a visa must normally earn £18,600 a year. This minimum income requirement is increasing to £29,000 in April 2024 and further rises are planned.
   

    -@Lotus Eater

Thank you. Can they be retired with savings? Its my parents who will sponsor her.

I hear the fee is rising to 38,000 a year?

@abcdefggsharp

Thank you. Can they be retired with savings? Its my parents who will sponsor her

It's based on your income. As for the 38K figure I guess that's inflation for you

    @abcdefggsharpThank you. Can they be retired with savings? Its my parents who will sponsor herIt's based on your income. As for the 38K figure I guess that's inflation for you -@Lotus Eater

Thats correct. In case anybody is interested, In found out that you can use savings instead of an income, if that is what is lacking. However, This is in the region of 90K I was told.

Many years ago I invited my Ukranian girlfriend to the UK and after providing all the proof of funds, relationship, etc, she was granted a six month tourist visa. Now I cannot remember all the details but we visited a solicitor who gave 30 minutes free legal advise and discussed the possibility of us getting married. The end result was she stayed, we got married before her tourist visa ran out and she sent her documents off to get the spousal visa. All worked fine with a few restrictions on her not being able to work or study for six months.

Your case is slightly different in that you have a child and also it sounds to me like your parents would be the sponsors and the ones providing proof of income or/and savings.

***

    I hear the fee is rising to 38,000 a year?
   

    -@abcdefggsharp

1. I appears to be an income requirement, certainly not a fee.

2. 38K British Pounds is probably a bare minimum requirement to keep you out of abject poverty and minimally dependent on social welfare.

3. 18K Pounds is probably considered poverty level in the UK and likely renders such earners eligible for welfare.

I suspect the UK realizes they cannot afford a lot social welfare assistance to immigrants or overstaying visitors. It probably had nothing to do with inflation and inflation did not increase by that proportion.

@Cherryann01

Thank you. How long ago are we talking? I am not in the Uk right now so what I have to do is via the Phils, until I go back. I wonder how much this might have changed over that period of time you applied.

@danfinn

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, of course. It just feels like a fee to me, its what the government wants me to supply when I am no longer there working and dislike the idea of that, right now. However, if needs be I will have to do that. So, it might have been a joke.

I know the UK compared to here is extremely expensive and the estimation they might have as an income might well be an amount you need to sustain a quality of life there, but in my experience and having left there not so long ago, that's an amount I would be living a very high life style with. Having said that, I am not taking into account a few children or a wife to look after. Still, I think that is more than enough money to have to get by there. I defiantly would struggle to find a job that paid me 38k. 

Hi you really need to be married, earn more than 29,000 pounds in UK with 3 months pay slips min (this is an interim lower fig, was going to be over 40k or have a 100k in  cash in a bank account so be warned it may go up) and she will need to pay large.

You will need 1,846 pounds for fees and there is a NHS fee as well of 2,588 so about 4,500 pounds in fees with other small fees.

You need to prove an ongoing relationship as well.

It isn't cheap!

    @Cherryann01
Thank you. How long ago are we talking? I am not in the Uk right now so what I have to do is via the Phils, until I go back. I wonder how much this might have changed over that period of time you applied.
   

    -@abcdefggsharp

From the UK responses it appears that my rough estimations my have been a bit out of order because I was relating them to USA poverty levels and incomes. I was thinking that 18K would have been close to a uk poverty level but I am not hearing that, no 18k is  common middle class income. That is around $25k usd which many social security earners in the usa live on. So if they moved to uk with that income you are saying such ameruczn immigrants could live z middle class lifestyle in the uk where in the usa they would be bare bones and maybe have to live in their cars or in the street. Somehow it doesn't seem this would be the case.

@danfinn

The average income in the UK is about £35K ( $44K) per annum. This  by no means will place you at the poverty level and all other factors being equal (ceterus paribus) will not entitle you to government handouts. Of course the above income will have more purchasing power in Cornwall, one of the  poorest counties in England , relative to London where about 40% of income goes on rent. The capital will generally have 'London weighting' so wages will be above average.

A nominal income figure says nothing about the standard of living even using the 'Economists' Big Mac Index. Its essentially the % difference between the income and the price of a common basket of goods available in countries worldwide i.e the 'purchasing power'

When comparing the UK to the US a big factor to consider is health care costs. Some Americans will receive cover from their employer some will not have this benefit. Pensioners receive Medicare, working age adults have to rely on Medicaid but as I understand it you have to be poverty stricken to qualify for this. UK health care is free at the point of use albeit with long waiting times for treatment

@Lotus Eater Thanks for your inputs lotus. Once in 1986 I was in London and it so happened that the pound was temporarily at parity with the US dollar and at that time, prices seemed to be "normal" to an American visitor. It always seemed, no matter when I visited, that British prices in pounds were about equal to the same number as the US price but in dollar denomination. An exception was the price of a pint being a pound as it was at the time; at $1.50 that was a great bargain for the yanks lol.

@Nemodot

Thanks for that.

It most certainly is a lot of money. 

Was that general knowledge you have obtained or from past experiences?