Spouse Visa for My Russian Wife - Please Help

pixelrage09 wrote:Hi Simon!

Congratulations on the decision! I know how stressful it was for you especially since you applied priority. I wish you and your spouse the best in all your future endeavors and I hope you will continue to contribute further on this forum for the rest of us unlucky souls.

Have an amazing weekend!

Hi Pixel,

many thanks, we're not over the line yet but I can't begin to describe the relief I felt yesterday at 12:30 pm, it was something else. I really hope and pray all of you guys/ladies and your loved ones who are still waiting, get to experience that feeling very soon.

Don't worry, this is not the end of me here. I fully intend to continue to try to help and offer advice to all of the people still waiting and planning their applications.

This forum is an excellent community and given that we did not use an agent or lawyer, I have found it invaluable and I am eternally grateful to everybody who contributed advice and support. If my wife and I are successful, the only way we can truly show our gratitude is in kind.

Cheers
Simon

Much of the forum 'hive mind' is contributed by members who have travelled the same journey and stayed on to hold a supporting hand out to others.

Hi Simon,

Congrats that you got a decision made on the spouse visa.

I to also got a decision made for my wife's visa 28th July. Running pretty close to 60 working days.

I was just wondering as its been around 10 working days has your wife picked up her passport and received her visa?

Regards
Ryan

Hi Ryan,

that's great news on your application, congratulations!!

Unfortunately, my wife has still not been contacted to collect her passport so we still do not know the decision. It is outrageous. 12 working days now since decision was made so well over the 10 working days that they're supposed to return the passport. I escalated last week by calling them at 10 days and they gave me an email address to write to for free but as yet no reply so they're also over the 2 days to respond to the escalation email. The lack of accountability and failure to treat people with dignity and respect is completely unacceptable.

I'm honestly in absolute disbelief at the sheer incompetence and callous way they treat people. Will be calling them again today to complain. Don't know what else to do now.

I see somebody else has also started a thread on here who is in the same position.

immigration-for-family-members/decision ... 36201.html

If the situation changes I'll update here.

Cheers
Simon

Well, my journey is not quite over but finally I can share that my Wifes Application for Spouse Visa was GRANTED!!!!!!!!

It was granted on the 13th July, vignette issued 21st July to 20th August!!!

Thank you so much to everybody who suppported, advised and shared our journey. We are especially grateful because we did not use an agent or a lawyer and when we needed help it came from you guys.

I wish everybody who is still waiting the very best of luck and will be keeping my fingers crossed that you all get positive news soon.

Right, now the not so good news and everybody who has applied from Russia TAKE NOTE.................

My wife still does not have her passport back. She went to TLScontact today in St Petersburg Russia and demanded it back. They told her they did not have it.

I called my MP. My MP called Sheffield, they told my MP the Visa is granted that is how I know the decision and the dates of the vignette. They sent everything to Russia last month already and do not know why my wifes passport has not been returned. They are genuinely shocked and will follow up very strongly with the Consulate and TLScontact in Russia next week to find out what has gone wrong and get my wifes passport returned immediately. They are also willing to grant special dispensation if necessary due to the unusual circumstances.

PLEASE NOTE: My circumstances were regarded as exceptional because the decision was made and the Visa issued weeks ago and is already part expired. That is the only reason they shared the decision with the MP. Do not expect to be treated similarly unless you find yourself in this position.

Honestly, my life is turning into a soap opera. I'll update you on the next installment of the saga when you tune in next week lol

Cheers
Simon

So, finally today, my wife got her passport back. Thanks only to the persistence of us and my MP. No need to ask who I'll be voting for in future.

Vignette - 21st July to 20th August??!!

Absolutely shocking, unbelieveable incompetence of the highest order

Fortunately though, thanks to my MP getting the decision out of them on Friday, my wife resigned on Monday. They made us wait so long for the decision her official annual leave begins next week, which in Russia counts towards her 2 week notice period. This is standard in Russia.

Bottom line, tickets bought yesterday and she arrives in the UK on Saturday

One week short of four calendar months apart, which considering we applied on priority, is disgraceful.

All applicants waiting after 10 days of "decided date" take note. Good luck.

Cheers
Simon

The online status for my wife's applications from Moscow changed to DECIDED on Friday!:-)) 59 working days since biometric submission.

Also the TLS tracker has updated this morning to say that its been dispatched by courier, so we hope to know the result very soon! Fingers crossed!

I still haven't had the documents returned to me in the UK yet. How long does that normally take after decision?

Hi there, I wanted to address you specifically because I think your situation is very similar to mine. My kids and I applied for our UK settlement visas in April from Canada. Our online status has been "Decided" with a date of July 11 to date. We have not received our passports or our visas in all this time. I am now very concerned that the Vignettes are also expired like you talked about in the case of your wife. I have called and emailed the Visa contact service about 7 times since we noted that our decision was made hoping to get to the bottom of where are passports are and they keep saying they will get back to us but no one ever does. We have our MP in Aberdeen on the case now. I was just wondering if Home Office made a concession for your wife about her Vignette time, since it was their mistake that your wife did not receive her passport. Im really hoping that this is the case with us as well. Was your wife's passport just sitting in the VAC in Russia?

Also, what else did you have to do to get to the bottom of your case. Our MP wrote an email this morning, but we just don't seem to be getting anything back from Home Office.
Any advice would be much appreciated
Sooo Frustrating!!

Hi Simon,

I have been reading about your journey on the forum and extend my congratulations. The application sounds like a headache but well worth the effort. I wanted to ask you if you could possibly send me a copy of the cover letter. I have a friend who lives in the UK and wishes to sponsor his wife to the UK. They are in the process of getting details together so any help would be appreciated. I tried to send you a PM but given that its my first post here, it has barred me from doing so. TIA. Can you send me a PM? thank you.

