CoA! New IND Guidance!

[John]

IND have published new guidance on their website ... on this webpage .... following a couple of Court Judgements that went against them.

Their new words of wisdom on the subject are :-

Important information regarding Certificate of Approval (COA) for Marriage or civil partnership applications

Following a judgement in the High Court on 10 April 2006, the Home Office suspended decisions on some Certificate of Approval applications. A further judgement considering the effect of the provisions on those here unlawfully was handed down on 16 June.

In order to comply with the judgements, the Home Office has revised the guidance for considering Certificate of Approval applications and, with immediate effect, will resume consideration of suspended applications. This guidance is interim guidance, pending the outcome of the appeal and may be changed in light of the Judgement of the Court of Appeal.

Applications from individuals who previously did not meet the criteria for a Certificate of Approval but who have valid leave to enter or remain at the time of their application will now be considered in line with revised guidance, a copy of which is attached. The Immigration Directorate Instructions (IDIs) will be amended in due course.

Applications from those individuals who do not have valid leave to enter or remain will continue to be refused unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances for granting a Certificate of Approval.

Applicants who were previously refused and had valid leave at the time of their application can submit a request for reconsideration of their application. These requests will be considered in accordance with the revised guidance.

At first glance it appears that the only difference from their previous policy is that it is no longer necessary for there to be at least three months validity left on the current visa, but at the same time they continue to insist that the person had a valid visa when the CoA application was made.

Their new policy indicates that they will continue to decline applications for a CoA from those who are illegally in the UK, including overstayers .... "unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances for granting a Certificate of Approval".

[gavouk]

in this article is mentioned that

"Applications from those individuals who do not have valid leave to
enter or remain will continue to be refused unless there are exceptional
compassionate circumstances for granting a Certificate of Approval."

I would like to know what are the exceptional reasons. Does an asylum
seeker who has not yet been granted refugee status falls into that
category?

Thanks

[John]

I know no more than is published on the IND website, but I would suspect that IND will continue to refuse CoA applications where the couple could actually register their marriage (or Civil Partnership, as the case may be) somewhere else in the world.

So I guess that exceptional circumstances are where, for the applicant, it is totally impossible to get married elsewhere in the world. That is, the marriage (or Civil Partnership) would need to be registered in the UK, or not at all.