My partner and I want to travel to the UK in April of this year, for one week. The main purpose is going to a wedding, the secondary purpose is to visit some of my family. I am British and she is Indian, and we both live in the US. We do not live at the same address, and are not married.
Having looked at the gov.uk website for guidelines on how to obtain a tourist visa for the UK, it is unclear to me if my partner has to apply for a visa, or if she qualifies automatically [by virtue of travelling with a UK citizen OR? by virtue of being a Commonwealth citizen].
If she does have to apply for a visa, can anyone advise as to how this should best be done, how much time it's likely to take, and how much it might cost? Should flights be booked beforehand?
Finally, is there anything I can do [as a UK citizen] to make the process of getting a UK tourist visa easier?
Thanks!