I want to apply spouse visa for my wife

[sunoo]

Hi All,

I am a British citizen and I am marrying a Pakistan national who came to UK on student visa 3 years ago. However her visa ran out last year and her mother who is also a naturalized British citizen applied her case under human rights law which was also rejected by HomeOffice. Her case is currently under appeal in HomeOffice.

My question is that I want to merry her back home as all my family is there but the girl and her family is hesitant as they think if she leave the country she wouldn't be able to get the spouse visa from Pakistan because of her immigration history in the UK. Can anyone suggest if it would be safe to apply in BHC in Islamabad or shall we merry here and apply here. I want to have wedding ceremony in Pakistan.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards

[MPH80]

Unless you have children together, simply marrying here won't make a private life application any more likely to succeed - especially as you still have significant ties to Pakistan and thus is can be argued that you both relocate to Pakistan to live.

Providing she is simply an overstayer and that she hasn't broken any other laws since she's been an overstayer (e.g. illegally working) - the spouse application from Pakistan will be fine. That is also providing you meet all the requirements - financial and language.

[sunoo]

Many thanks for the advise and much appreciated. SO best solution is to apply from Pakistan?

[MPH80]

As a general rule - applying from the home country is the preferable route.

[sunoo]

Thank you for the advise but I have discussed on several forums and I am getting mix opinions. Most are saying that for her to leave the country would cause an issue and she may not be able to get a visa from Pakistan as she is already in breach of her visa conditions e.g. overstaying etc.

Regards

[MPH80]

It's amazing how uninformed some people can be on this. (Not directed at you!)

The conditions for refusal on overstaying (typically 320(7a), (7b) etc) do not apply to spouse visas. There is a 'catch all' ban - 320(11) - which is a discretionary ban but only applies to aggravated circumstances - e.g. overstaying AND working illegally. It is not sufficient to simply be an overstayer.

If you stay here and apply without any children - she will simply be refused as she can apply from Pakistan. If you try for a private life application - that will fail - and, frankly, it's likely to fail at appeal too. If you're lucky - you might be able to take it to Judicial Review and the Home Office might back down. By that time you'll be 2-3 years down the line, many thousands of pounds down thanks to Solicitors and on a ten year route to settlement after that time - so 13 years and she'll be able to stay without worry.

An application from Pakistan will take, at most, 6 months and she'll be on a 5 year route. So after 5.5 years - she'll be able to stay permanently without worry.

[sunoo]

That now makes sense. Many thanks Sir