Spouse visa success!!!!

[katiebridges87]

Great news!!!!

I married my gorgeous husband in his home country of st.vincent on 13th dec 2009.we submitted a visa application soon afterwards and were to be honest very unsure of the outcome as my husband had been an overstayer in the U.K for 3 years,i prepared myself for the worst,not only was there the overstay factor but also my overdraft was in the red for 3 months before we submitted our application(who isnt overdrawn when planning for the biggest day of their life??)
BUT amazingly just this thursday we recieved news that his visa had been issued!!!we are over the moon as we have a son together and i am pregnant,and we really didnt want it to be refused,all i can say is BE 100% HONEST in your application and provide lots of evidence....good luck to all those in a similar situation!!!!

[ElenaW]

congrats!!!

[mochyn]

Great news.

This is why people who overstay should go back to their country to apply for spousal visa instead of applying under article 8 of the HRA.
Overstaying is not a difficult hurdle to overcome if you are applying for a spousal visa.
As you have found it is very quick in getting your spousal visa instead of sweating it out with article 8.
I hope that overstayers will look at this success story and go back to their country to apply

[mochyn]

Great news!!!!

I married my gorgeous husband in his home country of st.vincent on 13th dec 2009.we submitted a visa application soon afterwards and were to be honest very unsure of the outcome as my husband had been an overstayer in the U.K for 3 years,i prepared myself for the worst,not only was there the overstay factor but also my overdraft was in the red for 3 months before we submitted our application(who isnt overdrawn when planning for the biggest day of their life??)
BUT amazingly just this thursday we recieved news that his visa had been issued!!!we are over the moon as we have a son together and i am pregnant,and we really didnt want it to be refused,all i can say is BE 100% HONEST in your application and provide lots of evidence....good luck to all those in a similar situation!!!!

I think this success story should be a sticky as it is valuable advice for overstayers who are looking to legalise their stay in the UK

[Panesar]

@Katie

Congrats! You must be so pleased.

Could you give us a time line for your application and when/where you applied. Did you do the premium service?

I sent my application in in early December and haven't yet received a biometrics letter. My application should be pretty straight forward.. just wondering what it taking so long!

[katiebridges87]

Hi Panesar...

ok so basically it went like this
married 13th december
submitted online application 15th december
husband went to barbados to have biometrics done and handed in evidence 22nd december
recieved email 5th jan to confirm NY british consular had recieved our application and were processing documents,and it would take 20 days to make a decision on our case
hadnt heard anything on 21st day(3rd feb) so emailed
4th feb-recieved email to say his visa had been issued!!!!

we didnt use the express service

hope that has been helpful

[Patagonian]

recieved email 5th jan to confirm NY british consular had recieved our application and were processing documents,and it would take 20 days to make a decision on our case
hadnt heard anything on 21st day(3rd feb) so emailed
4th feb-recieved email to say his visa had been issued!!!!

Congrats on getting the visa

Can I ask who you emailed at NY? My civil partner's settlement visa is being dealt with there. We received the email saying they had received the application and it would take 20 days on January 8 and since then....nothing. I sent an email to NEYOZVisaInfo@fco.gov.uk last week but have no idea if this mailbox is monitored or not

I can't believe it's taking sooo long. When visas were still issued by the embassy here in Argentina, the turnaround time was less than 1 week. We are getting very stressed as we want to leave for the UK on March 1 and time is running out..

[katiebridges87]

Its a nightmare to get in contact with those people i know,we emailed that address and Consular_visa@fco.gov.uk i dont know if they took any notice or if it was just by coincidence.also there is a fax number so dont know if that might be useful?its 001-212-754-3062 i would suggest trying to contact again and explain you have made flight bookings based on information you were told(20 days)

good luck!!!

[Trent]

Congratulations on your wedding and obtaining the spouse visa Katie!

Great news.

This is why people who overstay should go back to their country to apply for spousal visa instead of applying under article 8 of the HRA.
Overstaying is not a difficult hurdle to overcome if you are applying for a spousal visa.
As you have found it is very quick in getting your spousal visa instead of sweating it out with article 8.
I hope that overstayers will look at this success story and go back to their country to apply

This does not address the absurdity of asking people to go back just to apply and come back again, knowing full well they have every chance of succeeding. It does not address the huge disruption this can impose on the family life of those concerned.

Read this comment by Lord Scott in the Chikwaba case (stickied thread in this forum):

...It is, or ought to be, accepted that the appellant’s husband cannot be expected to return to Zimbabwe, that the appellant cannot be expected to leave her child behind if she is returned to Zimbabwe and that if the appellant were to be returned to Zimbabwe she would have every prospect of succeeding in an application made there for permission to re-enter and remain in this country with her husband. So what on earth is the point of sending her back? Why cannot her application simply be made here? The only answer given on behalf of the Secretary of State is that government policy requires that she return and make her application from Zimbabwe. This is elevating policy to dogma. Kafka would have enjoyed it. I would allow this appeal.

[mochyn]

Congratulations on your wedding and obtaining the spouse visa Katie!

Great news.

