My girlfriend and I are both living in Macao (close to Hong Kong) and plan a visit to the UK to see family and friends in August this year for about 3-4 weeks. I’m a UK national and she is a Filipina domestic helper. Her boss is a Portuguese judge here and has offered to write a letter confirming her employment status and that she will return to Macao at the end of the trip. I have reasonable savings in both Hong Kong and Macao as well as a functioning UK bank account. We’ll be staying at my family flat, which I jointly own with my brother and sister, with possibly some travel within the UK to stay with friends. As I understand it, she must apply for her visa in Hong Kong and attend the interview there, although the papers are processed in Manila. She also worked overseas (in Japan) but has never visited the UK before. My query is whether the application can be solely supported by me as I will be travelling with her or whether I need some support from family back home. I’ve read a lot of postings here already but most seem to concern UK-based men inviting their Philippine-based girlfriends to visit them in the UK. My situation is a little different and if other people have experience or knowledge of similar applications, where both partners are outside the UK and the Philippines, I’d love to hear from you.
to the forum.. When it comes to a visit visa, the Entry Clearance Officer is really looking to ensure that the applicant returns back home or to where they came from. If you write a letter of support making it clear that you are both travelling to and will be leaving the UK together and back to Hong Kong, plus evidence of a life to return to in Hong Kong, I cannot see a problem. Yes, the visa processing takes place at the Manila hub and beware that each ECO there has about 55 visa applications per day to process, which leaves them with less than 8 minutes per visa application. So long as the visa application is idiot proof and simple to process, the whole process should be a breeze. One of our members recently returned from Scotland where she spent time with her boyfriend, clearly the ECO had been confident she would return back to the Philippines.
I agree with Kuya. Admittedly a long time ago now, but in the late 1990's my then wife and I visited the UK three times for summer holidays when we were living in Beijing. She had a Filipino passport. The Embassy in Beijing made no difficulties.
Hello Kimmac and welcome here to the forum. Glad you found us and hope you'll enjoy. Based on the information you've shared I see no reason why the application should be refused and would expect a rapid and positive outcome. I doubt very much that an interview with Embassy staff will be involved. My guess is that it's only an appointment with VFS to submit the paperwork and to enrol 'biometrics') at the visa application centre. As others have said the decision will be made by UKBA Manila Hub. Just be sure to be honest in the application and to provide support for the duration requested. Ultimately the visa will have a validity of 6 months regardless of the duration requested. Good luck and be sure to let us all know how it goes.
