Visa advice Thai wife in UK on Settlement Visa

[raven0099]

Hi Folks, I need some advise regarding my wife's next step to extend her visa. I have listed some of the facts below.

We are legally married for over three years, my wife is currently in the UK on the first part of the settlement visa, she has a job working 25-30 hours a week. She has not done life in the UK test or the English Test/Esol classes. Her visa expires at the end of May. During the course of her visa she has only been in the UK 11 months to current date. She also spent 4 months in the UK on a tourist visa. The reason she was back in Thailand so much during her visa were a combination of home sickness and her mother being ill, she also has a daughter in Thailand but the ex-husband has custody, no visa applications have ever been made for the daughter and it will stay that way as she is now a teenager and will stay in Thailand.

I am a British national and i have my own 3 bedroom house mortgaged, I was made redundant on the 2nd of December 2015 but I am starting a new job within two weeks earning 32-35k a year before tax. I have no kids and we live in the house alone, my wife and my name are on the council tax bill.

I really don't know what to do next and just want to see what some of the visa forum members think. I understand its highly likely my wife can not extend her visa and we might have to start all over again, I was also advised that a second settlement visa application from Thailand does not go down too well with the embassy and it may be difficult to get another visa.

P.S I just tried the life in the uk test three times online , three fails lol

Any help or advice is much appreciated.

[Richard W]

On the financial side, you should be OK. You will be assessed in Category B -2 part test on aggregate and rate of income.

If you're in salaried employment, then your rate of pay alone will meet the requirement, for £32k > £18.6k.

If you are not in salaried employment, keep your wife at work. In the 6 months before application, you will earn, if your old job was at least as good as the new one, at least £8k and your wife at least 26 × 25 × £6·50 = £4,225. £12,225 > 0.5 * £18.6k = £9.3k, so you will again meet the requirement on the annualised rate of pay. The critical part here is that your wife's working make up your total earned gross income in the last 6 months before application to £9.3k.

Again, assuming your old job was at least as good as the new one, you alone will have earned at least £24k in the preceding 12 months, again exceeding the requirement.

I can't reliably comment on the time spent in the UK by your wife. The downside may 'just' be that she will have to serve three 30 month periods of probation, though she will be eligible for ILR at some time around the middle of the third period. Calculating when to apply for ILR may well be tricky. I think your wife will need at least A2 English for your November 2018 extension of leave to remain - but then you will have been aiming for B1 + LitUK.

[raven0099]

Thanks for the reply Richard

My last job I grossed £46,000 from the start of the financial year till I was laid off so should be ok to meet that criteria.

I was maybe a little unclear in my first post but my wife's current visa expires May 2016, so we don't have much time, I take it we must pass life in UK and English test before we can apply for further leave to remain ?

[Richard W]

Thanks for the reply Richard

My last job I grossed £46,000 from the start of the financial year till I was laid off so should be ok to meet that criteria.

I was maybe a little unclear in my first post but my wife's current visa expires May 2016, so we don't have much time, I take it we must pass life in UK and English test before we can apply for further leave to remain ?

As you're employed rather than self-employed, the key period is the 12 months up to the application. As you would primarily meet the requirement by your salary, the issue is that you have been in the current job for less than 6 months. Therefore, the requirement looks at both the current rate of pay and the total pay received over the 12 months. Both have to exceed the threshold. For salaried employment, the current rate is well-defined (unless bonuses are significant); for non-salaried or irregular pay, the rate is the average over the final 6 months of the 12 month period.

The KoLL requirements are A1 English for the first period of probation (nominally 30 months), from October 2016 A2 English (so not relevant to you two) for the second period of probation (nominally 30 months), and then B1 English and LitUK for ILR or citizenship. Thus you don't have to worry much about them just yet.

Pedantically, only the immigrant needs to pass the tests - the settled partner doesn't!

[raven0099]

So we can apply for further leave to remain without any English test if we have A1 cert from the initial application ?

My wife did the English A1 Bulats test for the settlement visa but we cant find the test cert , would this mean re-sitting that test before applying ?

[7by7]

From Section 8 - English Language Requirement of form FLR(M)

Note 3.
Please see the list of approved tests on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-applying-for-uk-visa-approved-english-language-tests
You must provide your SELT unique electronic reference number provided by the awarding body as evidence of your test with your application.
If you sat an English language test before 6 April 2015 you will not have a SELT unique electronic reference number. You may still be able to use your test with this application but only if it was accepted as part of a successful previous partner or parent application. See section 21e) of the FLR(M) guidance notes.