This is why people who overstay should go back to their country to apply for spousal visa instead of applying under article 8 of the HRA.
Overstaying is not a difficult hurdle to overcome if you are applying for a spousal visa.
As you have found it is very quick in getting your spousal visa instead of sweating it out with article 8.
I hope that overstayers will look at this success story and go back to their country to apply

This does not address the absurdity of asking people to go back just to apply and come back again, knowing full well they have every chance of succeeding. It does not address the huge disruption this can impose on the family life of those concerned.

Read this comment by Lord Scott in the Chikwaba case (stickied thread in this forum):

...It is, or ought to be, accepted that the appellant’s husband cannot be expected to return to Zimbabwe, that the appellant cannot be expected to leave her child behind if she is returned to Zimbabwe and that if the appellant were to be returned to Zimbabwe she would have every prospect of succeeding in an application made there for permission to re-enter and remain in this country with her husband. So what on earth is the point of sending her back? Why cannot her application simply be made here? The only answer given on behalf of the Secretary of State is that government policy requires that she return and make her application from Zimbabwe. This is elevating policy to dogma. Kafka would have enjoyed it. I would allow this appeal.

If you allow people to change their status in the UK it creates even more of a backlog than there is now and the backlog will just get bigger every year.
Maybe we should extend waiting times to cut down the number of applications being processed, change the 14 year rule to 20 years, increase waiting times from 14 weeks to 26 weeks for ILR?
Stop MP's getting involved in cases to the Home Office?
We are only talking about a few weeks separation.
Lets be a little pragmatic here!

[Trent]

If you allow people to change their status in the UK it creates even more of a backlog than there is now and the backlog will just get bigger every year.
Maybe we should extend waiting times to cut down the number of applications being processed, change the 14 year rule to 20 years, increase waiting times from 14 weeks to 26 weeks for ILR?
Stop MP's getting involved in cases to the Home Office?
We are only talking about a few weeks separation.
Lets be a little pragmatic here!

How does processing the spouse visa applications submittted from abroad or from the UK make any difference or change to the backlog? It's the same amount of work for the UKBA either way. It's absurd to ask people to return to their countries just to come back again if there is no reason for the application to be unsuccesful.

[batleykhan]

How does processing the spouse visa applications submitted from abroad or from the UK make any difference or change to the backlog? It's the same amount of work for the UKBA either way.

Simply because there is not enough specialist trained Entry Clearance Officers based at UKBA to deal with applications made in the UK.

These ECO are based in countries where the demand is high because people are expected to apply for visa there rather than in the UK. That is why majority of ECO are based abroad.

[Trent]

Simply because there is not enough specialist trained Entry Clearance Officers based at UKBA to deal with applications made in the UK.

These ECO are based in countries where the demand is high because people are expected to apply for visa there rather than in the UK. That is why majority of ECO are based abroad.

This does not justify that families should be seperated because the UKBA has decided not to allocate any resources in the UK to processing spouse visas! Never mind the whole absurdity of asking someone to take an international flight just to satisfy some bureaucratic tick-box! Where has common sense gone?

[mochyn]

Simply because there is not enough specialist trained Entry Clearance Officers based at UKBA to deal with applications made in the UK.

These ECO are based in countries where the demand is high because people are expected to apply for visa there rather than in the UK. That is why majority of ECO are based abroad.

This does not justify that families should be seperated because the UKBA has decided not to allocate any resources in the UK to processing spouse visas! Never mind the whole absurdity of asking someone to take an international flight just to satisfy some bureaucratic tick-box! Where has common sense gone?

Common sense went out of the window when hundreds of thousands apply for asylum when the UK can never be the FIRST safe country you reach from Africa, Asia, Middle east wether by sea or road. If everybody followed the rules then the HO might be more lenient

[Trent]

Common sense went out of the window when hundreds of thousands apply for asylum when the UK can never be the FIRST safe country you reach from Africa, Asia, Middle east wether by sea or road. If everybody followed the rules then the HO might be more lenient

How does "hundreds of thousands" applying for asylum make flying someone out to tick a box and then come back logical? Why don't they tick the box here and, if they fail the application they can go back. Or, if they succeed they can stay and avoid having had their life upset and families separated. And at no extra cost to the government either.

[SBT_Owner]

Trent , in addition to the informed reply from batleykhan it is also done so if a application is refused the person is out of the country and can not go underground /back underground , and avoid the need for a visa to be here . If they were failed here , i am not sure how many would return (do not forget many illegal immigrants/overstayers apply via spouse visas) would they really return if the visa was turned down ?

Those that bend the rules just make it harder for genuine couples just like bogus students making life harder for genuine students

[Pakhtoon]

Trent , in addition to the informed reply from batleykhan it is also done so if a application is refused the person is out of the country and can not go underground /back underground , and avoid the need for a visa to be here . If they were failed here , i am not sure how many would return (do not forget many illegal immigrants/overstayers apply via spouse visas) would they really return if the visa was turned down ?

Those that bend the rules just make it harder for genuine couples just like bogus students making life harder for genuine students

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