Tourist visa for my Filipino girlfriend

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

You seem to have done your research; the only thing that will worry the UK Immigration people is whether your girlfriend will return to the Philipines at the end of her trip; she will need things, like a return flight ticket, a letter from her boss confirming that he is holding her job open for her, or a letter from a school/college/uni if she is going back to school.

Hope that helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Yes, recently we face the same trouble. I have brother, he goes to college in the Philippines. and as Cybic said, it's need to a special letter, for example he took from the college. And it was smth else, but I didn't remember. Call him a weekend

evanssophiya wrote:

Yes, recently we face the same trouble. I have brother, he goes to college in the Philippines. and as Cybic said, it's need to a special letter, for example he took from the college. And it was smth else, but I didn't remember. Call him a weekend

If you could, that would be great, My girlfriend can get a letter from her workplace which is a beauty salon, to say that she works there etc, her salary is commission based so she gets paid cash.

Kind Regards,

Jack

Cynic wrote:

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

You seem to have done your research; the only thing that will worry the UK Immigration people is whether your girlfriend will return to the Philipines at the end of her trip; she will need things, like a return flight ticket, a letter from her boss confirming that he is holding her job open for her, or a letter from a school/college/uni if she is going back to school.

Hope that helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

She can get the letter from her boss to say she will return there when she returns, no problem.

I can get a travel itinerary from the flight centre to show the outbound and inbound travel dates to prove she has a return ticket. (I can get this itinerary before making payment just to show the intended travel dates.)

It says not to book flights before attending your appointment, is this the best practice? I hear of some people  booking their flights in advance for there other half to prove funds are there.

Kind Regards,

Jack

Hi again.

They advise you not to book the flight until after the appointment in case you are declined; I guess in the current expat climate that it could be described as "best practice", whether it's practicable I'm not so sure, especially if you are travelling on a busy route.  Whenever you book your flight, make sure you can change travel dates and/or cancel it for a refund.  Cheap flights don't normally offer this facility.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

The bank account does not matter, but she needs some kind of evidence of her earnings over the last year. You don't tell us how much she earns, but unless her income is fairly substantial it is highly unlikely that her visa would be granted. The other documents you have talked about (sponsorship from your family and so on) would not make any difference: the visa officer would look for a good reason why she would return home at the end of the holiday rather than over-staying and working illegally in the UK, and usually their idea of a 'good reason' is a substantial income at home.

My advice is that you spare her the expense and disappointment of a declined visa application and arrange a family meeting somewhere like Hong Kong.

Regrettably I have to agree with Voyager_2002. I tried twice, in 2014 and again in 2015, to obtain a visit visa for my Thai girlfriend to spend time with me in the UK so that she could get to know me better than was possible during relatively short holidays together in Thailand. Also to help her decide if she could live in the UK in the future. I provided a sponsorship letter, evidence to prove that we were in a long-term relationship and that I could support her, and a letter from her employer confirming that she had been in the same job for more than six years and would return to that job after her trip to the UK. It made no difference at all, because the UK Border Agency has difficulty believing that anyone on a low salary paid in cash will leave the UK when they say they will. It would take more than a return ticket to convince them otherwise.

The only way I can envisage bringing her to the UK is by marrying her, which I intend doing in September, but that is only the start of a potentially long and no doubt expensive process of obtaining a spouse visa for her.