ILR visa on HOLD because of EMDUK

HI,

I applied in person at CROYDON PEO on 1st July 2014. Firstly there was a IT issue going on and the people who have appointments at 8am still waiting on their decision by 1.30pm. In my case i start with Registering my case and then Biometric and after that we start waiting in canteen for the decison till this time the IT issue was resolved. At 2.45pm my number called and i went to the desk to collect the decision and the case worker ask me about my wife i said she is in canteen as she is pregnant that is why. He said please call her, when she came he with a colleaque of his take my wife to a room and start asking where he did English test, LIUK and where i work and sort of the question and once they finished they gave me a letter saying further checks required, i ask him how many days he required he said i need to wait. When i came back home i search and found that EMGUK english body is under investigation and so my application is on hold. Its 17th day today and i haven't heard anything back. I called them and ask about the progress of my application and they keep on saying In Progress. I told them that my application is PEO one and wont take this much time as otherwise there is no point to go for face to face appointment.

Can someone please suggest in this case? Is this happen to anyone recently?

Unfortunately if a decision isn't made on the day at the PEO the application joins the postal queue at the premium price. A decision isn't likely to be made until the investigation into the test provider is concluded.

Unfortunately, there are some tests providers that are under investigation and pending the outcome of the investigation, your application will be on hold.

Worst case scenario, if the investigation into EMDUK shows some form of fraudulent activity, the application maybe refused as they would then reject the English certificate.

In my opinion it would be better to sit another different test that is currently being accepted (such as the Cambridge ESOL or Trinity Grade 5 etc...) and submit this to the Home Office.

Furthermore, if your application was a PEO one, it would make a difference now as Casa has pointed out, once they join the postal queue, they will be treated as a postal application and won't be given any preference over other postal applications, but having paid the premium price.

Hi akhthar191,

When they said your ILR is on hold at PEO, did they hand over your original passport and old biometric cards of you & your wife back to you?

Thanks

Hi All,

Alhumdulillah by the grace of Almighty Allag i received call today from Home Office and my application is now successfull and my wife application is on hold till the investigation in EMDUK is finished. I ask them if i can re-submit english test with new test from another body they refuse and said i need to wait for the decision first.

So please whoever is applying for ILR and did english test from EMDUK please go through another test from another known body to avoid this.

Thanks

Congratulations for your application.

akhtar191 wrote:I ask them if i can re-submit English test with new test from another body they refuse and said i need to wait for the decision first.

This sounds ridiculous and assuming the worst case scenario (hope it doesn't come to this), if EMD are shown to have acted fraudulently, then would reject certificates issued by EMD which could mean possible rejection of ILR's for all those having certificates issued by awarding bodies that are under investigation.

The only alternative would be to do a English test again with another approved provider and submit with a fresh application that is why it makes no sense the Home Office would refuse a new English test for pending applications (its a good way to milking the applicants twice). I can see a lot of appeals being made in such situations.

But hopefully, things will work out for the better and they will approve the application.

And its not just EMD, its also TOEFL and TOEIC (by ETS) that are also under investigation and have been suspended.

I am in the same boat except with ETS TOEFL. I applied all the back in April at the Croydon PEO and was given the further enquiries letter. Don't believe them when they say that premium gets priority. I'm still waiting over 3 months later.

Their official policy (according to past FOI requests) is that premium never goes into the postal queue but I suspect that this is a lie based on many experiences on this forum. I think as long as your application is with the PEO you may still get better service (e.g. some people have got ILR after waits of 1-2 months) but as soon as they send it off to a ‘specialist team’ then my guess is that you get plonked in the general melee with everyone else.

Take a look at the PEO further checks/additional docs sticky to find more people in a similar situation.
http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... -1000.html

It is atrocious that you pay money for same day service and then, because of something that isn't your fault, they put you in what is effectively the postal queue.

You're lucky that they even bothered to tell you that it was the language certificate that was the problem. They just gave me the further enquiries letter and it took me months to extract an answer out of them about what the problem is.

