Extending stay WITHIN visa dates

[Adelle]

My husband (then boyfriend) visited me earlier in the year with the intention of staying for 3 months, but ended up staying 5 and left before his visitor visa expired. When he decided to stay longer I recalling phoning the UKBA 0870 number to inform them, but unfortunately can't get any record of this as my phone is PAYG.

He's recently applied for another visit visa but was rejected due to this 'overstay'. I'm quite angry about this as he followed all the rules and left before expiry.

He's going to apply again. Is there anything that he can do to increase his chances?

Thanks.

[Lucapooka]

Without seeing the refusal notice it's not easy to comment on this. I suspect that he was not refused for overstaying as there was no overstay. I imagine that he was refused because of issues of credibility. If in the previous application he stated that he intended to visit for 3 month but stayed five then this would raise a red flag. Obviously this is not a problem if he simply changed his mind while in the UK and decided to stay longer (it's not illegal to change one's mind and if one's leave permits additional time beyond the original intention) but when it comes to applying for another visa, there remains some doubt in the mind of the ECO as it may appear that he is effectively trying to live in the UK as a visitor. Having a spouse that is resident in the UK does not help as strong ties to home are perhaps compromised when your strongest tie is living in the country you are hoping to visit.

How long was the gap between his departure and the new application?

[Adelle]

Only 1 month. He was originally intending on applying for the permanent spouse visa but this has been delayed due to the change (July) of english requirements and he wont now be able to apply until October.
He was hoping to visit for a month in the meantime.
So, yes it is a little like living here on a visit visa, but then I've been doing much the same over the last year in his country (Ethiopia) too. We don't like being apart.

[mulderpf]

As Lucapooka pointed out, without the refusal notice, there's not much in terms of comment people can make on this as "overstay" could mean different things. It is likely that since he has already spent 5 months in the UK, they will not allow another visit visa so soon after, as it becomes very likely that he will overstay (you cannot spend more than 6 months in 12 in the UK as a visitor).

[Lucapooka]

It is likely that since he has already spent 5 months in the UK, they will not allow another visit visa so soon after, as it becomes very likely that he will overstay (you cannot spend more than 6 months in 12 in the UK as a visitor).

That's not quite how it works. Generally, a person should not stay in the UK for more than six months in a given year, but if someone does manage to be re-admitted, by leaving and re-entering legitimately with a new entry clearance, that new period of leave will not be aggregated to the previous leave that was spent in the same year to be counted as overstaying a six month period. Obviously this is perhaps only applicable to those nationalities who are not visa nationals, and to continue to do this would likely result in a refusal, but a person who spends six months in the UK, takes a short trip to, say, France and then returns to the UK for another two months, has not then overstayed by two months because the new entry visa will be for another period of six months that begins on the date of re-entry.