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Author Topic: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012  (Read 15166 times)

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Offline rosco

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UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« on: February 09, 2015, 10:58:17 AM »
I'm wondering if I can tap into the knowledge from those who are up to speed with the spouse visa extension situation?

We were married in June 2012 but didn't have enough time to to apply for a spouse visa prior to the changes in July 2012. Apart from the financial changes which thankfully haven't affected us, we've been forced to wait 5 years before Mrs Rosco can apply for permanent residency. My wife's initial spouse visa runs out half way through in October this year and I'm starting to find out what needs to be done to extend it.

Can anyone be kind enough to confirm exactly what's required? I've had a quick squint and it may be that we need to complete the application to extend stay in the UK as a partner: form FLR(M).

Any expansion on this will be greatly appreciated.

Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2015, 11:18:11 AM »
Yes, same rules as before, just same again really, btw, fees going up in April, ILR from 900 or so to 1400 for example so better check that..


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Offline Dogsoldier

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2015, 12:09:20 PM »
Yes, you have to complete form FLR(M) and have all the documentary evidence to show you are in a subsisting relationship.
Current fee for flr is £601 for a postal application. Premium will be another £400.


Offline Dogsoldier

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2015, 12:10:51 PM »
Yes, same rules as before, just same again really, btw, fees going up in April, ILR from 900 or so to 1400 for example so better check that..


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ILR is already £1000+, Ste.

Offline rosco

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2015, 02:00:37 AM »
Thanks guys.

I'm assuming that this application will take us through the five year probation period then we've got another set of fee's for the ILR application and final stop of the cash cow?

Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2015, 02:27:22 AM »
Thanks guys.

I'm assuming that this application will take us through the five year probation period then we've got another set of fee's for the ILR application and final stop of the cash cow?

Yep, though after ILR though there's another fee to naturalise but not needed as you can stay on ILR if you want.
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Offline Volshe

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2015, 03:07:48 AM »
I need more info (and will have it asap) so to make more detailed post, but at this moment my family is flabbergasted because of what happened... My SIL's brother married a UK citizen (she's Montenegrin by birth, but we can't have dual citizenship, most small countries don't allow it), they married here and he was issued a visa on that bases (i asked SIL to ask him which one exactly, so i can tell you), he traveled the other day and they kept him at the airport for hours and barely let him into UK (Heatrow) because, as he was told, he was supposed to enter the country with her?! (She was waiting for him at the airport, she had left Monte earlier because of work.) No one told them so, no one alerted them on such rules, at the UK Embassy here or anywhere else. Btw, no problems with law, both are accomplished with significant funds, visa fraud or whatsoever ruled out, the guy has his own building and a beach, among else (and we weren't really happy he's relocating, but he fell in love.) We are all very upset :( What kind of visa is that? How could that happen?
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Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2015, 03:16:24 AM »
Sounds like he's on EEA Family Permit, did they get together in another EU State?


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Offline Volshe

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2015, 03:19:40 AM »
Sounds like he's on EEA Family Permit, did they get together in another EU State?


.

Thanks for replying, Ste! They married in Monte, but we are not a member yet, only a candidate :( I feel so sorry, you know how our peeps are wired, everyone was talking him against relocating (not me, i want him to be happy - and obviously he needs her to be happy), SIL and their mom cried their eyes out and me too, i am very upset :(
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Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2015, 03:25:56 AM »
Doesn't sound like EEA FP then, think we need to know what the visa actually.


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Online andrewfi

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2015, 05:53:54 AM »
No need to be upset. They let him in so, whatever the problem, there is no concern about his right to be here or his ability to meet any visa imposed conditions. All that's needed is to sort out the mechanics of the situation for future reference. :)

Was he given any kind of written notification of what happened?

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/35394/can-a-thai-national-married-to-a-uk-citizen-enter-the-uk-freely

This is not about EU regulations per se but about EFTA which Montenegro joined in 2012 and the consequent easing of EU area access for Montenegrins. The link above describes how this affects visa issues on a personal level and how the UK is not implementing the EU side of things fully and how there has been a recent case in January 2015 which has had an effect upon the situation (and not in a positive fashion).

It looks like your rello will need to travel with his wife from now on. Best if he got himself a more appropriate visa from the UK rather than relying upon the EFTA privileges.

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Offline Volshe

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2015, 06:24:19 AM »
No need to be upset. They let him in so, whatever the problem, there is no concern about his right to be here or his ability to meet any visa imposed conditions. All that's needed is to sort out the mechanics of the situation for future reference. :)

Was he given any kind of written notification of what happened?

