Refusal To Grant Leave To Remain

[nickg]

Please help !

I married my Bulgarian wife in Sofia in May 2007, when we got married we had known each other about 30 months, Irina, my wife, had visited the UK on three occasions, with me being the sponsor, I had visited Bulgaria six times.

Prior to getting married I had to obtain a Certificate of no legal impediment from the UK, then I had to travel to Sofia to go through the legal side of the wedding at the British Embassy, prior to my visit, Irina had visited the Embassy and had enquired as to how she should obtain a visa once married, she was advised that she should wait until she was resident in the UK and apply from here, when we visited the Embassy to go through the wedding arrangements I asked the same question and was given the same answer,

Irina relocated to the UK the first week of September 2007 (Irina is a GP & had a contract until August 31st) we didn’t apply for leave to remain immediately, Irina registered with the General Medical Council, once that was sorted we applied for leave to remain (November 12th) the application was accompanied with all the relevant documentation, both our passports, marriage certificate, original & legalised translation, bank statements, payslips etc, etc.

We have just been advised that Irina has been refused leave to remain referring to Paragraph 286 with reference to 284 (i) and there is no right of appeal.

We’re confused, should she have got the leave to remain in Sofia, prior to coming to the UK ? no right of appeal, is that it ?

Help

Many Thanks

NickG

[vinny]

Under European Law, as a Bulgarian national, your wife did not need permission to enter or remain to live in the United Kingdom. She may apply to work in the UK.

Alternatively, if you are settled or British, then your wife has a choice (21.4.7) of applying under the UK Immigration Rules instead. However, then she would need to qualify as a spouse (13.5) and apply for prior entry clearance before entering the UK. But as she did not have leave to enter or remain, she did not satisfy 284(i), and has no right of appeal.

[petkanov]

She needs to apply on form BR1 and will recieve registration certificate with unrestricted right to work. there is no charge for this application

[JAJ]

Please help !

I married my Bulgarian wife in Sofia in May 2007, when we got married we had known each other about 30 months, Irina, my wife, had visited the UK on three occasions, with me being the sponsor, I had visited Bulgaria six times.

Prior to getting married I had to obtain a Certificate of no legal impediment from the UK, then I had to travel to Sofia to go through the legal side of the wedding at the British Embassy, prior to my visit, Irina had visited the Embassy and had enquired as to how she should obtain a visa once married, she was advised that she should wait until she was resident in the UK and apply from here, when we visited the Embassy to go through the wedding arrangements I asked the same question and was given the same answer,

Irina relocated to the UK the first week of September 2007 (Irina is a GP & had a contract until August 31st) we didn’t apply for leave to remain immediately, Irina registered with the General Medical Council, once that was sorted we applied for leave to remain (November 12th) the application was accompanied with all the relevant documentation, both our passports, marriage certificate, original & legalised translation, bank statements, payslips etc, etc.

We have just been advised that Irina has been refused leave to remain referring to Paragraph 286 with reference to 284 (i) and there is no right of appeal.

We’re confused, should she have got the leave to remain in Sofia, prior to coming to the UK ? no right of appeal, is that it ?

As far as I know she cannot obtain leave to remain because she has been admitted under the EEA rules.

In that case her choices are:

1. Go back to Sofia and apply for entry clearance as a spouse; or

2. As someone else has noted, apply for work rights on form BR1


The disadvantage of option 2 is that she will only get Permanent Residence in September 2012, so she can't think about naturalisation as a British citizen until then.

Under Option 1 she can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after 2 years on a spouse visa, ie around February 2010 (if she switched now) and could go for naturalisation (if you're a British citizen) in September 2010.

[petkanov]

Read point 16 in chapter 4 of the instructions of the European directorate within the homeoffice:


http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... dlaw/ecis/

Basically, she could go either route, the br1 or the immigration rules route, and she doesn't need entry clearance for that. But may I ask you, why doesn't she go the BR1 route, whats the hurry, she will automatically become permanent resident in 5 years, and can get british citizenship in 6 years. THe bulgarian passport is very good travel documents these days, as far as visa free access, so there shouldn't be hurry.

[nickg]

Thanks for your help, very much appreciated, we're leaning towards the BR1 route at the moment, we've got an appointment with an IAS adviser on Friday and we'll make the decision then.

[vinny]

Read point 16 in chapter 4 of the instructions of the European directorate within the homeoffice:


http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... dlaw/ecis/

Interesting. The above does suggest that she didn't need to have prior entry clearance. If she didn't need prior entry clearance, then refusal, with reference to 284(i), would not have been applicable!

[nickg]

Thanks for your help, very much appreciated, we're leaning towards the BR1 route at the moment, we've got an appointment with an IAS adviser on Friday and we'll make the decision then.

I'm even more confused, after spending the best part of 2 hours with an IAS adviser yesterday she advised us that my wife should apply via the EEA1 route !

Opinions ?

Thanks

Nick

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Why did IAS advise to apply EEA1?

[nickg]

Why did IAS advise to apply EEA1?

She insisted that was the way to go for a residence permit.

[JAJ]

Read point 16 in chapter 4 of the instructions of the European directorate within the homeoffice:


http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... dlaw/ecis/

Basically, she could go either route, the br1 or the immigration rules route, and she doesn't need entry clearance for that. But may I ask you, why doesn't she go the BR1 route, whats the hurry, she will automatically become permanent resident in 5 years, and can get british citizenship in 6 years. THe bulgarian passport is very good travel documents these days, as far as visa free access, so there shouldn't be hurry.

As spouse is a British citizen she can go for naturalisation immediately after she has permanent residence, so it's 3 years vs 5 years (not 6).

But I would still point out that the extra 2 years might be an issue - what if they want to emigrate somewhere in that time? The opportunity to get British citizenship would be lost.

The Bulgarian passport is ok for travel around Europe but for travel to the United States, Canada and Australia (as examples) a tourist visa will be needed.

[nickg]

Thanks for your help, very much appreciated, we're leaning towards the BR1 route at the moment, we've got an appointment with an IAS adviser on Friday and we'll make the decision then.

I'm even more confused, after spending the best part of 2 hours with an IAS adviser yesterday she advised us that my wife should apply via the EEA1 route !

Opinions ?

Thanks

Nick

The IAS adviser rang my wife this morning to say she'd researched it more over the weekend and she needs to apply on BR1 !

Glad we hadn't posted it !