Need some advice...very complicated

benzonar · Post by **benzonar** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:10 pm

Ok here goes. I'm a Brit, so first off no problems personally.

However a situation has come up that I need some advice on. My girlfriend of three years is Russian. She has been in the UK as a student for the last 8 years, although her studies actually completed 30 months ago. We have been living together since then.

Now last year she lost her passport and being the disorganised person she is, she has yet to apply for a new one.

So the situation at the moment is that she is probably an overstayer without a passport. Now she doesn't need to work as her family are somewhat wealthy, and I also have a very good income. So no problems there.

We were thinking of getting married this year but the need for this has now increased due to other circumstances. I have been offered a very good job in the UAE and in order for her to come with me we need to be married.

Now I think we will need a COA to get married before we go, however what is the likelihood that we will get one in light of her current situation?

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:20 pm

Aga! ona novaya russkaya!

Anyway - overstayer means persona non-grata, so she can;t do anything with going back to Rodina.

I can see u getting a CoA with valid LTR, and I can't see her sneaking uot without a passport.

Fair to say she's buggered up her UK immigration in the new very tough climate. So I suggest she tries to renew her russkiy pasport at the Russian embassy and tries to sneak out and hope she doesn't get stopped - gonna be impossible tho with no LTR in the passport - thinking as I type here...

To be honest I don't know what to suggest from there, maybe apply for a UAE visa as ur spouse, no idea what visa tho....

bolshaya problemma.....

SYH · Post by **SYH** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:05 pm

Is she or isn't she an overstayer.
You have no idea when her visa is set to expire?

benzonar · Post by **benzonar** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:46 am

I am pretty sure she is an overstayer. Her studies finished over two years ago and she recalls that her student visa ran out just after.

The fact that she has no intention of working or claiming benefits, and will be leaving the UK anyway to join me in the Middle East will haopefully mean they will issue a COA with no real problems.

paulp · Post by **paulp** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:57 am

benzonar wrote:I am pretty sure she is an overstayer. Her studies finished over two years ago and she recalls that her student visa ran out just after.

The fact that she has no intention of working or claiming benefits, and will be leaving the UK anyway to join me in the Middle East will haopefully mean they will issue a COA with no real problems.

Please do read up on the proposed bans for overstayers. If the HO find out that she is an overstayer, she may receive a ban from 1 year up to 10 years from the UK.

benzonar · Post by **benzonar** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:01 pm

Well as we plan to leave the UK in a few months it is not so much of a problem.
My main worry is getting the COA, if I can't get this from the HO then we will just arrange to get married in the Russian embassy. It is only the marriage certificate we are worried about for entry into the UAE, who we get it from shouldn't matter.We can then tackle the issue of residency in a few years when we need to.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:11 pm

benzonar wrote:Well as we plan to leave the UK in a few months it is not so much of a problem.
My main worry is getting the COA, if I can't get this from the HO then we will just arrange to get married in the Russian embassy. It is only the marriage certificate we are worried about for entry into the UAE, who we get it from shouldn't matter.We can then tackle the issue of residency in a few years when we need to.

That;s not gonna happen mate. She'll not get CoA with no valid LTR.

The Russian embassy can't do marriages, ZAGS (Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya ) in Russia is the Russian Registry Office.

The only way is for her to go home, she's never going to get a visa for UAE from a country she is not only not resident in, but an overstayer in too.

tasha75 · Post by **tasha75** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:33 pm

Wanderer wrote:
The Russian embassy can't do marriages, ZAGS (Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya ) in Russia is the Russian Registry Office..

Yes they can, but only for marriages between 2 Russian citizen.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:01 pm

tasha75 wrote:
Wanderer wrote:
The Russian embassy can't do marriages, ZAGS (Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya ) in Russia is the Russian Registry Office..
Yes they can, but only for marriages between 2 Russian citizen.

Interessna! Spasibo za infu...

Jeff Albright · Post by **Jeff Albright** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:40 pm

The key issue here is that she will still have to leave the country and COA will not be granted.

