Old First Cert qualification still OK for language req?

[stupot]

Hi all,

We are about to apply from outside the UK for a joining family visa for my wife (I'm British). She was awarded a B2 (grade C) in First Certificate in English in 2003, so by all accounts she qualifies for the English requirement. However, the application asks for other documentation that she simply does not have due to having taken the exam before this was available (candidate ID, secret number and statement of results). Will her application be rejected with just the original certificate? Does she have any options other than sitting another exam? She's actually pretty upset about this because she finally has a good use for her certificate and all of a sudden it's not enough. She feels like she wasted her time getting it (and it was a REALLY big thing for her to pass it).

In summary, she has the ORIGINAL certificate, but no other documentation. Is there any way this could be accepted?

Thanks for any and all comments/advice.

[manci]

Your wife's First Certificate of English does not expire but for tests taken before 6 April 2013 the following must also be submitted with the application: Certificate, Statement of results, Candidate ID number and Candidate's secret number (also Statement of Entry if possible).

Does she not have the other required information/document beside the Certificate because they have been mislaid? Suggest she contacts the centre where she took the test.

Links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... tional.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _final.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _final.pdf

[stupot]

Thanks for your reply, manci. After a lot of research, we finally found out that the user IDs and secret numbers were only introduced in 2005, two years after my wife sat her exam. Even though she still has her original certificate (with her grade), she never received a "statement of results", though she suspects it's possible that was sent to the college where she took the exam and she never knew she had to pick that up separately.

I'm posting the following in case anyone ever comes on here with the same question (well, until they change the rules again, of course):

See here: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/a ... ts-online/
Clicking on “I am not able to check a candidate’s results using the online Results Verification Service” near the bottom reveals this:
“Not all results can be checked using this website. For example, you will not be able to verify:
• exams taken before 2005”


It is possible to get older certificates verified, but that takes at least a month and costs an arm and a leg (especially if you live outside the UK). Even then, we couldn't know for sure if this would be accepted by the UKBA (though I suspect it would, having had a look at their guidance notes).

More info here: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/help/lost-certificates/
Need to scroll down to "Applying for a certifying statement"


In the end we decided it would be quicker and easier to sit an IELTS exam, and my wife did that this past Thursday. We'll get the results in about a week and a half from now. Fingers crossed.

Incidentally, the UKBA support staff were absolutely useless. I mean, seriously, seriously useless. The didn't even know some very easily found facts (one of their replies was that the First Certificate wasn't on their list of approved qualifications).

[stupot]

Well, just in case anyone's interested, my wife went ahead and sat an IELTS exam a couple of weeks ago, as it ended up being the least hassle (though highly stressful given that my wife had just 5 days to study for it).

She got her results this morning, and got enough points to fulfill the language requirements.

Next step--bank statements!