Complicated visa situation for Indonesian passport holder (Need UK and Schengen at the same time, long stay)
A bit of background: I am British and moved to Jakarta at the end of 2011 for work. In early 2012 I met my partner (girlfriend, no kids either side, she is muslim, I am ‘none of the above’, which is no issue to either of us and does not need to be discussed in this thread pls) and we lived together formally from May 2012, with her name on the apartment rentals from August 2012 onwards. My partner obtained a UK tourist visa in December 2012 and we stayed in the UK for a week with my family and 2 weeks in hotels, as the visa was multi entry she also joined me for a weeks trip in February 2013.
We lived in Jakarta until August 2013, at which point my work finished and I was sent back to the UK. she obtained another UK tourist visa before I left and we have subsequently been living in the UK until now. Her tourist visa will expire in January 2014.
I have got a new job starting mid January 2014 in Finland. The arrangement is that I will work 3 weeks on in Finland, and 1 week off approximately in the UK. So back and forth every month. My partner obviously wants to join me both in Finland and in the UK, although because of the remote(ish) location in Finland and lack of things to do, I suggested on my rotation that she returns with me to London but she doesn’t have to come back immediately, she can stay longer in the UK and take care of whatever needs to be done, and return at her convenience, so it is a flexibly arrangement and the company has agreed to pay for all of her flights as well as mine, as we come as a pair.
Issue is; I am concerned first and foremost that the British Embassy in Jakarta will be reluctant to issue a 3rd tourist visa, when clearly the intent on this 3rd occasion is for long term stay (although we will of course abide by all of the terms of the visa!). She has already sold her car in Jakarta and banked the money, and most if not all of her possessions are in the UK now. The only thing tying her to Indonesia are her family, for social reasons, and her stocks / bond investments etc).
Our intent for a long time has been to get married (party) in about mid 2015. But we have come to the conclusion it seems the best way for us to do what we want to do is to get married on paper (in the UK) now – at which point she will be able to apply for a 30 month multi entry Leave to Remain visa, which would take care of all of our issues in the UK in regards to coming in and out freely.
It seems once we’ve got that it’ll be easy to apply for the 6 month short stay Schengen visa (actually only usable 90 in country days) or get help from my company to get her a long stay multi entry Schengen visa (not looked into it as of yet). I’ve been told she can apply for any Schengen visa type of this nature, from within the UK, as her Indonesian friends in the UK have said they have done this.
But I have also read about a new visa just for partners who are not yet married but intend to settle in the UK
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/vi...can-you-apply/
Given that my partner will be intending to spend at least half or more of the month with me in Finland, and only in the UK between 1 and 2 weeks of the month, will this invalidate any chance we have of the UK visa being granted, i.e. if we were to even mention it? Should we apply but keep quiet about the whole arrangement and prepare it as if we were settling 100% in the UK? As they would not know otherwise? As the Finland arrangement is 18 months I hope this will not jeopardies the potential for the full settlement (ILR) visa in the future and citizenship?
We are very confused in the best way forward, and any advice would be appreciated. We are extremely serious
I may update this post from time to time to put additional information that I may have previously forgotten to add, or add other options that I discover along the way. We need to have something resolved quite quickly as I’d like her to be out with me by February 2014.