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/35394/can-a-thai-national-married-to-a-uk-citizen-enter-the-uk-freely

This is not about EU regulations per se but about EFTA which Montenegro joined in 2012 and the consequent easing of EU area access for Montenegrins. The link above describes how this affects visa issues on a personal level and how the UK is not implementing the EU side of things fully and how there has been a recent case in January 2015 which has had an effect upon the situation (and not in a positive fashion).

It looks like your rello will need to travel with his wife from now on. Best if he got himself a more appropriate visa from the UK rather than relying upon the EFTA privileges.

Thank you, Andrew! Aghh, male part of the family says it's not biggie, but we... Our little boy (30+ y old ;)) left to the big world and he had problems immediately, you know how moms, sisters and cousins are  :(
I will ask if they gave him anything in written, and yes, next time they have to enter UK together! You know everything! ;D
Thanks once again!
( She was at the airport, waiting for him, they called her via... is reley the word? Anyway, she was present at the interview afterwards. OF COURSE, my SIL was tracking the fight online and was even telling her not to hurry and to leave her London home much later, than she did... Good that she didn't listen  (:) )
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Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2015, 06:24:45 AM »
No need to be upset. They let him in so, whatever the problem, there is no concern about his right to be here or his ability to meet any visa imposed conditions. All that's needed is to sort out the mechanics of the situation for future reference. :)

Was he given any kind of written notification of what happened?

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/35394/can-a-thai-national-married-to-a-uk-citizen-enter-the-uk-freely

This is not about EU regulations per se but about EFTA which Montenegro joined in 2012 and the consequent easing of EU area access for Montenegrins. The link above describes how this affects visa issues on a personal level and how the UK is not implementing the EU side of things fully and how there has been a recent case in January 2015 which has had an effect upon the situation (and not in a positive fashion).

It looks like your rello will need to travel with his wife from now on. Best if he got himself a more appropriate visa from the UK rather than relying upon the EFTA privileges.

As Montenegro is not EU/Schengen I'm sure this is a straightforward UK immigration issue nothing to do with EU or EFTA. With a certain amount of reading between the lines until we know what the visa endorsement is I'm pretty sure it's a straightforward UK spouse visa, in which case I can't why the Heathrow IO made an issue. With a spouse visa the spouse can enter with or after the sponsor - seems like another knobhead IO issue....

Need to see the visa endorsement to be sure though.
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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2015, 06:40:59 AM »
Thanks guys! I am passing info as you are posting, sending to my SIL and she's forwarding to them, if they haven't found an immediate solution, i am sure they'll ask (not sure our Embassy in UK will be of much help, usually Embassy stuff is Ambassador + one more person, if the latter worked here at the Ministry of foreign in the Consular department, then great, if not...  then not really. AND since a friend returned from London, i am not sure who of ours is there at the moment.)
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Offline rosco

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2015, 07:58:16 AM »
(Av impression)

"Can the moderator pleased split this into another topic?"  :innocent:

Online andrewfi

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #15 on: February 10, 2015, 09:34:37 AM »
Ste, I don't know for sure what kind of travel docs this bloke had BUT I do know that as a result of joining EFTA Montenegro gained access to the EEA and thus EU. One of the effects was that under a normal reading of the EU law people from Montenegro SHOULD be allowed access to the UK.

However, Britain has not implemented the law and thus it is necessary for a Montenegin married to a Briton to travel with their spouse. The link was, in part a reference to the legal case earlier this year that cemented the issue because it seems that the Border Agency were letting folks in this situation (not just Montenegrins) to come and go.

So, from the outside the effects we can see (the Volshe told us about) can be explained very easily by this EFTA/EEA issue and its lack of application in the UK.

This is a similar case to that of moby and his poor wife. He got her in on the basis of EU citizenship, no UK visa issued, but right now she'd have to travel with him in order to access the UK. (Assuming they were still together and she had not regularised her documentation - of course)
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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #16 on: February 10, 2015, 10:23:19 AM »
(Av impression)

"Can the moderator pleased split this into another topic?"  :innocent:

Yes!  ;D

Where's Avvy? Avvy, if you are reading this, just wave (ie. post one-liner ;)) , we miss you  :(
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Offline Ste

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #17 on: February 10, 2015, 01:32:14 PM »
Ste, I don't know for sure what kind of travel docs this bloke had BUT I do know that as a result of joining EFTA Montenegro gained access to the EEA and thus EU. One of the effects was that under a normal reading of the EU law people from Montenegro SHOULD be allowed access to the UK.

However, Britain has not implemented the law and thus it is necessary for a Montenegin married to a Briton to travel with their spouse. The link was, in part a reference to the legal case earlier this year that cemented the issue because it seems that the Border Agency were letting folks in this situation (not just Montenegrins) to come and go.

So, from the outside the effects we can see (the Volshe told us about) can be explained very easily by this EFTA/EEA issue and its lack of application in the UK.

