Just Got Married In U.K On Fiancee Visa

[norrona]

hi there, we just got married on a fiancee settlement visa, my partner came to U.K in October last year, I have the FLR form and am just about to send it all off with our photos and pay the £500 so she can get extension of 2 years.

My questions are, after showing my finances before that I am capable of supporting both of us do I need to do this again?

also they mention about a language certificate, my now wife just missed that requirement they brought in, should I provide a note about this and that she is now on an ESOL course?

Last thing so I am clear, the proof of us living together with bank statements, utility bills etc is for the next application? We only got married the weekend so it was impossible to do any of this and in my view premature?

Many thanks for advice and help in advance.

[norrona]

no help

[7by7]

Yes, you will have to provide evidence of your finances again.

Yes, she will need to meet the new English requirement; New English language requirement for partners

You must now show that you can speak and understand English if you are a non-European migrant and you want to enter or extend your stay in the UK as the partner of a British citizen or a person settled here

Details of how and where to do this can be found on the page linked to above.

Proof of living together over the next two years will be required at the end of the two years when she applies to remain indefinitely. This proof should cover the whole two years so you should start collecting it now.

Finally, patience is a virtue; we do all have lives away from the forum and cannot always respond immediately.

[norrona]

Yes, you will have to provide evidence of your finances again.

Yes, she will need to meet the new English requirement; New English language requirement for partners

You must now show that you can speak and understand English if you are a non-European migrant and you want to enter or extend your stay in the UK as the partner of a British citizen or a person settled here

Details of how and where to do this can be found on the page linked to above.

Proof of living together over the next two years will be required at the end of the two years when she applies to remain indefinitely. This proof should cover the whole two years so you should start collecting it now.

Finally, patience is a virtue; we do all have lives away from the forum and cannot always respond immediately.

thanks 7by7, sorry about the no help bit but from using this forum last year responses were far more rapid, I wasn't having a moan or complaining just trying to make light of it.

with regards to the English language test my wife then fiancee entered U.K early October last year and this stipulation was brought out 29th November and I was led to believe that it was for applicants coming to U.K to pass from then on?

She is on a ESOL course that I have paid for that will give her a certificate at the end of it which finishes in June, I have provided the proof of this and already sent the application off so will have to see if they come back?

It is in the hands of them now, I did call the helpline and was told they can request further documents so will see what happens?

Many thanks for replying and being on point as always, cheers

Edited March 17, 2011 by norrona

[WeeGB]

Sorry, can't help with advice, but good luck to both of you....hope you'll be Happy Hammers for many years to come.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

We are busy at times 7/7 has given you the necessary information.

[Lite Beer]

An abusive post has been removed.

[frankthetank]

It defies logic as to why someone would have wanted to post an abusive post.

Good luck Norrona.

[Eff1n2ret]

The relevant part of the Immigration Rules relating to the application which you wish to make is here:-

"Requirements for an extension of stay as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom

284. The requirements for an extension of stay as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom are that:

(ix)(a) the applicant provides an original English language test certificate in speaking and listening from an English language test provider approved by the Secretary of State for these purposes, which clearly shows the applicant's name and the qualification obtained (which must meet or exceed level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference)"

If she doesn't produce such a certificate with the application it will be refused. A note referring to an ESOL course won't count.

[maloyd1]

I applied for my wife to stay for 2 years in 2005 then again in 2007 for indefinite leave to remain and the English Language rule was in force then.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending how you look at it) my wife was exempt the test as she is Deaf & Dumb.

Even so we had to supply lots of letters etc from specialists to support our exemption claim.

Bottom line is you do need one of the qualifications stated before you make the application.

As I see it attending a course is no gurantee that your wife will pass and gain the qualification, unless the course is one of these wjere attendance gurantees a certificate.

Hope all goes well.

Edited March 20, 2011 by 7by7
Automatic formatting errors removed.

