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?

Can I also make the point that it is a criminal offence to provide immigration advice in the UK if you aren't appropriately qualified to do so.

Posters on this thread might be very well intentioned, but most of them won't be qualified to advise you.

If you really want to make the move, your best bet would be to talk to an immigration solicitor.

Sorry, plse ignore previous post. I see that it's Marketing.

I never said I know nothing about the country he comes from. I said I don’t watch or have any interest in the political side of things.

We have discussed the UK, he’s open to the idea but not shown any desperation to move there, which is what the telltale signs normally tend to be of somebody that wants a visa..

damned if I do damned if I don’t in this situation! If he wanted to come to the UK he’d be using me for a visa.. because he hasn’t expressed a burning desire to, he’s still being judged. Can’t win!

Yes, I agree that you can do it without a solicitor if you're able to read and understand the government website. But if you're having to ask questions on Mumsnet, then you'd be best off finding a lawyer.

No he isn’t a brand new boyfriend, we’ve been together in a long distance relationship but moved here to be together earlier this year.

Ive known him for 4 years.

Yes, he would come on a spouse visa, as your dependent. Go to the UK Visa page on Reddit. They can give you expert advice of a far higher quality than that you’re getting here, most of which is frankly wrong.

Well yes, it is. If you read the government guidelines and follow them. OP says she doesn’t understand them. So, she can hire someone to do it for her.

Then you will most likely need to get married. An unmarried partner visa is only an option if you’ve been living together for two years.

I don't think you could live in Dubai forever anyway (due to visa requirements) so you would both have to move eventually.

I can read and understand. I was reaching out to see if anybody else has been in the same situation. Sometimes it’s nice to just feel connected to others that may have or are experiencing the same.

We are both on working visas here through employment.

Yes Caul Shivers is cool as well. I really like Curnden Craw but old sticks himself Arch Lector Glokta just grew on me so much. I love his internal dialogue. Monza Murcatto and her son are also cool.
I loved the short stories in Sharp Ends as well.

Did you meet online and face to face for the first time 3 months ago? Or you’ve known him in person for 4 years?

Since it’s brand new, you need to live together for 2 years first and document all of it. Have loads of proof. Then you need to get a job offer in the UK with a salary higher than the minimum required and you can then apply to move here together. Or, you may have to just move back without him and work for 6 months and then bring him over.

All this information is available on the link I posted on page 1.

If his skillset isn't on the uk list, can he retrain so he gets onto the list. There are many many documented skills shortages in the uk. What's better than love for the motivation for him to retrain? It will take effort and dedication - all good things to have together in a relationship.

Are there any degree courses in the UK that interest your partner? I’d say an option might be to come back to the UK together with your partner on a student visa. While they are completing their course you can get married in the UK and earn the required amount. Then you can apply from the UK when they graduate and hopefully meet the applying from within criteria?

We have known each other in person for 4 years, but started our relationship last year, and moved here to Dubai earlier this year because it’s near on impossible to be together otherwise.

we met whilst I was working abroad in Turkey 4 years ago (so to the poster that said I know nothing about the country, I’ve been there and experienced it first hand..)

He had worked here in Dubai previously and I had great career prospects here so it made sense, and it’s working well for us both.

I think by looking at the situation, it’s going to be best for us to remain here. We were planning to anyway for the next year or two. I will remain in my job and keep all the pay documents etc, as well as the proof of our withstanding relationship and then reassess when we want to move in the future.

A friend of mine had to do this with her partner in south africa.

She left him behind and returned to the uk and got a job. Then they applied for a visa for him so that she could prove that she was working and earning and able to support him.

You'll have to come back first and get a job.

The thing to understand is that everyone's situation will be slightly different. I met and married my DH overseas and we eventually moved back to the UK, so there are some similarities but there will be differences also. A lot of people end up getting into a terrible mess because they take advice from friends or family etc, and don't understand how the nuances of their individual situations might change things. Such mistakes can be costly to fix, so you would be well advised to get proper advice unless you are 100% sure of what you're doing.

And of course, it's fine to chat to people about their own experiences, but as soon as you start asking for advice on your own situation, you are potentially putting people in the situation where they are unwittingly breaking the law.

I'm not trying to be arsey. I've just seen too many people burned by bad advice.

Generic advice on online forums doesn’t constitute ‘immigration advise and services’ in the terms of the current law.

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/legality_on_providing_immigratio?utm_campaign=alaveteli-experiments-87&utm_content=sidebar_similar_requests&utm_medium=link&utm_source=whatdotheyknow

damned if I do damned if I don’t in this situation! If he wanted to come to the UK he’d be using me for a visa.. because he hasn’t expressed a burning desire to, he’s still being judged. Can’t win!

Or, he could be playing the long game, hence not showing any obvious interest in the UK. But OP, what if he has no interest in living in the UK because in spite of what DM readers think, not everyone wants to live there and even if he could get a visa, there is no guarantee he would like it and settle.

If you have a burning desire to return to the UK, then this relationship is the barrier to that happening. I would think long and hard about it all. Cross cultural marriages and all they entail are often just not worth it.

If women avoided ever moving to a country where a woman had suffered a violent attack…they would have to leave planet earth. The thousands of female expats who move and move there seem to find it very safe.

You can apply for an unmarried partner visa which is similar to a spouse visa.
You can either come back and earn £29k per year for 6 months and then apply.
Or if you are earning £29k per year in dubai then as long as you've got a uk job offer starting within 3 months earning over £29k you can all move back together.
Or you can use savings of £88500.
There's a very good facebook group that advises on this type of visa situation.

Generic advice is essentially information.

Advice that is tailored to an individual's specific circumstances ceases to be "generic advice". I very much doubt that anyone would attempt to prosecute anyone for posting their thoughts on MN, but that's not really the point.

The important thing is that the OP needs to be confident that any advice she receives is accurate, up to date and applicable to her particular situation. Her best options for this are sticking to the gov.uk website and/or talking to an immigration advisor/solicitor.

Thank you that’s really helpful 😊

Do you know if I also need to prove that I have adequate housing for us both? As I don’t have a home in the UK. I was renting before but live here now.

I do have some savings but not the £88k + that’s required.

also, do you know what the Facebook page is called, please? It sounds really helpful.

Jump in a dingy!