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I'm Russian, living in Russia. My boyfriend is Italian and lives in London, UK. We've been together for 2.5 years. In December, 2016, I got a 6 month standard visitor visa with a purpose of attending a 2 weeks English course in London, as the agency I was followed by advised me this option to increase the chances of getting the visa. During those 6 months I travelled quite frequently to the UK. I was spending there about 2 weeks each time and then coming back also for 2-3 weeks back to Russia, so basically half of the time. When the visa expired, I made a new application for the same kind of visa. Which was declined. I'm attaching the refusal notice (https://i.stack.imgur.com/9bVCM.jpg)

I tried to consult with British lawyers, and in one of the agencies they told me that if I mention my boyfriend in my next application, it's likely that I'll be banned for 10 years, as in my previous applications I stated that I don't have any friends/family members in the UK (because some very "smart" employee from the Russian visa agency advised me to do so). Though I planned to apply for a new visa with his invitation now.

Could you please advise me what are the option I have at the moment?

Alina
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    It sounds like the refusal was correct and for the correct reasons. Unless you plan on marrying your boyfriend, I think you should forget about travelling to the UK for a very long time. – ouflak Aug 23 '17 at 06:35
  • Is there any type of visa I could apply for to be able to travel regularly to visit him there? And also, is it possible now to mention in the next application I will make that I have a friend there, or will this cause a ban? – Alina Aug 23 '17 at 07:28
  • I feel this might be more on-topic on Travel SE, it is related to (frequent) travel and not expat life. – mts Aug 23 '17 at 09:04
  • @mts - it was suggested on Travel that the OP ask here because is appears that she is wanting to spend almost as much time in the UK as in Russia - making it much less of a travel/tourism question. – brhans Aug 23 '17 at 11:30
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    @Alina, just to 'visit' your boyfriend. No. There is no kind of visa like that. You can still qualify as a student, professional worker with a sponsor, a temporary worker (depending on your age), or a spouse. Yes I suppose it's possible that mentioning him now might invoke a ban, but I don't think it matters. Even if they don't issue a ban for deception, for all practical purposes, you aren't going to be visiting the UK again. You may come under a different visa category, but not as a visitor. – ouflak Aug 23 '17 at 12:03

1 Answers1

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You initially posted in Travel wanting to know the options available to you. You were referred to Expats (here) because among the options available to you are the EEA/EU and UK family formation/family reunion routes.

The EEA/EU route is available because your boyfriend is an EEA national and hence enjoys freedom of movement. For this option to work you will need to get married (or live with him for two years - just seeing each other as often as you can will not work). Once you are married you can approach any UK issuing post and get an EEA Family Permit.

The UK route is a bit more cumbersome, but you don't have to get married right away. Depending upon how long your boyfriend has lived in the UK, he may be eligible for a concession. The concession allows him (as an EEA national) to sponsor a fiance under the British rules. The visa lasts for 6 months after which you are expected to leave or get married at a UK registry office. They do not like to 'renew' fiance visas if there's a way to avoid it.

A fiance visa application under the British rules attracts a hefty fee; the EU application is free.

You can also try for any of the other economic routes like student, work permit, entrepreneur, and so on.

Those are the routes available to you that are topical for the Expats site. Further questions on those options should be taken up here as NEW questions.

There are also visitor routes available to you and questions about those should be taken up at the Travel site as NEW questions. I think your refusal is a mild one and can be possibly fixed with the right sort of attestation. Moreover, I doubt that a ban will happen if you use a member of the UK Law Society to represent your next visitor application.

For reference purposes and to clarify some of the comments, here's a screen capture of the relevant page of the application form about who the applicant knows in the UK....

enter image description here

Source: https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/uk-visit-visa

Where 'lived with' = cohabitation at the same home address (the OP has not been living with her partner, but merely visiting).

There are no other such pages. Related pages will ask for names of sponsors however, but these are not necessary if a sponsor has not been declared.

For completeness purposes here is a screen shot of all the related questions. It is taken from the application summary page near the end...

enter image description here

Based on the form and what the form asks for, it's not clear at all that the OP failed to divulge something.

Gayot Fow
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