My (M25) partner (F32) and I have confirmed that it will be next to impossible to stay together due to immigration laws, but still have 5 months living together. What do we do?

I started dating my girlfriend in January. We were both doing different masters courses at the same uni, her full-time, me part-time. She is from Brazil and made a major life decision in leaving a good job to do her MA here in the UK. We are both very much in love and, after she finished her MA thesis two weeks ago, we began looking at ways we can stay together beyond the end of her student visa which expires in March. Originally we had planned on banking on her getting a Tier 2 work visa through a company which sponsors them. Unfortunately, the stress and uncertainty that comes from this as the sole plan is unbearable, weighing heavy on our minds every day. As a possible longterm alternative, we looked at getting married for a spousal visa. This was tough for me to come around to coming from a family of divorcees, but I realised that I'm willing to do it for her. After all that, an immigration lawyer told us I would need ~£40,000 in savings in my account for the application to be considered, which is pretty much impossible.

Now we're back at square one, with a Tier 2 visa the only option to stay together, although it's the worst time to be job hunting under COVID. I can't move to be with her should she leave as I'm halfway through my masters and planning to do my PhD here in the UK. She has utterly lost hope of us being together and feels extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome with living in the UK. We still have 4 months to go, but it's a Catch 22. We want to be together, but are in so much pain trying to do so. She is serioisly considering going back to Brazil to end the suffering. How can we move forwards from this?

TL;DR due to UK immigration laws it's looking extremely unlikely we can stay together beyond March 2021. My gf wants to quit now to stop delaying the inevitable. Can we live happily together for what time we have left?

Submitted October 27, 2020 at 06:28AM by Dr_Mox https://ift.tt/2HLkn3p