Hi All
So here as promised is the beginning of our experience of the UK immigration and border agency and subsequent visa application .
Just to recap briefly ,to put you all in the picture ,Lin Fang & Myself met on china love during late 2008 early2009,after a couple of other ladies whom i met in china ,but things didn’t work out ,albeit one came over to the UK for a 6 months visit ,there were issues with my daughter so we parted and eventually stopped communication.
After a few months of QQ and Yahoo contact with Lin Fang in 2009 i went to meet her in China ,Fujian in march 2009 ,we flew down to Hainan island for a week or so .on what i thought was going to be a nice chill out time in a hotel ,relaxing by the pool ,down the beach ,bit of sightseeing ,shoppin etc .How wrong could I be ,they had us up every morning at around 5.30am ,quick breakfast ,suitcases and bags onto the mini bus and off sightseeing for the day ,coupled with lunch and dinner every day ,we took in numerous temples ,garden’s ,the monkey island etc etc ,back on the bus and to a new hotel every day ,so living out of our suitcase for a week ,nevertheless it was all an experience in itself . Albeit I was the only white guy on the bus ,and having to listen to the guide droning on for hours between stops in Chinese got a bit tedious at times ,anyhow I had Lin Fang to take care of me which she did admirably. We went back to Fuzhou Airport, and back to her home in Xiapu ,a 3 hour taxi drive ,since which a bullet train line has been built from Xiapu to Fuzhou which takes 45 minutes . We went down to Guangzhou for a week after that ,as Fuzhou is as cold as the UK in March and i knew GZ from my past visits .I met all her family and ate out with them for dinner during that first visit ,and apparently if that happens and you get the thumbs up from the immediate family you are the chosen one .
I came back after 3 weeks with Lin Fang ,and we had discussed the visa situation together as i wanted to get things moving with either a visitors visa or we marry on my next visit to China and go down the spouse visa route. , after i left we were in daily contact on QQ & yahoo with the cam,
anyhow she had issues with her son and her house and got cold feet about moving forward with me ,so we kind of agreed to part and give her time to get her things and her head together, which was about 3 months or so we had no contact so i naturally set about looking again ,i have to say i was rather pissed off that we had lost contact as we had both put some serious spadework in to the relationship[ ,but thats life i guess.
anyhow in july or august 2009 she emailed me and we got back on track ,apparently she had had some ovary problems which she had sorted out ,and she kind of thought she had lost face with me ,as we had talked about having a child with me if things work out and his had put things on hold.
Anyhow she suggested a visit to the UK ,so we applied for her visa and she was granted one for 6 months ,from November 2009 to April 2010 , (be aware you UK members ,some ladies will listen to know all people in their respective towns /cities who will tell them they will never get a visitor visa without having 500,000 rmb in their bank ,and its almost impossible to go to the UK ,when most of the chit chat comes from people who have probably not been out of their province let alone out of China )
Lin Fang secured 3months off work without jeopardising her position ,so she adjusted to life here very well ,lived through one of the harshest December/Januarys winters in recent times ,my daughter and her hit it off ,and so did the family.
As the 3rd month end approached and she was due to return to china , she said she wanted to stay until the end of the duration of the visa ,so we got officially engaged and she gave up her job for me and stayed in the UK for the rest of her visa time .
Before Fangs departure ,a very tearful one in Manchester airport we had spoken about me coming back to china the following September to get married.
To be continued ...........onto the battle with the UK border agency...........
