Hi Mark
Just an addendum to your post ,and my personal experience of the UK goverments and immigration.
My story was back in Manila Phillipines in 1997 .my then fiancee had secured an interview on the 22nd June that year ,one for which i was with her for.The date was circa a month and a half after the Labour outfit had won the first of their current 3 terms on May 6th 1996 ,she had the interview with the entry clearance officer ,and he elected to have a word with me on a couple of things the main one being she had omited to get notification from the Manila statistics office that she was free to marry ,the other being a discussion between me and the officer about some the current new government rules and regs that had been brought in the previous month.
The main point being was apparentky the new labour party had abolished the so called "Primary Purpose rule " which is according to the officer i spoke to was that the girl had to prove she was coming to the UK because she loved her fiancee/spouse and not for monetary gain or to dissapear into the community and overstay her visa.These new rules and regs had to be implemented by the consulate officials and officers whichever government came into power in the UK
This rule of course was impossible to prove by the lady ,hence there were many foreign ladies from all countries who got refused entry clearance due to this stupid rule ,so a feather in the cap for the labour outfit , at least on this count ,which affects us all seeking our asian lady to come to the UK .
Digressing now and onto the China front ,my fiancee Lin Fang has just spent 5 months with me here in the UK ,and returned to china late last month,im going out there again in a few months ,after i get my cert of no impediment etc to marry there.
I spent 3 weeks with her in March 2009 in China and we secured a 6 months visitor visa for her from October last year ,as we both agreed it would be nice for her to sample life in the UK,she did take to life here very well.So from your post Mark it will be interesting to see how our application for the spouse visa goes when we apply,saying that she went home within the visa expiry time by 2 days so it should stand us in good stead for any future application
Should there be any problems in getting the visa ,believe me ive been to the local MP before and raised merry hell when i had a hitch with the Filipina girl when we applied for her extension visa in 1998,and in all credit to her she sorted it out with the home office for me.
regards
Mike
The election debates of course include the immigration issue which effects all of the UK site members here.
It is also likely that in 2010 the UK will see very significant changes in UK immigration policy. A new Conservative Government intends to put numerical limits on the number of immigrants coming into the UK
The leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron would not give a precise figure for an immigration cap but suggested a figure of "tens of thousands". He went on to say that he would like to see annual immigration at a similar level to the early 1990s when net annual immigration was at about 50,000 a year compared to recent years when it has been at about 200,000 a year.
Sarah Mulley of IPPR and author of the report had the following to say:
"There has been a lot of talk about capping immigration from various groups, and close to an election those calls are becoming stronger,"... "But people are often vague about outlining how it would work in practice."
UK immigration is an important election issue. It seems that 2010 will see tougher immigration controls and possible numerical limits on immigration. It is hoped that if there is a Conservative Government that the new Government will realise quickly that a numerical limit on immigration is both unworkable and is not in the long term interests of the UK.
If you wish to gain entry to the UK under a Tier 1 or Tier 2 visa or another visa category you should consider applying sooner rather than later. Changes in UK immigration policy could make it harder in future for skilled workers, students and family members to gain entry to the UK.
here is a general article by the daily mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1264333/GENERAL-ELECTION-2010-Under-Labour-nearly-UK-jobs-taken-foreigners.html
Some one made a interesting comment on Conservative 'capping plans' stating that theye can't by european law cap immigration from eastern EU countries so can only do so by capping the countries that need visas
How it effects us .. I cant really see any justification on capping spouse visas , or even family visit visas .. i am sure the capping will be aimed at teir 1&2 workers , also students .. the language tests may get harder but i am only guessing .
