Greetings- can you help me through the maze?

I moved from Brighton to Germany 16 years ago and am now looking to return.

I have been skyping with a filipina for many months and we have fallen in love and we want her to come to England and get married for which she will require a fiance visa.

My health problems mean that I am unable to visit her there as i had a motorbike accident and spend most of my life in a wheel chair. Because of this i developed long ago agoraphobia and clinical depression and rarely leave my home.

I tried to make the journey yesterday and had a flight booked but could not leave my home and lost all the ticket money.

I have read that there is a waiver for people who cannot travel for health reasons but that when this applies the authrities tend to put these applications to the bottom of the pile and the granting of a visa can take a year or more.

I am 70 years old and dont know how long I will be around and desperately need the help and support that my fiance could give.

Please, please can you advise my best course of action to get my fiance here soon. Naturally my doctor would confirm my health problems. Should I write to the Embassy and explain my predicament or just apply in the normal way.

The stress this is causing is unbelievable and any assistance you can give me I promise would be very gratefully received.

Thank you and I look forward to participating here in the future

hi Geoff--welcome to the forum.

are you saying you want to return to the UK then bring your lady here ?

Welcome to the forum Geoff

Reading your post I could be forgiven for thinking that you wanted the Filipina you've been Skyping with just to look after you.

If I was in your position I would return back to the UK and set up home before considering my next move regarding the young lady in the Philippines, meanwhile just make sure you do not part company with your cash as in sending money to the Philippines to someone you've never met.

Get yourself back to the UK, get yourself well then take it from there, talking about visas and the like is just going to get you all worked up and stressed for nothing

Hello. Welcome to the forum.

Whilst it could be interpreted that you are looking for a carer as opposed to a life partner, that's none of my business, so here are the facts as I understand them.

You will be unable to petition for a 'marriage' visa because you have not met the girl in person. You are required to have met in person at least once. You also clearly can not petition for a 'spouse' visa because you would have to marry in person abroad.

Proxy marriages are not recognized by the UKVI. I am not aware of any legislation that would allow you to sidestep the requirement to have met at least once in person before you were to petition for a 'settlement' visa, and frankly. I can't see why you would want to.

I suggest that you arrange for the young lady to visit you in Germany on a Schengen tourist visa. And keep photographs and documentation of that. You will of course have to get engaged on that trip, and keep receipts for the ring and photographs to document your relationship. Alternatively, you could move back to the UK and arrange for her to visit as a tourist there and do the same. You will not be permitted to marry on a tourist visa but there is no reason why you can not get engaged.

Just be aware that a tourist visa is not a foregone conclusion when made in the UK, and she will be required to demonstrate that she intends to return to the Philippines. If she has a full time job in the Philippines, that is made easier. So let us assume that you arrange for a tourist visa to Germany.

At some point after that, should you wish to return to the UK, you will have to apply for a 'marriage' (settlement) visa under Appendix FM which will allow you to bring her to the UK and marry within 6 months. You will need to be in the UK to make such an application given your situation (you are not working).

You would normally have to meet the income requirement of £18,600 whilst in the UK. If you do not have income but you have savings in excess of about £62,500 then you can use savings in Lieu of incomg. Those savings must have been held in an immediately accessible savings account for more than 6 months, interest from these can be be counted as income in any income statement, and must not be borrowed.

However, if you are in receipt of certain disability related benefits then you may be exempt from that requirement. Clearly, you would have to be in the UK to receive these benefits.

The application for the 'marriage' visa will involve you providing information about your relationship including pictures, details of your British citizenship, of your income and savings as appropriate, and that you have suitable accommodation for you both to stay (deeds of house or rental agreement and a letter from your landlord granting permission for her to stay).

A letter to the embassy will be of no use. Your personal circumstance are of no interest to the UKVI and then will apply the rules to the letter. They will not make an exception for you.

Consequently, none of this is a simple or quick process.

Finally. I would encourage you not to jump into anything too quickly. There are plenty of people out there who may want to take advantage of you in your situation. I am sure that you are adult enough to question why a (presumably) young Filipina might find you attractive given the situation, and make your decisions with your eyes open.

You should also be aware that given the situation, the UKVI may well question the legitimacy of your relationship. It is not my place to question that, but you will appreciate that others may well do so. You will likely require a very high standard of proof that your relationship is a genuine one. You appreciate the point.

