Marrying an illegal immigrant in the UK

[goonergirl88]

Hi all,

My Albanian partner has been in the UK illegally for around 3 years. We have been advised by our solicitors that in order to obtain a visa for him to stay here with me we should apply for an unmarried partner visa in the knowledge that it will get rejected as we have not been cohabiting for more than 2 years. They then said that we should get married here in the UK and re-apply for a spouse visa.

My family are worried that if we marry here I could get in trouble. We have given notice and nothing was said at the registry office but if the home office see that we have given notice and he is here illegally would they come to the registry office on the day? Or would they take action before?

Also, how much trouble could I get in for knowingly marrying an illegal immigrant? could I be arrested?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

[Wanderer]

Think you've been advised before that there's no way of regularising his stay given the circumstances.

Really, it's easier to bite the bullet, get him back to Albania, apply for fiancé visa knowing you've started from a clean slate, none of this endless worry and cost.

I'm sure your solicitor is milking this cash cow for all it's worth.

They won't deny him a fiancé visa so long as you show a subsisting relationship, which you obviously have.

[goonergirl88]

Thanks Wanderer for your reply.

We have been advised on here before that he should return home but it is all very confusing to be honest as we have seen 3 different solicitors, 1 of which said he should return to Albania the other 2 said we should do it this way. It's hard to know who to believe!!

[sagareva]

look

teh reason you get different advice is that everything in UK immigration can be dome in more than one possible way. there is never a clear answer.

to answer your question, no, as a private citizen, immigration enforcement is not your responsibility and you will not get in trouble for knowingly marrying a man you love, unless they can prove it's a sham marriage

which it will have to be very difficult for them to claim given that your future husband stands to gain nothing from it immigration-wise

for the same reason the possible raid on your wedding will be meaningless, since again, ,marrying a Brit gives your husband nothing. which is not to say they will not raid it anyway, as these folks are pretty dim

all those raids you saw on telly had to do with EU citizens (non-Brits). ironically, marrying a non-Brit EU citizen in the UK would have solved your boyfriend's problem

obviously do not file for unmarried partner as you dont have required cohabitation, why do it? i didnt get that. just so that you can apply for judicial review on human rights grounds? the problem with that as I see it is that not having known each other for too long weakens Article 8 claim as much as it fails on the 2 years the cohabitation rule. but in regard to your partner being illegal, ot will fail just teh same even if there were 2 years, except with passage of time future court challenge on HR grounds grows stronger

marrying here -- sure why not, but the only realistic way of getting him legal status would be applying from abroad, you could also marry there and apply fro a spouse visa. or marry here and leave and apply there for a spouse visa.

that being said, overstay by 3 years does trugger a ban, so he becomes generally inadmissible, doesnt he? i am sure article 8 ECHR somehow overcomes that, but it may not be fully clear cut, or am I missing something.

I suppose those solicitors taht advised you do to it here said so because they envisioned that fighting a possible ban on human rights grounds from Al;bania is less advantageous then claiming human rights grounds and private life here,. but this may take years and include nasty experiences such as being detained, threatened with deportation, beaten by Serco employees etc etc, but this will be a lengthy and expensive legal process

plus do you even have income for a spouse visa sponsorship from abroad?

I wonder -- thinking out of the box here -- whether, once married whenever that may be, for you moving for a while to Ireland and regularising his status there (through the same principle that allows illegals to regularise status here when married to non-Brit EU citizens, it will apply there to non-Irish,. eg to you). and then apply for EEA family permit (surinder singh route basically)

I am not a solicitor and it is not my advice, but there is no border control between northern ireland and republic of ireland

[wanderer1991]

GoonerGirl88 what was the outcome of all of this?

I'm in exactly the same position being given very conflicting advice.

[strontiumdog74]

GoonerGirl88 what was the outcome of all of this?

I'm in exactly the same position being given very conflicting advice.

She hasn't been online in 11 months, you may not get a reply.

[Casa]

Also the procedure for foreign nationals marrying in the UK has changed with tighter control. In order to marry now you would need to register your intent to marry with a Home Office designated Registry Office. The Registrar is then legally bound to notify the HO who can extend the notification period from 28 to 70 days in order to interview you both if they choose to do so, before the wedding can take place.
For anyone here illegally, this raises a high risk of being detained at the interview. Also, a forum member has recently reported that despite being given permission to marry, Border Police arrived at the Registry Office on the day of the wedding and arrested the husband before the ceremony.

[John Green]

Speaking also out of the box, I would imagine that as this involves a criminal offence, the decision whether you as a couple could live in the UK would come under guidance rules on the internet. For a problem I had, I found out that unless the criminal sentence was a non-custodial one (such as a fine) there are rules for ECOs which are non-discretionary as to the amount of time that an applicant would have to wait before they had a realistic chance of getting into the UK. I would expect that once the overstaying matter here is brought to the attention of the Home Office, these "criminal offence" rules apply. In other words, any discovered crime (a "criminal offence") does make staying or getting into the UK more of a problem for UKVI, even if it only leads to a fine. As I say, the ECO guidance to criminal convictions is available on the internet.

Although this info is only in the UK citizenship documents on the internet, the general idea is that if a person is prepared to disregard the laws of the country in which they are staying (here or abroad) on relatively "minor" criminal matters, they are more likely to carry on disobeying these same laws (here or abroad) in other areas of life (as more "serious" crimes) where it suits them and is convienient. This is part of the "character test."

Just my opinion.

[CR001]

Speaking also out of the box, I would imagine that as this involves a criminal offence, the decision whether you as a couple could live in the UK would come under guidance rules on the internet. For a problem I had, I found out that unless the criminal sentence was a non-custodial one (such as a fine) there are rules for ECOs which are non-discretionary as to the amount of time that an applicant would have to wait before they had a realistic chance of getting into the UK. I would expect that once the overstaying matter here is brought to the attention of the Home Office, these "criminal offence" rules apply. In other words, any discovered crime (a "criminal offence") does make staying or getting into the UK more of a problem for UKVI, even if it only leads to a fine. As I say, the ECO guidance to criminal convictions is available on the internet. Just my opinion.

There is a different between 'criminal conviction' and 'frustrating the immigration rules'. Please try not to confuse the two. An overstayer in the UK is not necessarily refused entry clearance on a Spouse visa for overstaying.

[John Green]

True, but if discovered, would this not come under the criminal law? My point was that it will have repercussions in terms of immigration law and what the effect is. My general point is that UKVI treats these matters quite seriously if they come to their notice.

[CR001]

True, but if discovered, would this not come under the criminal law? My point was that it will have repercussions in terms of immigration law and what the effect is. My general point is that UKVI treats these matters quite seriously if they come to their notice.

Not for a spouse settlement visa usually. It is not a 'criminal conviction'.