I don’t know how long the visit would be for the proposal yet. I know that it would kind of be a surprise, but at the same time I’d feel like she knew already if that makes sense.

Proposals should never come out of the blue anyway. Most couples sit down and discuss concrete timelines for proposals, engagement etc. However, none of that means that the actual proposal won't be a surprise.

Which timelines specifically are you talking about?

Especially your timeline in regards to how long you'd like your engagement to be, and how long it'll take you to save up money to start the visa process.

Mostly because we’ve realised that a lot of wedding plans require 6months to a year to figure out and since we’re in different countries, our guests would need longer to plan time off work, flights etc.

I mean tons of ld couples just have a courthouse wedding at first, and then plan a proper wedding later on. Gives you both time to actually live together for some time, and save up for something bigger.