7by7

So?

Reported where and by whom?

Why is their religion relevant?

As you correctly say, Covent Garden is not a port of entry, not a port of any sort; so what made the reporter suspect that these women were migrants; legal or otherwise?

And a further question; how is this relevant to your dispute with the visa agent?

Have you been watching 'The Hunt For Britain's Sex Traffickers' on Channel 4? If so, then listening that poor Thai girl (told she would be working in a restaurant and then forced into a brothel, her passport kept by her 'employer' and threats made against her family in Thailand if she didn't comply) relate her experiences may make you understand one of the points of visa's, TB test's, embassy interview's and all the other paraphernalia!

Ok, I'll change that to:

It's a moot point for the vast majority of settlement applicants who are not fortunate enough to already have residency in two or more countries.

From Students and Council Tax

If you live in with someone who’s not a full-time student

Council Tax is charged per ‘dwelling’ or household, and each household gets a single Council Tax bill.

If there’s someone in the household who’s not a full-time student the household will get a bill, but may qualify for a discount on the full amount.

So you will have to pay, but will probably get a discount. As far as I'm aware this discount is not a proscribed public fund.

I suggest that you contact your local council for the full details.

Obviously each post is going to have different waiting times, depending on the demand.

Also, comparing two posts with a similar demand for settlement applications, but where one has a far lower demand for other types of visa than the other will obvioulsy show a difference in the waiting times.

Guide to visa processing times gives the latest available figures for each post.

The point is moot, anyway, as one has to apply to the post covering the country where one is resident.

It was reported the other week that a Dutch flower lorry pulled in to Covent Garden market and and 22 young moslem women climbed out the back all carrying suit cases and just melted away in the crowd, can someone please tell me, whats the point of visa's. TB test's. Embassy interview's and all the other paraphernalia when this illegal entry goes on every single day?

Reported where and by whom?

How did the reporter know that the women were muslims, and why is their religion relevent anyway?

What made the reporter think that they were illegal migrants?

Yes, attempts are made by people every day to enter the UK illegally; some successful, others not. However, to follow your point to it's logical conclusion; what's the point in having a police force when most crimes are unsolved; we may just as well let the criminals get on with it!

With regard to your situation with the visa company; your best course of action is to follow the oldgit's advice and make an official complaint via the OISC.

As a general warning to all; before signing any agreement and parting with any money, always read through the terms and conditions thoroughly and make sure that you fully understand exactly what the company will do for the money you are paying them and what will happen if you do not, for any reason, proceed after you have paid them.

One racist post deleted, any more will result in suspensions.

The UK currently does not have any quotas on visas. Where the applicant lives is also irrelevent as is where the sponsor lives.

If one meets the criteria for the visa applied, and shows that one does, for then it will be granted.

However, if relying on the applicant's employment prospects to help meet the maintenance requirement, then it may become a factor. MAA10 Assessing adequate means of maintenance

What is the unemployment situation in the area in which the couple intend to settle? High unemployment in a particular area or amongst a certain age group with particular skills (or lack of them), is not in itself sufficient to show that the maintenance requirement has not been met. It would be a relevant factor if the couple’s plans were not realistic or if they did not have any skills or qualifications.

(My emphasis)

I can't comment on what would happen to her Aussie visa/residence permit.

However, assuming that you do obtain British citizenship, obtaining a UK visa for her to live with you in the UK should be fairly straightforward.

You will basically need to show that you are in a genuine relationship and that you can support and accommodate yourselves in the UK. See Settlement; spouse and Maintenance and accommodation for more.

For how to apply, see British High Commission.

If moving to an EU state, the procedure is even easier. Various EU treaties mean that as a British citizen you have the right to live and work in any EU state and to take your family with you. This means that you can obtain what the UK calls an EEA family permit for your wife to live with you in that state; and it's free! However, it cannot be used for the state of which you are a national, in your case the UK. EEA Family Permits is the UK issued guidance, and although other EU states use different terminology and have different ways of applying the basics are the same throughout the EU.