Which basically means that if your wife does not have a SELT number then she will need to provide her original test certificate.

As far as I can ascertain, if she cannot do so then she will need to take the test again with a current approved provider; see page 2 for test centres in the UK.

When applying for both FLR and ILR your wife will need to show that she has been a UK resident continuously for the preceding 30 months.

Obviously people are allowed out of the UK during this time for holidays etc., and there is no actual limit on the amount of time spent out of the UK; provide the UK has been one's residence. It may be difficult to show this if she has spent more time out of the UK than in.

However, each case is judged on it's own merits and if she has an acceptable reason for a prolonged absence, such as compassionate reasons like caring for a sick mother, then this will usually be discounted.

So she, or you, must fully explain this in question 6.9 the application form.

[raven0099]

Thanks for the info 7by7

Yeah the test was sat before April 2015 , it was done at Vantage Siam in Bangkok.

I am a bit confused about the biometric data part, this needs to be done before you apply or do you get an appointment after you apply ?

What are the costs involved ?

Thanks

[TCA]

After your application is sent to the Home Office, you'll get a letter back confirming receipt of your application then a separate letter asking you to submit the biometric data at a post office. You need to take the letter with you and probably get this done as soon as possible so it doesn't hold up the application. The post office charged me £19.20 in December when we were there. Just note that only the larger post offices have the ability to perform this, but you can check on their website for the nearest. It takes 5 minutes if there are no queues. No appointment necessary but I don't know if that applies to them all.

[raven0099]

Cheers TCA

I have just started a rough copy of form FLR(M) correct form ?

At 2.3 I am unsure which option to select First or Second period of leave to remain ? Was the first period served during the initial spouse visa ?

[TCA]

No, the initial settlement visa grants entry clearance. The stage after that is your first period of leave to remain, so you select:

First period of leave to remain (following an initial period of entry clearance as a partner of a settled person)

The correct form is linked by 7by7 in his post above.

[raven0099]

We have a problem,

My wife has been married before but we don't have the original divorce paper, infact we don't even have a copy, she is also not sure of the dates of marriage and divorce. She is definitely divorced because this was checked when we were legally married in Thailand, we have the original marriage paper that is in Thai and also an English translation that was accepted when we were granted the original settlement visa.

Her visa expires on 26/05/16 so we are running out of time, I hoped to post it away on Friday but not sure if I should without the above information, though we probably could fill in the name , date of birth and rough dates for marriage and divorce then address the matter in the covering letter ?

What should we do ?

Thanks

[7by7]

Part 13 of form FLR(M) lists the documents an applicant needs to provide.

Part 13B Spouses and Civil Partners incudes

If you have been married or in a civil partnership before, document(s) showing that you were free to marry your present spouse or to form a civil partnership with your present partner (see Note 12). List any such document(s) below.

Note 12 The document(s) must be a formal document(s) such as a decree absolute or final dissolution (or other confirmation of the legal dissolution of the relationship) or a death certificate as specified in paragraph 22-26 of Appendix FM-SE of the Immigration Rules.

All I can suggest is that you get onto the ampur where she divorced and see if they can send you a copy.

If that's not possible then explain that the original papers have been lost and you cannot obtain copies and hope for the best.

Surely she needed her divorce papers when you married, you do say they checked she was divorced, and when she applied for her initial visa, as per appendix FM-SE?

What happened to them?

[raven0099]

thanks for the reply,

the papers may be at her mums house in Thailand but we will have to try and get her mum to find it which might not be easy. But we have asked her to look. I take it any document would need to be translated ?

regarding the time that is left on my wife visa which expires 26/05/16 so waiting for this paper may delay us a bit, would we have sufficient time left ? as we really don't want to get into trouble for an overstay.

Thanks

[magicroundabout]

thanks for the reply,

the papers may be at her mums house in Thailand but we will have to try and get her mum to find it which might not be easy. But we have asked her to look. I take it any document would need to be translated ?

regarding the time that is left on my wife visa which expires 26/05/16 so waiting for this paper may delay us a bit, would we have sufficient time left ? as we really don't want to get into trouble for an overstay.

