Hi,

Just wondering if anyone could recommend a country where settlement visa applications are decided for couples without considering whether a couple is married. My girlfriend and I are in our mid-20s, have been together travelling around the world (and working where we can) for the passed 2 years but we can't marry as I've been married before and don't want to have to leave my girlfriend for 6 months just to go to London and get a piece of paper saying I'm divorced. UK embassy worries about if we''re married or not so they'll never give her a visa even though we're obviously in a stable, long term relationship. We've saved about $20,000 and I have a good degree. Where can we settle?

The UK rules are the same for all visa nationals, no matter which embassy you apply to. Applicants are also expected to apply to the embassy in the country of their normal residence.

To apply for a spouse or fiance visa you have to be legally free to marry, but you may be able to apply as unmarried partners. To do so you need to show that you have lived together in a 'relationship akin to marriage' for a minimum period of two years.

Immigration Rules Scroll down to para. 295

Of course, you could always settle in Thailand.

To the best of my knowledge, I can't think of a country which will just let you settle with little formality. As a Brit you could settle in any EU country but have no expectation of being able to have your g/f accompany you as she would not be classed as a dependant.

If you are divorced already, you don't need to return to the UK in order to get a copy of your divorce certificate. You can contact the county court by which it was issued, by post and request a copy. I think the fee is £1 if you know the case number and £5 if you don't.

Scouse.

nzl defines the concept of "partner".doesn't matter wether you are married or not, just have to prove a viable partnership as per their definitions. so , if you are qualified enough,you could persue nzl residency as a "skilled migrant" and your "partner" could accompany you.

Edited July 30, 200521 yr by penelope

thanks very much. unfortunately i'm still married and my girlfriend's pevious passport was stolen so we can't prove we've been together for 2 years. We've got 2 more months in the 'Western' country we're currently in and I can't believe they's let us settle. 2 months and then back to visa-less, future-less insanity! For all other people in our situation, not allowed to have a future, I recommend alcohol as a great way of dealing with it!

For all other people in our situation, not allowed to have a future......

Who, exactly, is not allowing you to have a future? All you have to do is come back to the UK and divorce your wife Then return to Thailand and marry your girlfriend. Then you can apply for a spouse visa for her and settle in the UK or an EU/EEA family permit and settle in Europe. Just means getting off your arse and sorting your life out!

If that's too much effort for you then just live with her in Thailand.

So I leave my girlfriend alone in BKK for 4 months, go to London, plead with a judge to PLEASE give me a piece of paper proving that I am no longer with my wife (who I haven't seen for several years, don't know where is) in the eyes of God. And then, after at least 4 months, when I (maybe - maybe because maybe the judge will say ' Though can not, though hast sinned!) have the piece of paper, I find my girlfriend in Thailand (our relationship wouldn't be the same after so long apart - we have been living in each others pockets for 2 years!). And then we get married in the eyes of God (even though we're not Christian, don't believe in marriage and think marriage would probably end us) and then when we get this new document, we start to plead with the UK embassy to please let us live in the country where I was born. You're not even half as educated as me (and actually I've studied migration economics and understand that what you're doing is just something to get human scum like Winston Peters and John Howard elected) but: Pretty please, please let us! And then, of course, they say NO as they always do. BUT after a few years, when any chances I ever had of having a decent career with my first class degree have long gone, they finally say YES and we live in a bedsit until we die!

OR we could get the next direct flight to London tomorrow and live great lives doing great things for other people. But we can't!

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF ME ALL AROUND THE WORLD!!

Man, the world is insane and beer is THE only answer.

Man, the world is insane and beer is THE only answer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is reasonably funny, but to be serious for a moment I'd say the answer is to be patient, objective,focussed on your goal and persistent.

I know of a couple who were once in a hole...he was just another 30 day tourist, she was thai(not even registered..no, id, tabien bahn,passport,nothing !), little education....cut to many years later and they are now both US citizens, have a house, child, she graduated university etc....

They could have sat back and winged and moaned and cried "I'm just a downtrodden victim". Instead they strategised, came up with a plan for acheiving their personal goal, stripped emotion and reaction out of the equation. They had to suck it up and deal with some tough stretches, but they knew that as long as it was a means to the end goal, it was worth it.Everyone wants things right here and right now.Good things take time, whether it is that great job in LOS or your wife's citizenship. Be patient.

Once you're inside the UK, they're more than happy to believe that a man and a woman living in the same residence should be treated as "living together as man and wife"... since it would benefit them for tax purposes. (Years ago I went through a farcical scene with an assessor over the female friend that I shared a house with, which came down to questions over sharing teabags, division of housework, and separate laundry piles...)

However, realistically you're in your mid-20's and "divorced" for several years... (after marrrying a UK woman depsite your lack of religion)... now you're in a "stable longterm relationship" which couldn't survive a few months apart... you have "no hope" of finding your wife in the UK in order to divorce her (use a detective or file for divorce and wait the statutory period)... but "obviously" the immigration officer should magically see your true love for your girlfriend, and ignore the fact that thousands of gold-diggers and prostitutes are trafficked along the same route with the same excuses. Perhaps you think border immigration officials shouldn't stop you and ask for your tiresome passport, since you're obviously a citizen with a first class degree.

For someone who has "studied migration economics" you seem to be unaware of the most basic points of law, so I suggest you don't call other people's education into question. No European country, nor Thailand, requires religion of any kind to be involved in a civil marriage.

