Considering Either Student or Spouse Visa Application

[univas01]

Before I met my fiancée, she has been denied a UK Visitor visa on four occasions, the last being in 2016. She has now secured admission for a postgraduate program into a Uni in the UK, having successfully finished her degree course in 2018 in Nigeria.

I’m working as an IT professional on a full-time basis for a company here in the UK with permanent residence status. While I have been in a relationship with my fiancée for just over a year, we decided to meet-up at Dubai, UAE in May 2019 which turned out to be a very wonderful experience for both of us and we are now planning to get married to each other later this year in Nigeria, August 2019 to be precise.

Top of our worries now is her immigration history even though it appears to be completely irrelevant as her status as now changed since last time she applied, on which ground should she apply to gain entry into the UK? As a student or we should get married in August and then apply on spouse visa based upon my status?

I very much understand that student visa is a point based system where once an applicant meets all requirements, the visa is usually granted while spouse visa is not a point based and tends to be far too much discretional from Visa Officer’s perspective, and as I understand, home office deliberately refuses spouse visa just to make applicants pay more money by applying again (I might be wrong but it appears to be the view of majority on this forum).

The processing time for student visa application is a maximum of 3 weeks and can even apply for 24hour expedited service while the earliest processing time for a spouse visa is 12 weeks with expedited service being 30days.

So I’m seeking your opinion on this situation as I just don’t want her application to be a complicated one.

[CR001]

Only you/she can decide which option to choose and which she qualifies for.

I very much understand that student visa is a point based system where once an applicant meets all requirements, the visa is usually granted while spouse visa is not a point based and tends to be far too much discretional from Visa Officer’s perspective, and as I understand, home office deliberately refuses spouse visa just to make applicants pay more money by applying again (I might be wrong but it appears to be the view of majority on this forum).

You are wrong. It is a small percentage of applicants who post on the forum, many do not. Also remember many who post on the forum don't post the whole truth, only what they feel is relevant and what they believe is the 'injustice', and when digging for specific answers and the correct answers are provided, then the refusals are almost always correct.

Those that are refused, it is usually due to not meeting the requirements or not submitting the required documentation, yes surprisingly, some applicants think they will submit what they think is relevant and not what the rules and HO have stipulated.

[Frontier Mole]

Has your fiancé actually got a confirmed place at Uni and have they issued a CAS?

[univas01]

She has a conditional offer at the moment, school is waiting on her to make a deposit after which the offer becomes unconditional. So any thought, please?

Has your fiancé actually got a confirmed place at Uni and have they issued a CAS?

[univas01]

She obviously qualifies via both route as far as I can tell and perhaps, the reason I needed someone's input just in case I'm missing some sort of information. I personally have made 4 applications to the home office in this county (Tier4 to PR status) and I'm so fortunate to get things right on the first attempt (Maybe because I do not have more than one option for each application I made). However, this seems to be a different ball game as I'm presented with two options and I want to get this right just ONCE...

Only you/she can decide which option to choose and which she qualifies for.

[Frontier Mole]

The best long term approach is for the Spouse visa. It will almost certainly take longer to get than a tier 4 visa but once it is done the path is easier in the future.

[manitops]

spouse visa is the best as they tend to ignore any previous immigration of the person you want to marry.

If you meet the requirement, chances are she will get it but might take longer

remember due to her previous immigration documents, you will have to provide a lot of evidence to prove that the marriage is genuine and not just a marriage of convenience

[univas01]

Quite understandable and you made a very good point, which is life after she gets into the UK. Cheers!

The best long term approach is for the Spouse visa. It will almost certainly take longer to get than a tier 4 visa but once it is done the path is easier in the future.

[univas01]

Rightly said, because of her immigration history, I want to believe we'll need to provide a lot of evidence that we're in a genuine and continuing relationship. So, provided we are going via spouse visa route, the documents to show that our relationship is genuine include:

(i) Time spent together - Our Itinerary tickets for Dubai trip where we first saw each other face to face and pictures taken together.
(ii) We are in frequent contact - Whatsapp messages dated back to Jan 2018 when we first contacted each other.
(iii) Marriage Certificate including pictures
(iv) Bank statements to show monthly payment to my partner's account in Nigeria

No call records as it's quite expensive to make international calls from the UK, so we talk via facetime and WhatsApp calls.

So, shall we say the aforementioned evidence are enough considering her immigration history? It's really confusing for me personally because I do not know what actually constitutes 'EVIDENCE OF GENUINE RELATIONSHIP' and this is why I believe it's discretional on the part of VO.

If anyone thinks those evidence are not enough, can you please tell me what else I need to include?

spouse visa is the best as they tend to ignore any previous immigration of the person you want to marry.

If you meet the requirement, chances are she will get it but might take longer

remember due to her previous immigration documents, you will have to provide a lot of evidence to prove that the marriage is genuine and not just a marriage of convenience

[manitops]

Do you have any kids together?