This is a similar case to that of moby and his poor wife. He got her in on the basis of EU citizenship, no UK visa issued, but right now she'd have to travel with him in order to access the UK. (Assuming they were still together and she had not regularised her documentation - of course)

Volshe's SIL is on a UK spouse visa, EU immigration rules don't apply and as UK is not a Schengen state a visa (visit or LTR) is required by citizens of Montenegro.

The only situation where they would apply is where an EU citizen was exercising a treaty right upon which the Family member's right derive, per Moby. Monte is not EU but Montenegrins are non-visa nationals in the Schengen zone (plus a few other EU states), but not UK/Ireland.
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Offline Volshe

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #18 on: February 10, 2015, 01:53:05 PM »
Ste, I don't know for sure what kind of travel docs this bloke had BUT I do know that as a result of joining EFTA Montenegro gained access to the EEA and thus EU. One of the effects was that under a normal reading of the EU law people from Montenegro SHOULD be allowed access to the UK.

However, Britain has not implemented the law and thus it is necessary for a Montenegin married to a Briton to travel with their spouse. The link was, in part a reference to the legal case earlier this year that cemented the issue because it seems that the Border Agency were letting folks in this situation (not just Montenegrins) to come and go.

So, from the outside the effects we can see (the Volshe told us about) can be explained very easily by this EFTA/EEA issue and its lack of application in the UK.

This is a similar case to that of moby and his poor wife. He got her in on the basis of EU citizenship, no UK visa issued, but right now she'd have to travel with him in order to access the UK. (Assuming they were still together and she had not regularised her documentation - of course)

Volshe's SIL is on a UK spouse visa, EU immigration rules don't apply and as UK is not a Schengen state a visa (visit or LTR) is required by citizens of Montenegro.

The only situation where they would apply is where an EU citizen was exercising a treaty right upon which the Family member's right derive, per Moby. Monte is not EU but Montenegrins are non-visa nationals in the Schengen zone (plus a few other EU states), but not UK/Ireland.

Yes, it's so... The last time i needed to travel to London for work, i simply gave up and gave a proxy to a colleague, i couldn't possibly be bothered with all of it again  :(

Btw, sorry for the confusion, per our tradition, my SIL lives in the same building here, it's my SIL's brother who got married to the girl who is UK citizen ... with our tribal connections it does get tad complicated at times to remember who is who lol!  ;D
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Offline rosco

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2015, 09:21:13 AM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.

So, we've navigated the next hurdle and happily await the ILR and citizenship challenge, which should make life much easier.

tip - If you're a newbie and think paying for sushi or a wee shopping trip is expensive...............this gig isn't for you!

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #20 on: August 26, 2015, 09:44:13 AM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.

So, we've navigated the next hurdle and happily await the ILR and citizenship challenge, which should make life much easier.

tip - If you're a newbie and think paying for sushi or a wee shopping trip is expensive...............this gig isn't for you!

I actually think it's fair enough, cheaper than CSI.

Good news is that's it - not needed for ILR....
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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #21 on: August 26, 2015, 01:19:50 PM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.

So, we've navigated the next hurdle and happily await the ILR and citizenship challenge, which should make life much easier.

tip - If you're a newbie and think paying for sushi or a wee shopping trip is expensive...............this gig isn't for you!
:thumbsup:
Another hurdle overcome....
Good on you.
Yes, the NHS charge is fairly new. I thought it was a little less? Anyway, it's out of the way, just another few years for ILR and then citizenship.........

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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #22 on: August 26, 2015, 09:37:13 PM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.

So, we've navigated the next hurdle and happily await the ILR and citizenship challenge, which should make life much easier.

tip - If you're a newbie and think paying for sushi or a wee shopping trip is expensive...............this gig isn't for you!

Congratulations Ross  :thumbsup:
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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #23 on: August 27, 2015, 05:35:59 AM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.



https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-introduces-health-surcharge

Are they 'backdating' NHS charges ?
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Re: UK spouse visa extension, post July 2012
« Reply #24 on: August 27, 2015, 05:37:49 AM »
My wife applied for her spouse visa extension this week and of course, was successful in her application.

Due to the nature of her work (and mine), we paid the premium service fee for the one day turnaround. This is currently circa £1000. To my surprise, we were also hit with an NHS surcharge fee of £500.

No point in debating but its pretty shite charging a person an NHS surcharge when they've been paying quite a lot of tax and national insurance over the last 2.5 years.....never mind my contributions.



https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-introduces-health-surcharge

Are they 'backdating' NHS charges ?

Oddly enough you don't pay it on a Fiancee visa....
O pointy birds, o pointy pointy, Anoint my head, anointy-nointy.


 

 

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