For how to apply, see the embassy of the state concerned.

As this topic is 3 years old and the offending words have long been removed from the embassy website, I see no point in reviving it.

The terms and conditions of the company concerned, which presumably the OP agreed to before paying any money, contains

You agree that if you are unsatisfied with the service provided to you by (name removed) or if you have a dispute or grievance with (name removed), a member or members of its staff, affiliates or related companies, you shall not discuss your dispute, grievance or dissatisfaction in any published form, including but not limited to posting on website

Therefore to protect this site, and the OP, from any possible action the name of the company has been removed.

Please do not name the company concerned in any further posts.

on the application where it says do you intend to work in UK what is best to put

The truth; always!

If entering with a 27 month visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner then the applicant can work immediately they are in the UK.

If entering with a 6 month visa as a fiance or proposed civil partner then they cannot work until after the marriage or civil partnership and they have been granted 24 months further leave to remain.

However, in each situation it will not hurt, and may help, the application to say that one intends to work when allowed to do so.

I have been told if she says she wants to work it will look like I can not support her and that we need the money

Whoever told you this is wrong. You either have sufficient finances or you don't; any intention to work by your wife wont change that. However; if she has definite employment lined up, or a good chance of obtaining it soon after arriving, then this may actually help your case.

See Maintenance and accommodation for more, especially MAA10 Assessing adequate means of maintenance.

As already said there is more to obtaining a British passport for a foreign spouse than simply marrying them. They have to have indefinite leave to remain in the UK and have lived in the UK for at least the three years prior to applying.

I am not sure whether this is a serious question from the OP or not; but from what has been said in the first post it looks as though the OP is asking for advice on how to commit a criminal offense; i.e. obtain UK citizenship by deception. Therefore: closed.

Two irrelevent posts deleted.

The immigration rules do allow entry as a visitor for 12 months if accompanying an academic visitor

41. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a general visitor are that he:

(i) is genuinely seeking entry as a general visitor for a limited period as stated by him, not exceeding 6 months or not exceeding 12 months in the case of a person seeking entry to accompany an academic visitor, provided in the latter case the visitor accompanying the academic visitor has entry clearance

However, the professional advice I have received in the past is that the spouse/partner of a British citizen returning to the UK to study would not be counted as accompanying an academic visitor because their British spouse/partner would not be such a visitor. Couples in this position, and the one you mentioned, are not catered for in the rules and applying for settlement is, IMHO, their only option. Although the intention when most people apply for settlement is to live in the UK indefinitely, plans do change and leaving the UK before the initial 27 months is up and so not obtaining ILR would be no bar to that person applying for settlement again at some point in the future.

Obviously, if possible, the couple should remain in the UK long enough for the foreign partner to obtain British citizenship; then they can both come and go as often and for as long as they like.

However, if you can find anything in the immigration rules, entry clearance guidance or any other UKBA publication that says otherwise, I will gladly concede the point and correct my viewpoint.

The problem with a family visit visa is that, although any visit visa may have a term of up to 10 years, the maximum that one can spend in the UK as a visitor is 6 months per visit. In addition there is a convention that a visitor should not spend more than 6 months out of any 12 in the UK. If it became apparent to an Immigration Officer that the visa was being used to live in the UK with one's spouse/partner then entry would probably be refused.

Applying for a family visit visa and telling the ECO that one wishes to remain in the UK for 12 months will, in my honest opinion, result in failure.

If one does get the visa, then arriving at a UK port of entry and, if questioned, saying one intends to remain in the UK for 12 months will, IMHO, result in entry being refused.

If one does enter the UK and stays for more than 6 months then one will be, IMHO, an illegal overstayer and, if discovered, could be removed and/or banned from the UK for up to 10 years; possibly life. The last three times I have left the UK Immigration Officers have been standing just after security checking passports, so the likelihood of being discovered is high.

