Do we cancel? Advice much appreciated.

[theedudester]

The situation: I am British with two British children. We worked and lived in China. My wife is RUSSIAN. Migration Expert WRONGLY told us to apply for priority visa for my wife's settlement visa to the UK and it would take 12 - 20 days. We applied for our visa on May 11th, got a Application Number, sent our documents to Sheffield, paid the NHS fee and then we were told it could take 60 days. We have no way of expediting the visa. She is now stuck in Beijing with her Chinese visa about to run out (she is RUSSIAN) and we have had to come back to the UK. We may cancel and start again in another country.
She already has a 10 year family visit visa.

Questions:
1. If we cancel and re-apply, we will need an office/service in a country that allows her to apply and then have her passport returned to her (allowing her to travel). Does anyone know of a list of services that allow her to travel to a country, apply and then travel back to the UK while she waits?
To be clear: I have read somewhere she can apply for settlement in (for example France) and while she waits they give her the passport back so she can come back to the UK.

We want to ensure she is not stuck somewhere in the world for 3 months away from the family. We want her in the UK on her family visit visa while she waits for the settlement outcome.

We are just over month into this current visa situation (11th May). We don’t know what to do? Should we cancel and re-apply somewhere else?

2. Can she withdraw the application in Beijing and re-submit somewhere else (e.g. St Petersburg - where her family live?)


Her visa should be straight forward. She speaks fluent English has extensive personal savings and has two British children. She has property in the UK and has a 10 year family visit visa. We are not expecting any problems with the application but she cannot stay in China after June 30th.

Any advice welcome.

[theedudester]

The situation: I am British with two British children. We worked and lived in China. My wife is RUSSIAN. Migration Expert WRONGLY told us to apply for priority visa for my wife's settlement visa to the UK and it would take 12 - 20 days. We applied for our visa on May 11th, got a Application Number, sent our documents to Sheffield, paid the NHS fee and then we were told it could take 60 days. We have no way of expediting the visa. She is now stuck in Beijing with her Chinese visa about to run out (she is RUSSIAN) and we have had to come back to the UK. We may cancel and start again in another country.
She already has a 10 year family visit visa.

Questions:
1. If we cancel and re-apply, we will need an office/service in a country that allows her to apply and then have her passport returned to her (allowing her to travel). Does anyone know of a list of services that allow her to travel to a country, apply and then travel back to the UK while she waits?
To be clear: I have read somewhere she can apply for settlement in (for example France) and while she waits they give her the passport back so she can come back to the UK.

We want to ensure she is not stuck somewhere in the world for 3 months away from the family. We want her in the UK on her family visit visa while she waits for the settlement outcome.

We are just over month into this current visa situation ( Biometrics taken on 11th May). We don’t know what to do? Should we cancel and re-apply somewhere else?

2. Can she withdraw the application in Beijing and re-submit somewhere else (e.g. St Petersburg - where her family live?)


Her visa should be straight forward. She speaks fluent English has extensive personal savings and has two British children. She has property in the UK and has a 10 year family visit visa. We are not expecting any problems with the application but she cannot stay in China after June 30th.

Any advice welcome.

[Katie_France]

Hello theedudester,

First of all I would not cancel. Your timeframes look pretty tight, but I think still possible they review it because it is priority.

I I were you , I wouldn’t cancel now, because you loose your money paid . Is there any option to extend her Chinese visa for another month? Does she have the second passport (you said that she travelled with you to the UK)? If she has, why not to apply for a second Chinese visa just to enter, to pick up her passport and documents?

You won’t be able to apply from other country, if you are not a resident there. To apply from France you will need to have French residence permit. She can go to Russia and apply from Russia and pay for the service keep my passport with me.

Even that her application is straightforward you never know how long it takes for the HO to review it. It takes about 2 hours for the ECO to review your documents, the rest of the time, your documents are in the queue for review.

Try to contact your MP explaining the situation, maybe they will be able to help.

[theedudester]

Thanks very much for the reply. She only has one passport so she has to stay.

She might be able to extend her visa but she has no where to stay.

So: Are you certain Russian immigration centers have a "keep my passport with me" service?

Many thanks. First time a human has actually replied.

[Casa]

There may another issue to consider before cancelling. Your wife's Spouse visa application will flag up on the system at UK Border Control and the IO may well refuse her entry as a visitor, due to her intention to settle.

[theedudester]

I don't think you fully understood though. . We are not priority because VFS Beijing would not allow it. So we are at the back of the queue. We have been told it is awaiting a decision but i have no idea how long that wil take. Any ideas?

[Katie_France]

I don't think you fully understood though. . We are not priority because VFS Beijing would not allow it. So we are at the back of the queue. We have been told it is awaiting a decision but i have no idea how long that wil take. Any ideas?

You wrote in your first message that your lawyer recommended to apply priority. So did you pay priority or not? If not, than it will be 60 business days, maybe more with coming summer months.

As Casa wrote you, they will probably not allow your wife to enter because she applied for the settlement visa.

I think the best option for you would be to sit tight and extend your Chinese visa.

[Katie_France]

There was a service by VFS Beijing - keep my passport with me. https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/china/engli ... n-applying

[theedudester]

hi very sorry. I wrote " My wife is RUSSIAN. Migration Expert WRONGLY told us to apply for priority visa for my wife's settlement visa to the UK and it would take 12 - 20 days. "

What I should have written was My wife is RUSSIAN. Migration Expert WRONGLY told us to apply for priority visa for my wife's settlement visa to the UK and it would take 12 - 20 days but VFS Beijing do not offer this service so we could not pay for it.

So my wife does not have priority service because they don't offer it.

[theedudester]

VFS Beijing do not offer this service as far as we tried. I will send her back there to ask again... Their information is just all over the place.

[Katie_France]

You can’t pay for the priority processing after you submitted your documents, so it doesn’t matter now.

The best thing is really to be patient and to wait for the response, but not expect it earlier than 60 business days for standard application.