I do have a question though. When your wife applies did they give her a generic ‘further enquiries’ letter and tell you verbally about the certificate problem or did they give her a letter specifying the language certificate problem?

P.S. Some people for ETS TOEFL were given a letter giving them the option of doing a new test. I wasn't. I even asked specifically and they didn't give me this opportunity. I wonder why they are giving some of us the chance to do a new test and others not? Having said this, people who have taken new tests recently haven't had any joy either, so maybe this makes no difference.

Hi

I applied for flr (m) last minute as I was not able to pass the life in the uk to apply for settlement.. I had done a b1 level emd esol international as I was ready to apply for settlement.. I had booked an appointment at premium service... we were told to come back after two hours but we were called by the case worker to get my english certificate that I applied with abroad when applying for spouse visa uk as he needs that to make a final decision.. he asked us to collect that so on our way to get that he called me again and said to leave that as he has had a word with the manager and we dont need that so we returned to him as he wanted a word.. he said our app has been put on hold due to investigation into emd testing centres and we will have to wait until investigation is complete..

He said I would have accepted the old certificate that you had applied with but my manager said no even if it was accepted then we will not accept it now !! What an idiot of a manager you only need a1 FOR EXTENTION what was the big deal!!

As we were told app is all great would be successful but nees to wait on English test certificate..

case worker did say not to worry there will not be a refusal as we have a child and if that is refused due to the certificate they will take us down the family route etc.. which I dont need to or want to as I can apply for settlement it was just my life in the uk I needed otherwise all documents are the same I can just try to pass and go for settlement or an extention again...

anyway I received email last week saying having received a decision on your application we would like you to take a 10 min survey.. I looked up on ho website where it said once a decision has been made on app you will be automatically sent a link to do a survey..

I haven't heard anything and when I phoned today to ask about app they said its in process I said I received an email amd you only send email to do survey once decision is made he said it must have been a glitch yeh right if that was the case im sure lots of others would have got it.. I asked him about emd but he knew nothing about investigation and said if it is a certificate issue just send another one!! He dont know nothing they just check on their computer screens..

ho case worker said to me it will take a few weeks but wont be that long and he also said if they would want me to provide another test cert they will contact me themselves..

Its a whe lot waste of money I did put a complaint as premium service is used for same day for people who have urgent things to do no one likes paying extra and if there was investigation they should have put it up on their website so we could have done another test but ho would do anything to rob us

anyone else received email?

fuzzyhu, I know how you feel. It sounds like the case worker was happy to accept the A1 English test as an alternative, but the Manager wasn't. It shows there are no set rules for accepting or providing an alternative test. Some people on this forums were given options to submit alternative tests and some haven't.

I would try and get the LIUK test done as well as another different English B1 test and go for applying for settlement. Try to see if you can withdraw your FLM application when you apply for SET(M).

What's even worst is that these test are still being shown on the Home Office website on the list as acceptable tests. Pathetic.

Regarding emd spoke to officer he said only some certificates are on hold which are done in certain area's mainly being in london otherwise some emd certificate are still being aproved basically most fraud in london therefore London done tests by emd are on hold only the ones they suspect they looking into certificate they suspect so even just by them suspecting they can refuse not fair cause I did test in london as that was the only date I coukd get to do test early even tho I live in bham and as we were there for a weekhol.. if they had there ssuspicions then they just coukd have interviewed me why put my app on hold all that stupid managers fault aarrggghhh

I guess the fact that living in Birmingham and having done the test in London has raised an eyebrow at the Home Office.

I guess you're right about the interview. Just to hazard a guess, most of the people who may have cheated in the English tests probably can't speak English at all or at a very poor level not to pass the test. The tests are like 10 to 20 minutes long depending on the type of test.

There's no harm in the Hone Office doing a quick interview, ask questions and assess the level of English at the same time and say "yep, this individual speaks English well". But I guess they are being very picky about the whole issue. I mean what is also wrong with submitting an alternative test as you are demonstrating your English language ability to satisfy the requirements as that is all that is needed.