Unfortunately, although returning to the UK to study, if one is a British citizen then one's spouse/partner cannot apply as a student dependent.

This leaves just a settlement visa; which in my opinion is the only option, for the reasons stated above. It may not fit perfectly, but does have the flexibility of being converted into ILR after 24 months and even British citizenship after 3 years in the UK should the couple decide to stay.

As said, the above is just my opinion; I stand to be corrected.

As your MP is taking an active role in this, the only advice I can offer is to wait and see what results he comes up with.

The Guide to visa processing times shows that in June 85% of Tier 2 applications made to Hanoi were processed within 15 days; however this is no guarantee of current performance.

Does Hanoi have an online tracking service the same as Bangkok? Even if so, it's not much use as you will just get the message that your application is being processed until such time as a decision has been made.

All I can counsel is patience, I'm afraid.

Yes, a settlement visa is fine. I would suggest that you and your wife sponsor the visit jointly, which is what my wife and I do when members of her family visit.

If the marriage has broken down then the only way she can remain in the UK is to apply for ILR as the victim of domestic violence. Despite the flippant response above this is not straightforward and would require hard evidence such as police and medical reports.

Your mate does not need to inform the UKBA of the situation. If the situation remains as at present when her current leave expires then she would not be able to extend it or apply for ILR without his assistance, so would either have to leave the UK or remain illegally.

From what you have said, I have a feeling that even if the marriage has ended he may still be willing to help her stay in the UK by claiming otherwise in an ILR application. I would strongly advise against this as making such a false declaration could have serious consequences for both of them.

The FLR(M) form is not just for people who have entered as a fiance and are now married, it is also for other situations such as someone who has completed their 24 months but for some reason, e.g. not yet satisfied KOL, do not qualify for ILR so need to extend their stay. So some of the questions may seem pointless to someone in your position. However, they must be answered even though you answered them only a short while ago on the VAF form.

Both FLR and ILR applications used to be free; yes, free! Or rather the cost of them was included in the cost of the initial visa, which was why settlement visas were so much more expensive than non settlement ones. Then Tony Blair and Gordon Brown saw an easy way of making some money which would effect very few people and introduced these outrageous prices; without reducing the cost of the initial visa.

Obviously the family member being visited has to be legally resident in the UK, but as long as they are the type of visa/leave to remain they have is irrelevant.

Moved

When applying for FLR there is no need for any savings at all. As with the initial fiance visa application all that is necessary is to show that you can support yourselves without access to public funds. This support can come from savings, income or a combination of both. Obviously, though, if an applicant has no income and is living purely off their savings then, unless those savings are producing sufficient investment income, the case officer may wonder what will happen when those savings run out.

There is no fixed minimum amount of income as everyones circumstances are different; though the income support level is a useful guide.

Remember that the FLR application after marriage is basically a formality. You have already shown that the basic requirements are met otherwise the fiance visa would not have been issued; all that you really need to do now is show that your circumstances have not changed since then and that the marriage has now taken place.

I agree with your comments about the fees. New fees were introduced and then both old and new fees regularly raised way above the rate of inflation by the last government. Unfortunately, despite their vociferous opposition at the time, it is unlikely that the new government will change anything. I have no objection to applicants paying a fair fee which reflects the work involved; but that is patently not the case.

Post asking about a UK application and another asking it be moved have been deleted as this is a topic about Australian applications and the UK poster already has a topic on their application where the question has already been answered.

If the poster concerned has any additional questions, please post them in that topic.

In Thailand the fees are payable in THB, and can be found here.

It seems from what they say that the entry clearance she has been granted means she will need to have been in the UK for 24 months, and satisfied KOL of course, before she can apply for ILR.

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that this is the wrong entry clearance.

However, my advice is to wait until you are both in the UK and then sort it out with the UKBA; I believe that at least one member had a similar problem which was successfully resolved once in the UK.