In my experience and those of many others in the UK who have their partners now happily living with them in the UK, the best way for a successful result, is where the Filipino Applicant is well briefed, properly trained and fully informed and works in partneship with their British Sponsor, this may be done through networking with other couples, joining Forums, and reading material at sites like mine, when they come face to face with official situations they will always stand a higher chance of getting the required result.

There is one point that needs to come out, which rarely does, when it comes to trying to get your loved one to come and live in the UK, the husband/fiance, is actually more or less pushed out of the loop, and rarely gets a chance to be represented unless the situation goes to an appeal in the UK.

This is frustrating for the sponsor, but there are simply lots of ways that a sponsor can still be involved in the whole process, being in attendance giving support, and briefing and coaching there loved one to be more confident and assertive during intereviews certainly goes along way to helping.

What does this mean when we break it down, well it would appear that the institution of marriage cannot be seen as an automatic right of entitlement to admit a foreign national, this is because marriage or the participation in a marriage ceremony has much been mis-used as a means of obtaining a passport to a better life from developing countries, the British government is fully aware that those who seek to leave developing countries, may wish to do so through the better life chances that marriage to a foreign national will bestow on them.

An Entry Clearance Officer will seek to look at 3 areas when making an appreciation of an applicants suitability to be admitted to the United Kingdom:

1. That they will represent no burden on the state and will be privately housed.
2. That they will be adequately supported without recourse to public funds.
3. That the evidence shows that the applicant is more than likely to live in the UK as a wife or husband of the sponsor.

The main areas that spring to mind, for visa refusals are always the same, and sponsors in the UK are often to blame for total lack of preparation. The main reasons for refusals are as follows:

1. The Pinay applicant has no information about the intended wedding in the UK (marriage visa applicants only).
2. The Applicant wife/husband or fiancee'/fiance' has no help or has not been briefed properly about the rules, and how to satisfy the ECO.
3. Lack of documentation, not properly filled out.
4. Failure to show evidence of accomodation and Earnings.
5. Pinay applicants fail to show a knowledge of husband/Fiance's family or knowledge of him as a person.
6. Defaced documents, Corrupt passport pages - Faulty Laminate strip on photo page of Filipino passport.
7. NSO Documents incorrect - Lack of correct names for Pinay applicant.
8. Failing to disclose former marriages, local checks required, Not having Divorce Decree Absolutes or Anulment papers.

Remember this in all things:

The Key is "Balance of Probability that the applicant and sponsor intend to live as man and wife in the UK.

"So you want a better life in the UK then"?

Applicant: Yes..I do.

Hahahahah result...disasterous.

"So I suppose you are looking forward to going to UK for a better life"

Answer..oh yes I am,

Answers like this are in themselves not unreasonable, I mean who wouldnt be looking forward to coming to another country for a better life, isnt it what we all want ?

The problem with answering in that way, actually seeks to give the interviewer, who knows little or nothing about your relationship, a one sided prospective, in other words. a negative prospective, unless the applicant can be more assertive and define his/her answers like this.

The Applicant should answer this way - "I had not thought of that really, my husband wants me to come and live with him, I did of course ask him to come here to the Philippines, he told me that his career is in the UK, and that he doesnt really want to leave his job, I have my family here in the Philippines, leaving is not going to be easy, but I have discussed it with my husband, and agreed to come with him, I realize, he wants me to take care of him, on that basis I should be with him.

Do you see the difference in the answers, can the applicant modify their anwer, in such a way, that it is a concise picture of the applicants true position, not a one word answer that gives little help for the Entry Clearance Oficer to understand the applicants motives for wishing to come to the United Kingdom to live.

Or for example " Come on..surely you cant expect me to beleive after only 3 months that you know this man ?

This question is simply put by an Entry Clearance Officer to test the personal conviction of the applicant, and to put to the test the strength of the applicants own commitment in their relationship with the sponsor, a loving wife/husband or loving fiancee/fiance would seek to defend their relationship against anyone who would seek to dismiss it as anything other than a passing holiday romance

"Well sir, I put it to you, that I know my husband, I know everything about him, and I love him, its my decision to go and live with him, all I want to do is take care of my husband, I do expect you to believe me, simply because its true, whether I go to the United Kingdom to live or my husband comes here to live, I don't care, either way, it won't stop us being together !"

