Proof of funds for UK Tier 4 student visa (South African)

Question

I'm South African and my boyfriend is a British citizen.

We initially applied for a tier 4 student visa but it was refused as we used my boyfriend's bank statements as proof of funds. (I can either use my parents or my own bank statements).

My boyfriend is willing to transfer me the funds (£25,000) and then we will wait for the 28 days. However, we are stressing as the home office may be wary of where the money came from! Me and my boyfriend are 19 years of age, the money is my boyfriend's; the money was gradually put in his bank account by his mother and his grandmother and also from him working at a restaurant.

I ask if such an application would raise any flags with the home office and what we could do to further explain our situation? He was thinking of providing bank statements that go back a long time (years) but I don't think that would satisfy their concerns...

Please help as I really just want to be with him and hopefully study at the same time.

EDIT: after reading some related questions on this website, I've come across a term 'funds parking.' Given my circumstance of my boyfriend transferring a large sum of money before the application, is my application doomed to fail? This is the only way for me to get to England, as my parents frankly cannot afford the English university fees at this time!

Answer 1

If you're applying for a study visa, your primary intention while in the UK should be to study...
Your statement:

"I really just want to be with him and hopefully study at the same time"

really just highlights the main issue here.

As a genuine student in the UK you would need to be able to show how you will support yourself, but:

"my parents frankly cannot afford the English university fees at this time"

and I assume that, as a 19-year old who is dependent on your parents, you don't have the means yourself.

While I don't doubt that your boyfriend intends to support you while you're there, he has no duty to do so. From the point of view of the official reviewing your application: what happens if he changes his mind?
In these circumstances, the visa officer would probably place little to no value at all in your boyfriend's finances.

So sum it up: You're pretending to be an aspiring student when this is clearly not the case.
You can't really afford to study in the UK, and you don't have any real plans to do so.
Unfortunately, it seems that your real intentions are to join your boyfriend and live in the UK by whatever means necessary, and unless something significant changes, there probably isn't a route open to you to achieve that.

Answer 2

The only way for you to join your boyfriend permanently is if you arrange to get married within 6 months of you entering the UK. For this, you'd need a "unmarried partner" visa (requirements here).

A Tier 4 visa is not an option for you, full stop.

Your intended fraud (because that's what it is) is doomed to fail as you put it, because the UK visa officers are used to dealing with this on a daily basis.

Sham marriages are also common, and usually recognisable by visa officers, so only go for this route if your relationship is serious (being only 19, you need to define this from an objective point of view).