I’m British, and want to return home with my foreign partner. Help!

[brownbreadd]

Hi,

I am a British citizen with a foreign partner. We are currently residing in Dubai and working here, however long term I am very quickly realising that this isn’t going to be my forever place.

I am desperately missing friends and family, and the way of live back home in the UK (yes, really!) and would like to start looking into ways to return home, but with my partner.

My partner is Turkish, we both moved here to Dubai earlier this year to be together after a lengthy long distance relationship.

we are both working here, earning a good salary, and are unmarried.

does anybody know of the process in which I should take in order to look at the possibility of coming back to the UK and bringing him, too?

No it's you. Partner salary doesn't matter.

I've been through this process & the situation you're in, is not really the ideal starting point for the visa.
You need to either be married or in a long term (2 years +) 'provable' cohabiting relationship. The documentation that comes along with proving 2 years of cohabiting as if married is quite extensive, its not an easy route to go down and requires the country you're living in to have similar documentation to the UK essentially. So countries that don't allow more than one person on the lease agreement or bills etc really make things more difficult/complicated.
Essentially my advice on that aspect would be until you're happy to marry him, bringing him legally to the UK on a relationship visa is not an option.
In terms of your work/finances to sponsor him, if you plan to stay abroad then you need to be earning above the requirement abroad with a job starting within a certain time frame in the UK also above the requirement. This in reality is really difficult to actually tie up, especially if you don't want a period of separation as I think the job role needs to be starting within something like 3 months but the visa processing time could easily be longer than that.
Honestly the far simpler route is accepting the 6 months long distance whilst you fulfil this requirement in the UK.
The exact requirements and process do change from time to time though (they changed twice over the 6 years we were doing it), so my best advice would be to ask specific questions about your situation on a immigration forum. The people there are often involved or going through the process currently and are very in the know on the up to date details.
https://www.immigrationboards.com/
The immigration for family members would be the board to post on - though you're not there yet obviously

If he genuinely wants to upgrade his skills or pursue another field he could come on a student visa, finish his studies and go that route? I'm not from the UK, so I might be wrong, but this may be a possibility if you have the funds? I know this is an often abused route, so I'd only use it if it is a genuine need.

Ah of course the Dubai haters had to jump in as soon as they could! Hello OP waves from Jumeirah have you tried asking on some of the expat FB groups here? Drop me a DM and I'll share some good ones.

Sometimes people just want connection.

Agree as @Summer2025 says.
He will be treated as an individual as you have not been together long enough

Your partner’s earnings don’t come into it at all. The Home Office only cares about your earnings.

As others have said, get back and get a decent job in the first instance. He can visit for holidays and vice versa. This is how my friend was joined by his Singaporean partner last year. Good luck OP!

OP, you've only been together face-to-face, as it were, for less than three months, if you moved to Dubai together earlier this year. I honestly wouldn't worry about all this at such an early stage. It might end up all being immaterial if the relationship doesn't work out, and then you'll have wasted a lot of time on this. Why not just enjoy the present?

How long did it take for your friend to being his partner over? And did they have to be married?

Why would you live in a country you know absolutely nothing about?

Dubai is an incredibly dangerous place to be a woman. It doesn’t matter if you feel safe in the streets, as a woman, and particularly a western woman, you are not safe.

You sound incredibly foolish and naive. You’ve only been with the guy for four months 🤦‍♀️

This right here is your wake up call. Take note before it’s too late. Don’t bury your head in the sand with “oh I don’t know enough about that” and carry on regardless.

I’m quite sure that’s exactly what Maria Kovalchuk thought before she ended up dumped on the side of the road with broken legs, broken arms and a broken spine. And yes, she was still alive.

They are definitely not married. In terms of timescale I think about two years.

Why would you want free advice from strangers on the internet when if you are serious about this you should be consulting an immigration specialist. On a tax free salary in Dubai it should be affordable to you.

Thank you for confirming. So how would he actually get into the country himself? I guess a spouse visa (meaning we will need to be married)? As he doesn’t have any of the skills required for the skilled worker visa route, sadly..

@Thebloodynine
Totally not on topic but are you a fan of Logen Ninefingers by any chance?

I'm not sure that Maria is a very good example. She was hanging out with some men who said they were from the modelling industry but obviously turned out to be fake. Evil people exist in all countries, sadly. You're probably safe in Dubai if you're not involved in any kind of underworld, be it drugs, dodgy modelling, or whatever. Thousands of ex-pats live there quite safely.

be careful as this happed to someone i know, she even had a child with him, he left her soon after.

Oh for sure, she was hanging around with dodgy people. But this kind of stuff - like the Porta Potty Parties - happen in Dubai because the authorities don’t care about women.

They know it happens, but they won’t do anything about it. It’s an incredibly corrupt country.

He has no interest in living in the UK, you know nothing about the country he comes from, you know nothing about the country where you live, you're only been together for 3 months... Respectfully, you need a reality check.

If you’ve only just moved out there, is this guy a brand new boyfriend? Because… that’s really concerning. If you’re already trying to find out how to get him to the UK then that’s a hallmark of a man using you for a visa. Be really careful. Don’t ever give him any money or anything. Do not get pregnant with him if you’re going to give birth outside of the UK; you will never get your kids back out of Dubai.

I think you need to actually read the information on the .GOV website posted on page 1 of this thread...

The Moving Back to the UK forum at British Expats also has useful information and may be a better place to ask questions about UK immigration than Mumsnet.

Yes, I am! Although I have a soft spot for Caul Shivers too

the problem with Turkey is the jobs and earning potential is terrible compared to here in the UAE.

I beg to differ as it depends on what sector your dp works in. Currently, Turkey is offering the highest pay in the Oil & Gas drilling sector. Is he an engineer?

Don't hire an immigration lawyer, it's an easy process to do yourself