What residence address can I use for Spouse Visa to UK??

[Jennifer23]

Hi, stressed Australian wife to UK citizen here.........

I have been here 2 years on a working holiday visa which runs out very soon. We married in April after having been a couple for 10 months and living together for 8 (all of which we have strong evidence for) and have now been living together for a year and a couple for 15 months.

We were planning on applying from the UK but were told recently (counter to the advice we recieved from the HO just after we married) that I would have to return to to Australia to apply for my settlement visa.

I wasn't even allowed to book an appointment for an interview in the UK on the Fast track and was told by several immigration advisors that the rules have changed in the last few months and I would have to apply from Australia.

This has proved expensive and stressfull as I have had to book an expensive trip I didn't want to make after having already visited Australia with my husband recently. I have bitten the bullet however as my WH visa runs out in a few weeks and I want to get this resolved asap so am leaving for Australia tomorrow.

I've got all the relevant documentation ready (the ubiquitous 2 inch thick folder) and am confident in our case (we are currently living rent free in my Australian based parents UK flat, husband earns a good wage etc etc) but have just had a panic about something I read on the australian BHC website.

I've applied from here online as online applications take priority so I can enter Australia as quickly as possible and return to my life with my husband in the UK. I've just noticed however that the website says that:

Persons who apply for a visa at the British High Commission, Canberra must be residing in Australia at the time of application. Those currently outside of Australia must contact their nearest British High Commission / Embassy.

This is particularily aggravating as this is exactly what I wanted to do and I do not currently reside in Australia. What worries me is that I have put my address down on my application as my London address and not an Australian one (I don't have a Australian address!! I will stay in hotels and with my parents during my hopefully brief stay in Oz)

I was wondering if this will slow things down when they see the English address on my application. I'm happy to fill out the application form again using my parents address as my australian residence but would rather not as it's 1) creating 2 applications on the BHC files from me and 2) is very longwinded.

Any advice would be greatfully recieved.

[marooned]

Hmmm, when did the rules change?

I did it in April (I'm Canadian, was on the WHM visa as well) - booked an appointment in Croydon, brought my 2" thick book of proofs, of which they asked to see exactly _zero_ pages of - they granted the application almost right away - there was only one problem, which wasn't really - see below.

Anyway, if the rules say you can't do it in England anymore then that sucks, but so be it, but my personal experience showed that it was easy anyway... hopefully their reps in Oz are just as easygoing!

Now to actually give you advice: use the UK address! If all your correspondence etc is from that, it should match. If their rules contradict, then that's their problem and not yours. I had a sort-of-not-really-similar thing with an argument about the marriage permit thing - I got permission to marry from the local council well before that was required, but since I put off my application for a spouse visa for quite a while, they didn't understand why I didn't get one, didn't believe me that I didn't need one and needed to look up their own rules to establish that in fact, that rule didn't apply to me based on the date of our application(s) to get married.

Good luck!

[Jennifer23]

Thanks marooned

Not sure when the rules changed but it's cost me no end of grief, stress and a fair bit of money too(!!!). I think it may have to do with the fact that we left the country after we got married (on our honeymoon!!) and for another 2 week holiday a couple of months ago and I rentered with less than 6 months left on my WH visa.

The other thing that I find a bit worrying is that when I get to the canberra BHC apparently all i can do is drop off my application and go to my hotel and hope for the best. I can't schedule an appointment to see them face to face and whilst ther website states 5 days processing when I phoned them up they said at least 10.

Do they normally process these applications without seeing the applicant?

My dream would be a scenario like I've read on this forum a few times; to walk into the office, have to wait for a couple of hours to see someone who would check my documents and tell me to return in a couple of hours to pick up my fully visa'd up passport...........

bit unrealistic I know but i feel like I've been messed around by the HO, I asked them just before I got married over 6 months ago if I'd be able to process my application from the UK before my WH ran out and they told it would be fine, so this has all been unplanned and a bit last minute.


any last minute words of advice gratefully recieved.........

.

[JAJ]

Not sure when the rules changed but it's cost me no end of grief, stress and a fair bit of money too(!!!). I think it may have to do with the fact that we left the country after we got married (on our honeymoon!!) and for another 2 week holiday a couple of months ago and I rentered with less than 6 months left on my WH visa.

I'm just wondering if you were misadvised. I would have thought that if you were on a WHV originally issued for 2 years then the no-switching rule would not apply to you. But I don't know enough about the Immigration Rules to be sure.

Perhaps John can say more on this?

[Jennifer23]

thanks JAJ

I have now been told by a lot of different people that the no switching rule has changed - by the HO, Croydon and 5 different firms of Immigration advisors.

I could only get one firm to agree to apply for me (1st contact) as the others all said I would have problems; 1st contact took my money for a fast track application then phoned me the next day to apologise and offer a refund as they were told I would have to apply from Australia because I had left the country post getting married.

They say they have been told that as I have rentered the UK from a trip abroad (to Australia we only went for 2 weeks, so my husband could meet the rest of my extended family!) on my WHV and not on a newly applied for Spouse visa I now have to fly to canberra.

If I'd known this I would have applied during that trip! It's pretty frustrating........