[7by7]

Note that the Knowledge of Life and Language in the UK (KOL) requirement for ILR referred to by Maloyd1 above is different, and harder, than the A1 English speaking and listening requirement for partner settlement visas and FLR.

Norrona,

all applications for FLR after last November must include evidence that the new requirement has been met (or the applicant is exempt), even if the fiance visa was obtained before this rule was introduced. See Section 21 of the FLR(M) guidance notes and Section 5 of Form FLR(M) itself as well as the link provided earlier.

How did you complete Section 5 of the form?

I'm afraid that there is no excuse for not producing the required certificate, or evidence of exemption, which will be acceptable to the UKBA, and like Eff1n2ret I expect that any application which does not include it will be refused.

[norrona]

thanks for the replies, I am confused here as I thought she missed that requirement for the english language test as the fiancee visa being that the visa was granted and she travelled before the end of November last year?

I mistook it that it was for applicants who wanted to come here from overseas who were applying after 29th November to pass?

Will let you know the outcome as and when....

Have supplied everything else and have to say that without reading these things on the internet how on earth should I have known or anyone know for that matter, not a moan there but real question as to be honest from reading and filling in that FLR form it relates to all different applicants, this is her first time for FLR after the 6 month fiancee visa to be clear.

the link with these english language tests, is that really the only places to go to? bizzare!!!

thanks for any help

Edited March 20, 2011 by norrona

[norrona]

Note that the Knowledge of Life and Language in the UK (KOL) requirement for ILR referred to by Maloyd1 above is different, and harder, than the A1 English speaking and listening requirement for partner settlement visas and FLR.

Norrona,

all applications for FLR after last November must include evidence that the new requirement has been met (or the applicant is exempt), even if the fiance visa was obtained before this rule was introduced. See Section 21 of the FLR(M) guidance notes and Section 5 of Form FLR(M) itself as well as the link provided earlier.

How did you complete Section 5 of the form?

I'm afraid that there is no excuse for not producing the required certificate, or evidence of exemption, which will be acceptable to the UKBA, and like Eff1n2ret I expect that any application which does not include it will be refused.

I completed the form like I have said in above post as a first timer, there are parts of that form which are not relevant to her application like the 2 years worth of bills as proof of living together which when I started reading that got me thinking do I have the right form?

It's just unfortunate we got confused as to the next actions required and all our visa advice stopped the moment she entered the country, it's o.k I am big enough to sort this out and will wait for the rejected application....

for all my mistakes it's not like this added extra hurdle is put on the national news or front page of the newspapers, well not the Sun anyway

Edited March 20, 2011 by norrona

[7by7]

Yes, that is the list of approved providers; approved so that people actually do the test and don't just pay for a certificate from a dodgy school. It does run to 19 pages, so there are a lot to choose from.

Most people who complete the form are first timers.

Section 4 asks under which category one is applying, and question 4.1 says

Is this the first time you have applied for a visa or extension of stay in one of the above categories (but not as a fiance(e) or proposed civil partner) with your current partner?

If you have answered yes, go to section 5

Section 5 begins

From 29 November 2010, a person who applies to enter or remain in the UK as a spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e), or proposed civil partner, unmarried partner or same sex partner of a British citizen or person settled in the UK is, unless they are exempted from the requirement, required to show that they can speak and understand English...........

With respect; it's difficult to miss.

Hope you do get it sorted; please let us know how it pans out.

The UKBA did issue a press release about this at the time, as they always do. That most of the media chose to ignore it is not the UKBA's fault.

[norrona]

update on our situation...

just to recap we had the situation of no English language test included in the FLR application as my now wife entered the U.K on a fiancee visa in October and the English Language test law was brought out/enforced 29th November, got confused with the FLR form and the stipulation of it as I thought it meant people entering the U.K had to pass it to get in, not those already here. No excuses for my error but the following will prove that when it comes to these things you are just a number in the box tickers eyes...be warned!

