Stolen passport / ILR ..... "Returning resident Visa&qu

[IanK]

Hi All

we are out of the UK on a 3 week vacation and our passports among other things have been stolen ... we live /work in UK for last 8 years with valid ILR’s ... so need to get back to our jobs ASAP.

we have re-applied for our SA passports, which should take about 2 weeks .... but from all the documents I have read, it would appear we have to apply for a "returning resident" visa whilst out the UK

now this poses several problems

1. the £300 p/p as all our vacation money has been stolen
2. we are here on a short holiday and don't have any of the supporting documents required to make this application
3. we applied for naturalisation on the 28.03.2011 £1010 ( decision pending )

so in essence all we want is to get back to the UK to then hopefully get our UK passports in a month or thereabouts.


Anyway .. any advise appreciated .. but my question is .. has anyone EVER contacted the HO / Local consulate and been able to get them to waiver the visa fee due to ANY reason whatsoever ????


and if so who did you contact ??

thanks for any help ......
Desperate Ian

[Kitty]

I don't think you want a "returning resident" visa, which is for holders of ILR who have been out of the UK for 2 years.

You need the BHC to reissue your existing leave (although in terms of cost I appreciate it probably won't make much difference).

Check here:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/ecbasi ... p#49444682

Have you contacted the relevant Visa Application Centre?

See also this thread:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... b111ad742f

[IanK]

Hi Kitty , thanks for the info but I was informed by Visa Centre that ILR cannot be re-issued whilst out of the UK , therefore they advised returning resident is the visa required.

[Mr Rusty]

Hi Kitty , thanks for the info but I was informed by Visa Centre that ILR cannot be re-issued whilst out of the UK , therefore they advised returning resident is the visa required.

This is quite correct, I recently filled in the form for a lady in a similar predicament who was visiting a neighbour. Returning Resident is the only application you can make.

Presumably you can produce evidence that you only left the UK recently and that you were living and working there. In that case, there shouldn't be much of a problem getting the visas.

With regards waiver of payment, I don't know of any provisions made for this, but no doubt someone will correct me if there are. I wouldn't waste your time casting yourself on the charity of UKVisas, just borrow the money and get your applications in asap. Whilst one doesn't want to be unsympathetic, you have perhaps learned a useful lesson about the value of an adequate insurance policy for travel abroad.

[IanK]

Alo .. yup seems were just going to have to bite the bullet and apply for the "returning resident" visas ... we have a very reasonable travel insurance but it only covers £200 p/p for lost documents

[pennylessinindia]

Hi All

1. the £300 p/p as all our vacation money has been stolen
2. we are here on a short holiday and don't have any of the supporting documents required to make this application

and if so who did you contact ??

Help only for brit cits in absolute dire need you would not fit that. Just need to get money sent over pretty easy these days.

Do get good evidence of your circumstances in the UK when you left to include with your application

[IanK]

Just as a follow up

i am now back in the UK , the only option for us was to get Returning Resident visas in our replaced passports & cough up the £330 per person they wanted .

as a side note we did get some help from our regional MP with pushing the application through in the short time we had left before our flights.

Rgds
Ian

[Kitty]

Thanks for the follow-up news: glad you're back at least.