So I leave my girlfriend alone in BKK for 4 months, go to London, plead with a judge to PLEASE give me a piece of paper proving that I am no longer with my wife (who I haven't seen for several years, don't know where is) in the eyes of God. And then, after at least 4 months, when I (maybe - maybe because maybe the judge will say ' Though can not, though hast sinned!) have the piece of paper, I find my girlfriend in Thailand (our relationship wouldn't be the same after so long apart - we have been living in each others pockets for 2 years!). And then we get married in the eyes of God (even though we're not Christian, don't believe in marriage and think marriage would probably end us) and then when we get this new document, we start to plead with the UK embassy to please let us live in the country where I was born. You're not even half as educated as me (and actually I've studied migration economics and understand that what you're doing is just something to get human scum like Winston Peters and John Howard elected) but: Pretty please, please let us! And then, of course, they say NO as they always do. BUT after a few years, when any chances I ever had of having a decent career with my first class degree have long gone, they finally say YES and we live in a bedsit until we die!

OR we could get the next direct flight to London tomorrow and live great lives doing great things for other people. But we can't!

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF ME ALL AROUND THE WORLD!!

Man, the world is insane and beer is THE only answer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Stop fealing sorry for yourself and fix your long term problems

if your relationship really is that strong of course - you sound more like a teenager afraid to be away from GF.

So I leave my girlfriend alone in BKK for 4 months, go to London, plead with a judge to PLEASE give me a piece of paper proving that I am no longer with my wife (who I haven't seen for several years, don't know where is) in the eyes of God............................................And then we get married in the eyes of God (even though we're not Christian, don't believe in marriage and think marriage would probably end us)

What god got to do with it? A marrage is a civil thing. I think you are confusing it with religion somewhere. You dont have to get merried in a church and in Thailand the religious ceremony has no legal significance, you dont have to do it. Alot of people say marrige is just a piece of paper, which it basicaly is. If so whats the problem why would your life change so dramaticaly just cos a piece of paper? how would it "end" your relationship.

Your in you mid twenties, with a degree, been travelling with your GF for 2 years and have a previous marrage where you have'nt seen your wife for "several" years. You got a lot in during that time

Man, the world is insane and beer is THE only answer.

Unfortunately DrL, beer won't get you the settlement visa you are after and for info you are not the only person in the world to have to go through this. I am not being sarcastic here, but a person with your self proclaimed intellect should know why there are immigration rules and it is the same for all. You have to clear your mind of the "I am being hard done to" attitude and get a plan together using a clear mind, not one full of beer. I myself have been married for only 4 months and my wife is still in Thailand awaiting the settlement interview in September. I couldn't wait that long to see her again so i popped back for a couple of weeks (an expense i could have done without). Now i will just have to wait for the interview like everyone else. Once the wait is over it will be worth it. It isn't this country's fault that your first marriage went sour and now you can't find your Ex to sort out the Divorce. It is upto you as a grown adult to sort your past out.

Hope youv'e taken this in the way i meant and not as insult to you.

Mr BoJ

Let's not beat around the bush here. Drlawrence, would you kindly remove your head from your a*sehole - conceit will get you nowhere.

Scouse.

Let's not beat around the bush here. Drlawrence, would you kindly remove your head from your a*sehole - conceit will get you nowhere.

Scouse.

Yeah, stuff it Scouse. Your'e right, I was beating around the bush,wasn't I.

Mr BoJ

Edited August 3, 200521 yr by mrbojangles

However, realistically you're in your mid-20's and "divorced" for several years... (after marrrying a UK woman depsite your lack of religion)... now you're in a "stable longterm relationship" which couldn't survive a few months apart... you have "no hope" of finding your wife in the UK in order to divorce her (use a detective or file for divorce and wait the statutory period)...  but "obviously" the immigration officer should magically see your true love for your girlfriend, and ignore the fact that thousands of gold-diggers and prostitutes are trafficked along the same route with the same excuses. Perhaps you think border immigration officials shouldn't stop you and ask for your tiresome passport, since you're obviously a citizen with a first class degree.

For someone who has "studied migration economics" you seem to be unaware of the most basic points of law, so I suggest you don't call other people's education into question. No European country, nor Thailand, requires religion of any kind to be involved in a civil marriage.

Well said Mac. I was going to answer this dipstick along the same lines. He reminds me of the old farts who turn up at Oz borders without a visa and demand automatic entry to "The Colonies" as a right.

Thanks for enlightening me that marriage isn't an obsolete religious institution and that barriers to international migration are actually necessary.

So it was good that thousands and thousands of Poles were turned away at the UK border or deported from the UK last year because they were dangerous and illegal. It was regrettable but right that thousands had their lives ruined and comitted suicide. This was necessary despite the fact that now Poles can go to the UK without a visa. NO, VISAS ARE NOT NECESSARY!!! THERE IS NO RATIONAL REASON FOR THEM. THEY ###### UP OUR LIVES COMPLETELY AND THEY ARE NOT NECESSARY AT ALL. Believe me, I've been all over the world, seen the suffering, the poverty, experiencing it myself now, studied the economics and the economic history. But Winston Peters will be NZ's next PM because he knows normal people don't understand this. They think: yellow peril, steal our jobs, lorry loads of illegals coming for benefits. Migrants are good for economies (look at America) but for the last half century since the world wars, people forgot this. The world is insane and it's best to drink and forget!

Edited August 4, 200521 yr by drlawrence

At first I thought the OP was a selfish individual who wanted everything handed to him on a plate.

I've now come to the conclusion that he's a spotty 12 year old without a life.

Yeah, other peoples' opinions are great aren't they? Ever thought that if you don't know what you're on about just don't go on??

DNFTT

witty!

So Visas are not necessary and there is no rational reason for them. Kind of like saying National borders are not necessary and there is no rational reason for them. In which case if there are no national boarders we do not need national governments. So lets just turn everything over to the UN.

Great – no visa’s, no borders, no government. Please call 1-800-anarchist

Certainly migration can have a positive effect, but unlimited, and uncontrolled migration?

This one's going nowhere fast.

Thread closed.

Scouse.