FLR(M) Application after Discretionary Leave refusal

[DOJM]

Hi all,

I've been searching the boards to try to find a case similar to ours but with no luck.

My wife came on a Tier 4 student visa. Before expiration we applied for discretionary leave because we did not meet the financial requirement of the Spouse Visa (as I am currently studying). We were rejected for discretionary leave on the basis that we could live in Colombia (even though we met here and have never been there together). We appealed this and lost. By this time we had arranged our finances accordingly and applied for an FLR(M) visa. I understand that we were able to apply from within country due to my wife previously having a tier 4 student visa.

There seems to be no obvious reason to reject the pending application, however we have been informed that "because we went outside of immigration rules by applying for discretionary leave", they may award a visa outside of immigration rules, i.e. discretionary leave. So after fighting for discretionary leave and losing, then applying for another visa, we may end up with the visa we originally fought for.....just seems nuts....

We have been informed by our advisor that it has now been allocated to a case worker and we should hear within 2 weeks. I was just wondering if anybody has any knowledge of this type of situation as we are now on tenterhooks waiting for the determination.

[medge89]

Hi I have similar case and im still deciding if I can apply in the country. Who is your adviser?

[Obie]

Hi all,

I've been searching the boards to try to find a case similar to ours but with no luck.

My wife came on a Tier 4 student visa. Before expiration we applied for discretionary leave because we did not meet the financial requirement of the Spouse Visa (as I am currently studying). We were rejected for discretionary leave on the basis that we could live in Colombia (even though we met here and have never been there together). We appealed this and lost. By this time we had arranged our finances accordingly and applied for an FLR(M) visa. I understand that we were able to apply from within country due to my wife previously having a tier 4 student visa.

There seems to be no obvious reason to reject the pending application, however we have been informed that "because we went outside of immigration rules by applying for discretionary leave", they may award a visa outside of immigration rules, i.e. discretionary leave. So after fighting for discretionary leave and losing, then applying for another visa, we may end up with the visa we originally fought for.....just seems nuts....

We have been informed by our advisor that it has now been allocated to a case worker and we should hear within 2 weeks. I was just wondering if anybody has any knowledge of this type of situation as we are now on tenterhooks waiting for the determination.

That is wrong, and not the law.

Provided she meets all the requirements of Appendix FM, including the Immigration Status requirement, she will be entitled to FLR(M) 5 years route.

The advise that you were given, seem to contradict itself and i can comfortably say that that is not the law.

Provided you partners tier 4 is extant, or she makes the application within 28 days of her extant leave elapsing, she should be fine.

[DOJM]

Hi I have similar case and im still deciding if I can apply in the country. Who is your adviser?

We used ICS Legal for our discretionary leave application and appeal hearing, but we were not happy with several aspects of the representation and in the end felt that we lost a strong case that we should have won, due to reasons I won't go into now. For the FLR(M) application we used Adrian Farley Associates; it's a small operation but Adrian was a life saver in terms of helping us jump through the hoops to get the application in on time. Sitting a language test without a passport (held by Home Office) was nothing short of a nightmare. On reflection I feel that we could have made the application ourselves, but we were fearful of the consequences of making an error.

That is wrong, and not the law.

Provided she meets all the requirements of Appendix FM, including the Immigration Status requirement, she will be entitled to FLR(M) 5 years route.

The advise that you were given, seem to contradict itself and i can comfortably say that that is not the law.

Provided you partners tier 4 is extant, or she makes the application within 28 days of her extant leave elapsing, she should be fine.

Thank you for your input, that is re-assuring. The tier 4 visa expired in November 2012. The discretionary leave application was made before expiry and the FLR(M) application was made within 28 dates of the determination from the appeal - so she has not at any stage overstayed......we are still waiting in hope...

[DOJM]

Just received notification that the visa has been awarded.....finally after 2 years of stress