What is your immigration status and how did you obtain this. You mentioned you have permanent residence, when do you qualify for citizenship?

Since your relationship is genuine, you have nothing to worry about, just put everything you can. Wedding pictures, holiday trips, chats, family photo and having kids too can help too. Also remember that if you are a citizen, any child born outside UK is also a citizen.

Might cost extra, but until you try, you can't know. Even if refused, you can re-apply and address the concerns the best way you can

I wish you the best

Rightly said, because of her immigration history, I want to believe we'll need to provide a lot of evidence that we're in a genuine and continuing relationship. So, provided we are going via spouse visa route, the documents to show that our relationship is genuine include:

(i) Time spent together - Our Itinerary tickets for Dubai trip where we first saw each other face to face and pictures taken together.
(ii) We are in frequent contact - Whatsapp messages dated back to Jan 2018 when we first contacted each other.
(iii) Marriage Certificate including pictures
(iv) Bank statements to show monthly payment to my partner's account in Nigeria

No call records as it's quite expensive to make international calls from the UK, so we talk via facetime and WhatsApp calls.

So, shall we say the aforementioned evidence are enough considering her immigration history? It's really confusing for me personally because I do not know what actually constitutes 'EVIDENCE OF GENUINE RELATIONSHIP' and this is why I believe it's discretional on the part of VO.

If anyone thinks those evidence are not enough, can you please tell me what else I need to include?

spouse visa is the best as they tend to ignore any previous immigration of the person you want to marry.

If you meet the requirement, chances are she will get it but might take longer

remember due to her previous immigration documents, you will have to provide a lot of evidence to prove that the marriage is genuine and not just a marriage of convenience

[univas01]

No, my fiancee and I do not have any kids. However, I was previously married to an EEA national but we are now divorced (no kids as well). I applied and was granted a retained right of residence status after our divorce and subsequently obtained a PR status.

Currently, I am eligible for UK Citizenship as it is now over 12 months period that I have deemed to have acquired a PR status, according to the letter that came with my PR card if you know what I mean but I am aware I still have to put in an application for naturalization though.

So I didn't quite get your question, does being a PR card holder have a negative effect on the spouse visa application? Do I have to obtain citizenship before I can bring my spouse over to join me in the UK?

Considering the fact that I need to raise a family, wouldn't it be a wise choice to spend the money I would have used to obtain citizenship on getting my fiancee here and let everything else comes thereafter?

Do you have any kids together?

What is your immigration status and how did you obtain this. You mentioned you have permanent residence, when do you qualify for citizenship?

Since your relationship is genuine, you have nothing to worry about, just put everything you can. Wedding pictures, holiday trips, chats, family photo and having kids too can help too. Also remember that if you are a citizen, any child born outside UK is also a citizen.

Might cost extra, but until you try, you can't know. Even if refused, you can re-apply and address the concerns the best way you can

I wish you the best

[seagul]

So I didn't quite get your question, does being a PR card holder have a negative effect on the spouse visa application? Do I have to obtain citizenship before I can bring my spouse over to join me in the UK?

If you and your fiancée can fulfill the requirements then since you are already settled so should apply for her. PR status wont have any negative effect.

Considering the fact that I need to raise a family, wouldn't it be a wise choice to spend the money I would have used to obtain citizenship on getting my fiancee here and let everything else comes thereafter?

Not bad idea

[manitops]

So I didn't quite get your question, does being a PR card holder have a negative effect on the spouse visa application? Do I have to obtain citizenship before I can bring my spouse over to join me in the UK?

No it wouldn't have any negative impact. I was only trying to infer that getting citizenship can help make your case stronger. Also because if you and your wife were to have a child abroad, that child will also be a British citizen automatically since you are already naturalized.

Considering the fact that I need to raise a family, wouldn't it be a wise choice to spend the money I would have used to obtain citizenship on getting my fiancee here and let everything else comes thereafter?

That's a choice, for you to make. I really wish you all the best as immigration issue can be stressful

[univas01]

I'm back here to share my experience and to thank forum members for their views on different cases.

After careful consideration of how my wife will join me in the UK, we decided to go down the route of spouse visa with all the information gathered within this forum. My wife was granted the spouse visa on Wed, 13th Nov.

Take away
- Put yourself in ECO's position and carefully analyze the application, don't be biased in your judgment
- Do extensive research on each of the requirements for the application
- Write a very clear and concise cover letter explaining your situation (Both sponsor and applicant)
- Make sure you do not leave any gap, ECO is probably looking for a loophole in your application

I do not know what actually worked for us but what I do know is that we put in all our efforts, considering the fact that my wife has previously been refused a visit visa on four different occasions.

Nonetheless, the most important is to rely on Almighty Allah having perfected your homework.

With God All Things Are Possible!

[AmazonianX]

You got there and good that you are giving feedback . Congratulations to you and wife.