Tldr at the end
Hey all, I need some help. My fiancee is an English citizen and is currently in a job they hate out of necessity. We have this whole situation with the spouse visa which we need to get married so I can emigrate that necessitates they make above 19,000 GBP per year (my wage can't count toward this total until I have leave to work in the UK). They work in assisted living for people with autism right now and there are 3 services in the town they live in, all of which are understaffed.
The job itself would be ideal for them if it weren't for management, low pay, and the insane schedule. None of the employees are allowed to set boundaries with the residents (they'll get told off by the managers if they try to withdraw support because they feel uncomfortable due to sexual advances etc), the upper management isn't helpful at all, and my partner ends up picking up a lot of slack around the locations even though (maybe because) they started just last August. Like a lot of slack. Because it's a 24/7 service, there always has to be at least two staff members present at all times (though this sometimes is bumped down to one because of how understaffed the services are). As a result, my fiancee will sometimes do 38 hour shifts/11 day stretches of long shifts with no days off and much more frequently 12, 24, and 28 hour shifts with 9 day stretches. Just today (the 26th) after a 10 hour flight from Florida to England that had them land on the morning of the 25th, they're working an 18 hour shift that turned into 21 hours, and the manager has the gall to threaten cutting everyone's hours if they don't start fixing things they have no control over.
All in all, it's taking a toll on them, me, and our relationship. We aren't in danger as a couple or anything luckily, but it's hard to spend time together with a 7 hour time difference and their schedule being the way it is, even with me not currently working due to surgery. Since leaving the job isn't really an option as we're on a time crunch with the visa applications and I've already suggested joining a union (they're planning to look into that soon luckily! But the workplace isn't organized as a whole so they won't have as much power as they would otherwise), I feel at the end of what advice I can offer. Have any of you guys been in a similar situation and have advice for how to handle setting boundaries with scheduling and tasks that they're picking up?
Tldr: my partner is in a really shitty job with ridiculous hours, and they aren't allowed to set boundaries with the people they work with. Quitting isn't an option for another 10 months or so… how do we handle this, and how can I support them?