Please help us sort this out

[NiiKpani]

My partner has overstayed for the past 7-8 yrs or so. I have settled status and i desperately want to normalise her staus in the UK as our mobility is hampered as a result of her current status.

She is from zimbabwe and we got married only 5 weeks ago. To make matters worse, she has also lost her passport. I am able to apply for a Ghanaian (my home) passport on her behalf by virtue of our marriage. However the dilemma is 'do we apply for the spouse visa in country or does she have to go back home to apply?' In this instance should home be zimbabwe or ghana??. Will she receive a 12month ban if she applies from home??. Are there any in country options.

[twostars]

How did you get married 5 weeks ago? Traditional marriage?

Anyway I think you need to go to Zimbabwe her country of origin and apply.

I was in the same situation, overstayed 6 years and my husband is a British (parents from Ghana). We both went back to Zim to get married and I got my spouse visa in three days. We put all our documents for the application using this forum and also had the help of the Immigration advisory service advisor who double checked our application docs and provided a support letter (for my overstaying) before we went to Zim.

Your wife should just reapply for a new Zimbabwean passport,it's very expensive at the moment and she will need help from close family in Zimbabwe for a fast track application. The Zim embassy will require a police report, her original birth certificate and national id (confirm by calling them). I had to do the same as I had lost my passport as well and this was one of the biggest hurdles and very expensive.

If you can get through the passport hurdle and put your strong supporting docs for the application together it should not be a problem.

For a list of supporting documents we sent with the application see link below.
It was a bit over the top but we did not want to take any chances. All the documents were put together neatly in a very thick folder by the time we were done!

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ht=#242311