Thanks

As long as the application is delivered by the expiry date if wont be a problem - When I done my wife extension it was the day before her visa expired (wouldn't recommend it thou). I noticed you said your wife has a daughter just be careful even thou she is not part of the application you should still provide her original birth certificate it states this in section 13A of the form - crazy I know. This caused the delay in my application.

[rasg]

I downloaded the FLR M application form as we will be having to complete this over the coming months. I have just read the requirement for the GF's sons birth certificate on the form, with presumably, a translation? This one could be a problem I think and I certainly didn't anticipate it before she left Thailand.

Wondering why on earth they need it!

[raven0099]

Thanks rasg ,

Could anyone recommend somewhere to send the thai documents to get a certified translation ?

[raven0099]

Hi ,

can anyone help with providing details of a certified translator Thai documents to English, Marriage cert, birth cert, divorce cert.

Thanks

[theoldgit]

Post in breach of Forum Rules removed.

18) You will not post phone numbers, email addresses, business names, or web/Facebook/Twitter/Google+ addresses in posts or signatures. Web addresses to personal non-commercial sites sites/blogs, or Facebook/Twitter/Google+ addresses, may be posted in a member's profile page.

If you wish to pass on the details of a translating company please do so by PM, there are many translation companies out there.

[raven0099]

Is it worthwhile sending a covering letter with the application ?

Also what form of ID is required when submitting the Biometric data because all my wife has is a passport , which will be sent along with the application.

Thanks

[bobrussell]

The letter from the Home Office requiring biometrics to be done at a selected post office.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/foreign-nationals-enrolment-biometric-residence-permit

[raven0099]

We have now applied and application has been received , the thing I am unsure of now is if my wife will have to stop working if we don't hear back before the visa expiry date ?

[Richard W]

We have now applied and application has been received , the thing I am unsure of now is if my wife will have to stop working if we don't hear back before the visa expiry date ?

In principal, no, the leave automatically extends until a decision is made.

However, her employer may have to contact the Home Office to confirm that an application has been made. I don't know what her contract of employment states, though.

[raven0099]

We received a letter today saying we have not submitted a valid immigration application, The reason stated is we have not applied using the current version of the specified form, we used FLR(M) 04/2016.

We now have ten days to re-submit the application or its rejected as invalid and my wife will become an overstayer.

I am 100% certain I submitted the correct form but when I phoned up I could get no other help apart from re-send the form.

Its a complete nightmare and I really can't understand why they have said we submitted the wrong version of the application form.

Am I missing something ?

Thanks

[bobrussell]

Where did you find the form? The .gov.uk site has this form (04/16) there. Did you download the form well in advance? If you did then it may have been the predecessor.

Hopefully you made a copy of the original form so copying it across will be fairly straight forward!

Not sure whether there is much difference between the old and new form other than the fee! I cannot find the old form.

[raven0099]

Thanks for replying

We used that version of the form and paid the updated fee of £811 which has already been deducted from my card.

And no I did not make a copy, terrible mistake I know

I really don't understand how they have rejected the correct form

[raven0099]

So we basically have 10 working days to resend the form and working 15 days to submit the bio metric data, though we have lost two days in the post due to where I live. If we reapply with a new form what will happen to the application taking into account my wife's visa expiry date is only nine days away.

I can only get holidays to submit the bio metric data 12 days from now which will mean we will be submitting it when the current visa has expired.

Would this be ok ?

[raven0099]

How many versions of FLR(M) have there been since the price increase ?

[bobrussell]

As far as I am aware the previous forms were 11/2014 and 04/2015.

Changes were as a result of fee increases and the introduction of the NHS surcharge!

It is almost impossible to download older forms once new ones are introduced. If the applicant started preparations well in advance then it is quite possible for the older form to have been downloaded and filled in.

[raven0099]

Yes it is a complete joke that I am having to resend another form after we sent the correct form the first time, we paid the health surcharge and filled that number out so basically if it wasn't the right form I would have filled in the payment for the lower price and it would have been rejected for that reason, which I could accept. Or if there is a mistake on the original form which they could highlight again that's fair enough.

But this is basic stuff there making mistakes with and the letter was very vague to the least, yet you can't get hold of anyone on the phone to discuss the matter and there seems to be no ownership of the mistakes.

All I can do is fill in the same form again and send it to them.

If possible could anyone give me a brief rundown on how the appeals procedure work and the costing involved cause no doubt it will have a big £ sign attached to it.

Thanks for your assistance.

[bobrussell]

That's UKVI for you!