The Visa Application Saga Update

I applied for further leave to remain back in April only to have my application rejected on account of my own stupidity. I forgot to check a box saying I hadn't committed any war crimes, you can read about it in my previous visa related post The Visa Application Saga. As you can imagine the whole visa application process has been very stressful for Luke and I. We were even preparing ourselves for not being able to go to Pau in July.

We were therefore a bit shocked when we returned home late yesterday evening to find a message in our post box that a packet had arrived for me and I needed to go to the local Royal Mail delivery office to pick it up. We assumed it must be the visa but it had arrived sooner than expected. I had butterflies in my stomach from the time I picked up the message that didn't subside during the whole mad rush to the post office. I was worried that my visa application had been rejected AGAIN!

However, I am pleased to announce it wasn't and I have my passport back! My biometric residency permit, which gives me the right to stay and work in this country will arrive in 7-10 days and as long as that is all correct this whole visa application saga will be over! Or at least over until two years down the line when I apply for permanent residency, but I'm not going to think about that just yet!

My Visa Application Saga Timeline*

Thursday 4 April 2013 - Post my first visa application to the UK Border Agency and pay £561.00. Write Another Two Years, my first visa related blog post.

Friday 5 April 2013 - UK Border Agency receive my first visa application

Tuesday 23 April 2013 - UK Border Agency request my biometrics (fingerprints, etc)

Thursday 2 May 2013 - Get my biometrics taken (£19.20) and sent to the UK Border Agency

Thursday 9 May 2013 - UK Border Agency write to inform me my visa application has been rejected.

Monday 13 May 2013 - Receive my first application back.

Thursday 16 May 2013 - Post my second visa application to the UK Border Agency and pay £578.00 (The Border Agency did end up refunding my first application fee). Write The Visa Application Saga blog post.

Monday 20 May 2013 - UK Border Agency write to inform they have received my application.

Thursday 30 May 2013 - UK Border Agency request my biometrics again.

Tuesday 4 June 2013 - Get my biometrics taken  again (£19.20) and sent to the UK Border Agency

Friday 14 June 2013 - UK Border Agency write to inform me that my biometric residency permit is on it's way and should receive it in 7-10 days. Send my passport back!

Monday 17 June 2013 - I receive my visa application back!

*Please note that everyone's application timeline will be different, I've since met an American who didn't get her passport and biometric residency permit back for four months. I consider myself very lucky!

Thank you UK Border Agency!

Erin x 

The Visa Application Saga

For those of you who read my post Another Two Years, you know that on 4 April I sent off my application for an extension of stay in the UK. Then on the second of May I went down to the Post Office to give my biometric data (fingerprints and photo). On 9 May, I was delighted to find a thick parcel from the UK Border Agency sitting in my post box. Could this actually be my passport and biometric residence permit back?!  

Well I did receive my passport back but for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately my application had been deemed invalid because I, like a complete and utter moron, didn't tick a box saying that I hadn't committed any war crimes. This meant that my application was incomplete and could not be approved. Not only that, but the application forms and fees had changed on 6 April meaning I needed a completely new application and to pay an additional higher fee than the one I had already paid.

While researching the new forms, my husband and I discovered that instead of applying for "an extension of stay in the UK as the partner of a person present and settled in the UK" what I should have been applying for is "indefinite leave to remain the the UK as the partner of a person present and settled in the UK". In other words instead of using FLR(M) as I did previously, I should be applying with SET(M).

Monday night was a bad night indeed. I was angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake, especially since my husband and I had double- and triple-checked the document. I was frustrated at the process for being so confusing. I was saddened by the fact that now the likelihood of my passport coming back in time for me to go to a friend's wedding in Pau, France this July seems unlikely. Overall I was just numb, all I could really do was print the document out and eat Cadbury's chocolate.

Thankfully, my work was understanding and allowed me to take the day off Tuesday to stay home and complete the application. I had almost completely finished the new SET(M) application when another road block was thrown my way. I have not taken something called a "Life in the UK" test which is required from every person applying for indefinite leave to remain.