I guess with the new rules back in July 2012, they are tightening up everything. Under the old rules, they would happily ask you for further documentation, now its probably straight to a refusal.

exactly thats what i mean why couldnt the manager just interview me then as i was on same day service.. he could have asked me the reason to why i did test in london and i would have told him..

there were no exam dates in birmingham that i could have done quickly i needed test before april 24th done and birmingham test i was offered was in may but i wanted to apply visa before my wife gave birth which due date was in early may so we didnt need to stress after baby was born but things turned out to be different..

london had the earliest test i could do so thats why i did there plus i didnt need to study the course as it was an open centre...

unfortunetly i ended up applying in early june as in april my wife and unborn baby health was not good and she had to be kept in hospital and have an emergency opertaion ,, therefore i got delayed i couldnt apply till june as i had to wwait for my wife to recover from c section.. personal circumstances where in my way

they could have just asked me and let me explain as i did pay a bloody whole load of extra money....!!

fuzzyhu

What's done is done (though no fault of your own). I would start to look at your options. The good thing is this is not a SET(M) application but a FLR(M), so personally I would aim to apply for ILR. Get your LIUK test and another Level B1 and go for ILR. Withdraw your FLR(M) application.

Some people have no choice as its their SET(M) application on hold and are not being given the opportunity to submit a new test so have to wait for the outcome. You still have a choice. You can wait for the outcome of the FLR(M), which could be good news, but in my opinion, a fresh application for SET(M) would probably the best option you have as you will sooner or later be applying for ILR in the near future.

The choice is yours.

WR1 wrote:fuzzyhu

What's done is done (though no fault of your own). I would start to look at your options. The good thing is this is not a SET(M) application but a FLR(M), so personally I would aim to apply for ILR. Get your LIUK test and another Level B1 and go for ILR. Withdraw your FLR(M) application.

Some people have no choice as its their SET(M) application on hold and are not being given the opportunity to submit a new test so have to wait for the outcome. You still have a choice. You can wait for the outcome of the FLR(M), which could be good news, but in my opinion, a fresh application for SET(M) would probably the best option you have as you will sooner or later be applying for ILR in the near future.

The choice is yours.

I know im just not getting the time to study the life in uk as am at work 5 days a week and timings are not perfect.. british born people even wont be able to pass liuk and they expect us to what am I gunna do with bloody british history !

Anyway I phoned up ho yesterday the guy goes there is a problem with my english certificate but that doesnt mean there will be a rejection and that my decision letter is being prepared and will receive soon...
the case worker said if the refuse flr m after investigation they will just probably take me down family and private life route as we have a child . Or ask me to do another test but eitber way wont be a refusal..

but the certificate I provided was for settlement purpose as its two dif lists and I dis explain that as I was gunna apply for ilr thats why it was done...

I was told to better wait until desicion then apply set m as I will atleast be legal in uk if I apply set m and withdraw flr m then I will have no visa amd set m would be applied after visa ends anyway desicion is made lets just hope its a good one amd they ask me to provide another certificate cause I dont want to.go down family route more headache but then again if they wanted another cert they could have asked me before the desicion.. im just gunna have to do something quick regarding my liuk but I have been looking for tests from Cambridge amd theres no exam dates until a few months more of a headache hopefully they give me time to do the tests.....

Hi i applied ILR on 20 December 2013 by Post. Got my acknowledge letter 22 December 2013. I had a spouse visa.
june 2014 got a letter i should rewrite another English test. Because TOIEC is under investigation before my case could be considered. Wen i was applying for my spouse visa year 2011. I did my speaking & listening test with TOIEC Genuinely. Anyway i went to rewrite my speaking & listening test with Trinity college in July 2014. Sent UKVI my certificate. On October 2014 i asked my local MP to write to UKVI about my case since its already been10 months no reply no ILR. Well they replied to my MP told him i should still wait because TOIEC tests are being investigated.
On 25 November 2014 after a stressful long wait of 11 months.I Received my ILR & my biometric card. Thank God.
so i think the TOIEC investigation is over now. So hang in there my people you might receive yours soon