So with the panic and no English test certificate in our application the priority was to get booked onto one A.S.A.P with the hope of forwarding it to UKBA with an apologetic letter asking for it to be included!

Not as easy as you would think bearing in mind my wifes thai passport was in the sent application and we only had a copy. No language test company registered or recommended by the UKBA website list would accept just a copy of passport, finally one of them said to me they would do it but with a letter from a registered lawyer, it was either that or nothing. I did call the UKBA helpline but they cannot advise and really couldn't tell me a solution to fix my problem, they did say if we requested the paper work back then the visa would have expired by the time we received it as this would take at least 10 working days possibly up to 20, time was against us to do that and that would leave us with no test and an expired visa/overstay which we were extremely worried about.

I felt at the time I had no other choice but to employ the services of a immigration law company who arranged the English Language test which was sat and passed and sent off with the letter asking for it to be included and saying sorry etc.

After that we received the letter saying application has been received by UKBA, after that got the letter saying go get the bio metrics done.....they never acknowleged the receipt of the certificate and even when I confirmed by phone and the recorded delivery number with the UKBA that it was in their system and asked for them to acknowlege in writing I never got anything.

Approx 1 month after all of this we received the dreaded letter of refusal which said we was entitled to appeal, of course we did and was set a date to go see the Assylum and Immigration Tribunal in London 21st June (yesterday)

Arrived there for our 10am appointment, luckily we was first in the que to be seen by the judge as I could tell some of the cases stated at first were tricky/involved and going to be very messy, we was out of there by 10.30am, no home office representative there helped this backed up by the fact that the judge had seen we were victims of the faceless system albeit by our own admission and had tried to right a wrong as soon as we realised our error.

He wasn't sympathetic with words but you could tell by lots of rolling of eyes that the civil service box tickers had wasted his time again and he over ruled the refusal in our favour, quite quickly and after going through the formal side of things we was wished all the best for our future lives.

So now we are awaiting a letter from the Tribunal stating them ruling in our favour and will proceed with the next step.

Yes it has cost, yes it has had us worried, but at least its all over and done with......

Time to start living without that looming over us.

[RAZZELL]

Glad you're getting it sorted

I went to Croydon UKBA with the Mrs on the 20th May. After a couple of hours wait (the "sophisticated biometrics system" was down - a £200 canon digi compact!) there was an extremely cursory 5 minute inspection of all our paperwork, FLR granted.

Nearly the quickest £850 I've ever spent!

RAZZ

Edited June 22, 2011 by RAZZELL

[norrona]

Glad you're getting it sorted

I went to Croydon UKBA with the Mrs on the 20th May. After a couple of hours wait (the "sophisticated biometrics system" was down - a £200 canon digi compact!) there was an extremely cursory 5 minute inspection of all our paperwork, FLR granted.

Nearly the quickest £850 I've ever spent!

RAZZ

cheers Razz for your kind wishes....

biometrics eh....when they sent the letter saying go get them done they supplied the list of all post offices in the country that have the machines, according to them the closest to us in Essex was to travel into London which of course means make a day of it....you know what? the local Tesco to me has a main post office in there which has the biometrics machine and is only 1 mile down the road...never paid it any attention before as never knew what they looked like(bit like a passport photo booth) when I asked how long it had been there at the counter was told best part of 6 months.....oh well my extra expense has at least put some money into the economy I suppose

[marksm]

how long is the the fiance visa for ?

[RAZZELL]

how long is the the fiance visa for ?

6 months.

RAZZ

[marksm]

how long is the the fiance visa for ?

6 months.

RAZZ

thanks its for my friend his t/g telling him its 2 year visa she gets

[RAZZELL]

how long is the the fiance visa for ?

6 months.

RAZZ

thanks its for my friend his t/g telling him its 2 year visa she gets

You get 6 months in which time you have to marry and apply for FLR which is valid for another 2 years.

RAZZ