my friend married an albanian

[ponytail]

is it allowed for them to live separte?he is a lot younger ! i think he married her to stay in england but she cannot see this ! she is supporting him after walking out of his job of which she cannot afford what can she do ?

[saxy_jag]

Has he already been granted permission to stay here? He will need that, even if he is married.

During the application process, they will be subject to visits from immigration officials at any time, unannounced. They will be looking for evidence that the pair are actually living as a couple - and they know what they're looking for. If they have any reason to doubt the validity of his claim, he'll be back to Albania on the next plane, married or not.

Married people live together, unless they're about to divorce - it's as simple as that.

[dot.hawkes]

How does it work then? iF you are a foreign national and want to marry someone in this country does it also give you residential rights? i didn't realise it was that simple.

[saxy_jag]

I don't think it does, dot. A Muslim friend of mine had an arranged marriage to a girl from Africa, and they had to prove that theirs was a legitimate marriage (ie, not just so that she could get British residency). Immigration is very hot on this, apparently.

[Ice-Maiden]

But strangely, Child benefit can be paid out to children who're not even in this country. Weird old world, isn't it?

[saxy_jag]

What is more annoying is that my 'American' cousin, whose mother is British, but who never thought to seek dual nationality until it was too late, has no right of abode in this country, even though he considers it his 'home' and even though his entire extended family live here.