This is something I had previously never heard of, but discovered it is a test on your knowledge of the historical and political life in the UK. First you must order the book, which you can do from here. Then you must book your test (the earliest test you can take is 7 days from when you try to book your test). This was when I called the UK Border Agency.

I spoke to a lovely woman who listened to my plight patiently and really seemed to feel for me. She asked when my previous visa had run out, which it did on 3 May (I'll never fully understand why you can't apply for your visa more than 28 days before it expires). She then told me because I hadn't taken my "Life in the UK" test my application for SET(M) would not be complete, I also had a deadline of 28 days since the date written on the letter from the Border Agency (9 May) to reapply. If I passed this deadline without reapplying, I would have to go back to the US before I could reapply and would not be allowed to return to England until my settlement had been decided.

Getting the book, taking the test, hoping I passed the test, and waiting for my certification confirming I passed the test, and then applying for SET(M) could very likely take me past that 28 day window she said. Therefore, instead of applying for indefinite leave to remain I should once again apply for an extension of stay in the UK.

It is now Thursday and I have completed my FLR(M) application and it has been checked multiple times by multiple people, not just my husband and I. Along with our passports and passport photographs the application also includes;

• Our marriage certificate
• My husband's birth certificate and 2 change of name deeds
• 5 bank statements
• 6 pay slips for myself
• 6 pay slips and 1 P60 for my husband
• 1 letter from my work confirming my employment
• 1 letter from my husband's work confirming his employment
• 6 items of correspondence ranging from council tax bills to tenancy agreement

I am hopeful that at least this time I won't screw up. I tell you all this in detail because I want my readers to learn from my mistakes and take away two lessons that I learned the hard way.

1. Have someone that you trust other than your partner look over the application.
2. Do extensive research on the process many months before you are due to apply, and don't be afraid to call the UK Border Agency.

Erin x

For more information on applying for an extension of stay in the UK visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/spouse-cp/applying-in-uk/

For more information on applying for indefinite leave to remain visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/settlement/applicationtypes/applicationformset(m)/

For more information about the Life in the UK Test visit http://lifeintheuktest.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/

Another Two Years

Today I sent off my application for 'an extension of stay in the UK as the partner of a person present and settled in the UK and for a biometric immigration document'. Otherwise known as England you're stuck with me for another two years. That is if the UK Border Agency allows it!

The forty-six page application took me about five hours in total to complete. Including the time it took for a trip to the bank to collect bank statements (we're eco-friendly in our house, we do paperless billing) and queuing at the post office for twenty-minutes trying to send the damn thing off! I wish I could say the whole thing is an easy process, but I would be lying. It's a ball-ache (UK Border Agency  - if you're reading this I'm sorry, please let me stay I love your country!)

It is forty-six pages of having to repeatedly fill in your name, passport details, contact details, and details about your relationship. I wouldn't mind so much, except I filled in a massive visa application back in 2011 when I first applied to live permanently in the UK. I shouldn't have to fill my details in again. Come on, I'm the blonde American girl who was introduced to her husband in France by her host-mom, it's a really cute story! Surely the UK Border Agency remember mes? Since the number of people who applied for permission to stay permanently in the UK was 126,891* in 2012 alone, I'm thinking maybe not.

The hubby and I often joke that it would be so much easier if we had fallen in love with people from our own countries, but where would the fun in that be? Everyone needs a challenge in life, and managing a cross-cultural relationship is one of ours. I think that's part of the reason why the UK Border Agency made the application so mind-numbingly long, to test if your relationship is real or not. No one in their right mind would take the time to fill in that thing unless they were in love!

So for all of my complaining about this document, I'm glad I completed it. It means I get to stay in a country I love but more importantly I get to stay with the man I love!

Erin x

*According to Home Office's Immigration Statistics: October to Decemember