In this case, I am trying to empathize something here, its not a matter of whether the ECO beleives the relationship is genuine, but simply, the Filipino is so assertive in this case her answer, that he thinks she does !!!!

In other words, the applicants answer to the question is strong and has self belief, if she believes it then it must be true.

Here is another example of a a loaded weapon style question, here again the Entry Clearance Officer is simply using this question to ensure for his/her peace of mind that the application to live in the UK is not simply the overriding motive behind the application, and that marriage was not a vehicle to a better life, but a genuine marriage, the fact that the sponsor lives in the UK is irrelevant.

So you wanted to marry a foreigner to get you to the UK..do you really expect me to beleive that you didnt want that ?

This is a very hard question to answer at first, since it seeks to put a suggestion to the Applicant, then it makes the question more personalized, by insisting that the applicant convinces the ECO to change his mind about the applicants intentions.

The question appears to be prejudicial, the ECO for example appears to have made up his or her mind in the question, it appears then that the applicant has to rebuttle the question to get anywhere, but the question could be easily dismissed in the following manner !

I cannot deny that I was looking to marry a foreigner, because of the qualities I perceived they posess, when I met my husband, he was sweet and kind to me, I immedeatly fell for his qualities, such as...(you are now being specific, demonstrating a knowledge of your husband), his honesty, his caring attitude, his gentleness, his generosity, yes, I do actually expect you to beleive me, because its true, I love my husband, if he could live with me in the Philippines, my family would prefer that, I know my husband has often talked with me about it, but he does not think he could make a living in the economy, I would be happy to live in either country, no I must admit, I would have preferred to live here in the Philippines.

Again a similar answer, but the applicant is re-iterating to the ECO that the prospect of a better life chance in a G8 country is not the overriding factor in the relationship, this therefore establishes that coming to the UK to live, is not the primary motive for the application, nor the marriage.

This is a favourite tactic of an ECO...they ask questions in the "Surely you are not expecting me to beleive ???"

This is of course unfair in one sense, since most Filipina's are not used to confrontational style questioning methods, this sounds very similar to: "Surely you are not asking the jury to beleive "??? this is standard tactic of lawyers when asking questions of witnesses in much the same way, ECO's ask questions to establish the credibility of the witness in our case the applicant.

This completes our section on the Interview questions, once the Entry Clearance officer has granted you a visa, you may have to call back at the Embassy in the afternoon at 3pm and collect your passport, or your passport will be returned to you the following day, if your interview was completed in the afternoon session.

Visa's are normally issued by 3pm on each week day, Fiancee Visa's are valid for 6 months only, on the basis of marriage to the sponsor, the sponsors name will be shown in your passport, Filipino spouses, will have a 24 month visa, during this period the Filipino spouse may work in paid employment in the United Kingdom, both visa's are still subject to Immigration control, until such time as you apply for FLR (Further Leave to remain) for the Fiancee, and ILR (Indefinate leave to remain) for the Spouse.

So what next ?

The objective of this program is to help Filipino fiancé(e)s and spouses of foreign nationals make informed decisions regarding their marriage to foreign nationals and to prepare them for their adjustments in cross-cultural marriages.

It is now time to jump to the final step before the applicant fiancee/wife husband/fiance makes arrangements to fly to the United Kingdom, please link to the Commssion on Filipinos Overseas, Pre-Arrival Guidance and Counselling Programme Information Page This will give you all the information you need for attending the CFO both in Manila and Cebu.

Sadly some applicants face the prospect of a refusal to grant a visa to enter the United Kingdom, for the applicant this is an emotional and heart breaking experience, for the sponsor sometimes even worse, as they are often not in attendance and are in the UK patiently waiting for the outcome, refusals cause resentment to the authorities that arbitrarily make unpopular decisions and distress to the applicant and British sponsor, if you as an applicant or sponsor find yourselves the subject of a refusal to grant a visa, there are certain procedural steps you can take to remedy the situation, you can now turn to the What can I do about a visa refusal section of this website, this has lots of information about what happens when a visa is refused, what does the Entry Clearance Officer have to do, what are your options in appealing against a decision, which organizations can help you.