The easiest solution in this case if simply go to Russia and get married there and then make all the plans for relocation to the UAE from there.

paulp · Post by **paulp** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:22 am

The HO has been taking a bit of a battering over the legality of COAs. Maybe the OP wants to have another go at them.

Jeff Albright · Post by **Jeff Albright** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:34 am

paulp wrote:The HO has been taking a bit of a battering over the legality of COAs. Maybe the OP wants to have another go at them.

I think it would be just waste of time trying to fight the arrogant government system even if the HO were wrong in law. In my case, it took me nearly 9 years although the story was completely different.
The UAE job offer may not wait that long so I can understand very well where they were coming from in the original post.

davidm · Post by **davidm** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:42 am

Getting a new Russian passport also will not be that easy. I have a Russian colleague who wants to renew her passport, she has to get all kinds of forms filled and stamped by her office in Moscow (it seems that a Russian employer has to certify that you need to have a passport), then send it off to embassy in London who will take 5-6 months to get the passport issued as it is done in Moscow and sent to London. To make things faster, she is flying off to Moscow and apply there rather than sit out here in London and wait for the Russian embassy to issue passport in its sweet time (and they will keep her passport while the application is being processed by the embassy here which means she can't travel anywhere either)- takes 2 weeks even then. I guess getting a replacement for a lost passport will be a tougher ordeal.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:32 am

davidm wrote:Getting a new Russian passport also will not be that easy. I have a Russian colleague who wants to renew her passport, she has to get all kinds of forms filled and stamped by her office in Moscow (it seems that a Russian employer has to certify that you need to have a passport), then send it off to embassy in London who will take 5-6 months to get the passport issued as it is done in Moscow and sent to London. To make things faster, she is flying off to Moscow and apply there rather than sit out here in London and wait for the Russian embassy to issue passport in its sweet time (and they will keep her passport while the application is being processed by the embassy here which means she can't travel anywhere either)- takes 2 weeks even then. I guess getting a replacement for a lost passport will be a tougher ordeal.

Will be even more of a nightmare if her Russian Internal passport has expired too..

Amarula · Post by **Amarula** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:51 am

davidm wrote:Getting a new Russian passport also will not be that easy. I have a Russian colleague who wants to renew her passport, she has to get all kinds of forms filled and stamped by her office in Moscow (it seems that a Russian employer has to certify that you need to have a passport), then send it off to embassy in London who will take 5-6 months to get the passport issued as it is done in Moscow and sent to London. To make things faster, she is flying off to Moscow and apply there rather than sit out here in London and wait for the Russian embassy to issue passport in its sweet time (and they will keep her passport while the application is being processed by the embassy here which means she can't travel anywhere either)- takes 2 weeks even then. I guess getting a replacement for a lost passport will be a tougher ordeal.

Simply not true. You fill out the forms, no employers are involved and it takes 2-3 months to get it back from russian consulate in london. and you get to keep the old passport all the time!

Concerning the person in question, she can get a paper (spravka na vozvraschenie) from consulate to leave the UK and then get a new passport in russia, getting married there would also probably be an easier option.

AlexCh · Post by **AlexCh** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:27 pm

Without her original Russian passport her chances to get a new one in the Russian Embassy in London are ZERO. All they can do is to give her a special document which will allow her to return to Russia.
On the other hand - if her parents have money and connections in Russia, they probably could try to get her another one in Russia without her personally visiting Russia - but it still does not solve the marriage in the UK problem.

AlexCh · Post by **AlexCh** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:30 pm

davidm wrote:...wait for the Russian embassy to issue passport in its sweet time (and they will keep her passport while the application is being processed by the embassy here which means she can't travel anywhere either)- takes 2 weeks even then.

Nope - they do not keep the old passport at all, but 2 weeks rule does not apply to her as she is not permanently living in the UK - it would be 4-5 months - if she had the original passport, which she does not have ...

Immigrationboards.com: Immigration, work visa and work permit discussion board

Need some advice...very complicated

Need some advice...very complicated