Family Permit vs Spouse Visa

[ZD]

Hello all.

I am a British Born national and am currently going through divorce proceedings in the UK. The problem I am facing is that my decree absolute is forever taking to appear and my second wife [through Islamic marriage] has had our first child and is currently living with her grandfather in Pakistan. [My first wife and I divorced in 2001 under Muslim Law and has since left the UK]

Obtaining a British passport for our child is not a problem however I would like to know whether my wife could apply for a family permit instead of a spouse visa? What evidence would I need to provide? Would I still need to provide a decree absolute? The situation tightens day by day as my wife’s grandfather is 85 and I worry for their general day to day care. I am simply running out of time.

Any advice is appreciated, I am getting desperate; it’s been five years and my divorce is unnecessarily taking too long no thanks to the non-responding party in Pakistan.

[ZD]

Hi all!

Any info would be appreciated at this time. I seriously do not know what to do as I have exhausted all known options to me.

[Wanderer]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't the Family Permit for those exercising Treaty Rights?

[John]

Wanderer, you are right. ZD that path is simply not open to you.

When do you expect the Decree Absolute to be issued? Have you got a date for that yet? Have you even got the Decree Nisi? If so, is there any particular problem converting the Nisi into an Absolute?

And when the Absolute is granted, what will you do next? Will you fly to Pakistan and enter into a marriage there? That is, a marriage that is accepted as legally valid, and not just religiously valid.

If the answer to that is yes, then your wife would apply for a spouse visa in Pakistan. Alternatively if the answer is no, she could apply for a fiancée visa, then fly to the UK, and then the two of your could register the legal marriage in a UK Register Office.

[ZD]

Thanks Wanderer and John.

Yes John, my plan is once I receive the decree absolute I fly to Pakistan, re-marry my wife. Then I will apply for my wife’s spouse visa. However I am not sure whether her case will weaken somewhat if our child travels on a British passport and her mother on a Pakistani? Could it be seen as a marriage of convenience even though we were Islamically married in Jun 2002? [She was once refused entry to the UK in May 2006 as she had the incorrect Visa and required a medical visa]

The problem is obtaining the date for the NISI. To cut a 5 year story short, I applied for a foreign decree and it was found that my dissolution of marriage certificate from Pakistan was forged. After 5 years I have submitted a new petition and hoping that the forged certificate will not come up [under the section of outside UK court divorces hearings] as it will lengthen the progress. All though my side will dismiss it as a non-issue at this stage it could still add a few more months to my case. Time which I do not have hence my worry.

I guess I’ll have to wait for the decree absolute, it’s the only option. Just having to wait over 5 years knowing my X-wife has remarried and doesn’t realise the problem she has left me is testing my patience.

Sorry for the rant!

[John]

However I am not sure whether her case will weaken somewhat if our child travels on a British passport and her mother on a Pakistani? Could it be seen as a marriage of convenience even though we were Islamically married in Jun 2002?

Sorry, I just can't see how your child travelling on a British passport gives rise to any suspicion that your marriage is a marriage of convenience? You are named as the father on the child's birth certificate? Of course, otherwise the child would not have a British passport. So I think the birth of the child is the best sort of evidence that the marriage is not a marriage of convenience

[She was once refused entry to the UK in May 2006 as she had the incorrect Visa and required a medical visa]

What sort of visa was she travelling on? Medical visa? You mean she was coming to the UK for medical treatment?

Hope the divorce problem gets sorted out without too much further delay.

[ZD]

Hi John,

My wife was travelling on a 5 year visit visa and she fell pregnant in the UK. She left the UK and returned to have the baby but the immigration official said she needed a medicinal visa is she wanted the baby in the uk so she had to go back to Pakistan and apply.

Thanks for the good wishes. If all things go fine my wife will be in a position to apply for a spouse visa during the first week of Feb 07.