Hope that this is helpful.

hmmm

Thank you so much, I should not have written about caring in my original post, we skype together approximately 18 hours a day for the last few months and the caring came in that beccause we are both so much in love that she wants to be able to be here to help me out with day to day chores. I know there is one born every minute as several of my ex friends have told me. I am most certainly am not looking for a carer. However your reply has been much appreciated and is very helpful. Thank you very much.

I believe there is a way for you to bring your girlfriend there to be with you.
Go for what makes you happy @Geoff . Good luck!

You are welcome. There is one other option for you to consider. Since you are already present in Germany, you could sidestep the income requirement entirely by remaining there, applying for her to join you and marry, (or by marrying abroad and then petitioning for her to join you in Germany as your wife) and then, once resident in Germany, you could then travel to the UK under the current 'Freedom of movement laws for EU nationals'. A variant on this is sometimes known as the 'Surinder Singh' route. This would remove the need for you to prove your income, and may be an attractive option. It is certainly what I would consider, in your situation.

However, given the recent Brexit vote, this route may not be open to you for much longer. I am also not familiar with the requirements under EU law that you would have to satisfy for her to join you there. However, there are some members here who have experience of that.

Could I just double check. If she came to Germany on a tourist visa, she would then have to go back to the Philippines and apply for a fiancee visa over there? Meanwhile I would move to the UK.

I added you an extra answer (above) which might better suit your situation if you are not in a rush to return to the UK. See my remarks above concerning the Surinder Singh route.

However, if you do not have the time or the inclination for that, and you need to be in the UK, then yes, you would get engaged when she visits as a tourist and then apply for a 'marriage' (settlement) visa with her in the Philippines. (This is for a UK 'marriage' visa of course).

Thank you so much. It is nice to have a positive reaction, we are both determined to make it work

I think the problem may well come from the Philippine end because we have not met, so I understand I must apply for a waiver on health grounds. However I understand the Philippine authorities take an extra long time to process a fiancee visa when this is the case.

You misunderstand me. My previous answer was misleading. You will need to have met in person as a tourist. Either of you can visit the other one in order to meet and become engaged.

I am not aware of any legislation that allows you to petition for visa to marry without having met. Where did you read about this waiver?

After you have met, your visa application for her to travel and marry will be made to either Germany (see my. Remarks about surinder Singh) or the uk (my post before that) The Philippine government is not involved.

However, she will need to obtain a cfo sticker when the visa is granted for her to be allowed to leave the Philippines and that may not be granted if the Philippine authorities are not convinced about your relationship. This system has been introduced to prevent people trafficking and mail order brides etc. She will be interviewed. However there are members here who have married after meeting once so I wouldn't be too discouraged.

Clearly you need to make every effort to meet in person. For both your sakes. It's rather a lot to ask of you both otherwise and I suspect that you will encounter problems on all sides if you do not meet.

18 hours skype a day is quite impressive, sad in a way, perhaps this is why you talk about "ex friends" if you now feel so isolated from the real world.

In your situation I don't understand why you want to return to the UK, especially with your anxiety problems and fear of being out in public.

Best idea would be to fly your webcam partner to Germany to see if you get along fine, then take it from there. Germany is a wonderful place.

a long shot maybe " a certificate of application" but I don't know enough about it, others may want to comment!

The waiver I found was here http://asl-lawfirm.com/what-is-a-fi...cDSbmNKXlDV8yp0ijiG68y9vCsGQL6ZuroaAjG18P8HAQ

this is relevant to USA only

As already mentioned, that pertains to the USA. UK law requires to have met at least once. I am also not aware of any legislation under European law that permits you visa to marry without having met. Therefore, as I mentioned, you will need to meet at least once, with either of you being a tourist, in order to progress your relationship, become engaged, and subsequently apply for a marriage visa in either the uk or Germany as indicated.

Following-on from what you say - and Keith will correct me if I'm wrong - I seem to recall that a Schengen Family Re-Unification Visa isn't only available to family members but to fiancees as well. Geoff would need to apply for a Type "D" Visa with Family Re-Unification as the reason. He should have no problem convincing UKVI that his "centre of life" is currently in Germany but I've heard that UKVI no longer entertains family permit applications from retired folk.

Which airline were you flying with, was that Lufthansa to Manila?

Worth checking if you are able to claim any of the fare back on your travel insurance or your credit card, failing that you may be able to claim part of the tax back from the airline.