Atikax wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:45 pm

Hi Simon,

I have been reading about your journey on the forum and extend my congratulations. The application sounds like a headache but well worth the effort. I wanted to ask you if you could possibly send me a copy of the cover letter. I have a friend who lives in the UK and wishes to sponsor his wife to the UK. They are in the process of getting details together so any help would be appreciated. I tried to send you a PM but given that its my first post here, it has barred me from doing so. TIA. Can you send me a PM? thank you.

You don't have access to the PM privilege as you are a newly registered member.

Yes I realised that yesterday after I posted. Can anyone help with the points in a cover letter? You can email me at email address removed by moderator Thank you.

Atikax wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:01 am

Yes I realised that yesterday after I posted. Can anyone help with the points in a cover letter? You can email me at email address removed by moderator Thank you.

You are not allowed to post personal details on the forum.

metanoia wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 30, 2017 12:10 pm

You are not allowed to post personal details on the forum.

In future, please could you flag the posts for us so that it pops up immediately for action. It is the exclamation mark in top right corner of a post and if you hover over it is says 'report this post'.

Atikax wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:01 am

Yes I realised that yesterday after I posted. Can anyone help with the points in a cover letter? You can email me at email address removed by moderator Thank you.

I strongly suggest you read the forum rules, as you were required to do when joining the forum.

Hi all,

I have a date booked to marry my Russian Bride in Russia on 14 October 2017 - as many of you have already been through this process it would be appreciated if I could pick your brains on a few things:

Also while I am here a few comments on bits and pieces I've read on here that may possibly be useful for others reading this.

1) Previous posters have said that there is a rule that you cannot get more than two Tourist Visas for Russia in a year - this cannot be a rule as I have already received three Tourist Visas for Russia in 2017, I received three in 2016, two in 2015 and one in 2014.

2) I have also read comments that you must be in Russia for 31 days before you can get married. I cannot see that this can be true as a tourist visa is a maximum of 30 days and you can get married on a tourist visa. Plus my Fiancee has asked at her Zags on two occasions now and they have said there is no such rule and that you could in theory get married on the same day as you arrive.

Ok now for my questions that I am struggling with:

1) I have read on many websites that you need to register your visa in Russia if you stay for longer than 7 days or if you get married. Again my Fiancee has asked the Zags and they have said they do not require the Visa to be registered but I am still not sure purely because of the vast info on the internet pointing to it needing to be registered - any comments would be appreciated.

2) After doing a lot of reading it appears that there is no legal requirement to register the marriage within the UK. This is fine but obviously we need to prove that the marriage has taken place in order to apply for my Fiancee's Spouse Visa (or whatever they call it). I assume we need to get the marriage document translated to English, notarised and get an Apostille attached in Russia. Does anyone have experience of getting this done and any advice on where to get it done - my Fiancee currently lives in Sochi? I assume we should also get her international passport and birth certificate translated and notarised?

3) Further to the above, if the marriage is not registered in UK, then how will the UK Government know I am married, or does this not matter? To be honest I can't see any reason why the marriage should not be registered, I for one would prefer it be required.

4) My Fiancee also really wants to change her name to my surname - but I am worried this will further complicate things. She currently plans to change her name on her domestic passport after we marry on 14 October 2017 and her bank accounts etc... in Russia but she will leave her international passport with her maiden name as she still has three months left on her UK tourist visa so we can live together for three months after we get married and enjoy our first Christmas and new year together as a married couple. When this tourist visa expires in January 2018 she will travel back to Russia and apply for the Spouse Visa. Did anyone else have their wife change her surname and how did this affect things. in other words does it matter if when you apply for the Spouse Visa some documents are with one surname and some are with another?

Thank you in advance for any comments on the above.

Chris

Great information on here, thanks to all contributors!

Chris

Has anyone had any negative response from applying for a Spouse Visa?

Ryanbcfc wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:42 pm

Hi Simon,

I have just been reading your story and can relate massively!

Im a UK citizen and my wife is from Belarus we got married on 15th April 2017.

We managed to have everything in order and submitted the application not to long after with a confirmation email from Sheffield confirming receipt of our application on 8th May 2017.

Of course i paid £550 just like you for priority (15 working days) and we are just sitting waiting still with no news or update, all my email enquires come back just like yours "Yet to be accessed by an ECO"

Also just like you all my documents that i sent to Sheffield are just sitting there waiting? God knows what they are doing to them.

In a way its nice to see that someone is in the same boat as me and im not the only one, only concern is you have been waiting longer then me which gives me no hope of a decision sometime soon like i am praying for.

Hi Ryan,
I've got PR(not citizen yet) and will be applying for naturalisation next month.my wife is from Belarus as well. we got married on 17 sep 2017 in Montenegro and will be applying for her visa. we have read on TLScontact visa application centre Minsk site that all the documents will be scanned and sent to entry clearance officer.
On the other hand according to this forum, applicants like yourself and SimonS mentioned that the documents were sent to sheffield by post which is a bit confusing.
1.could you or anyone please guide what documents from my side should be submitted/send.

thanks

Ryanbcfc wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:42 pm

Hi Simon,

I have just been reading your story and can relate massively!

Im a UK citizen and my wife is from Belarus we got married on 15th April 2017.

We managed to have everything in order and submitted the application not to long after with a confirmation email from Sheffield confirming receipt of our application on 8th May 2017.

Of course i paid £550 just like you for priority (15 working days) and we are just sitting waiting still with no news or update, all my email enquires come back just like yours "Yet to be accessed by an ECO"

Also just like you all my documents that i sent to Sheffield are just sitting there waiting? God knows what they are doing to them.

In a way its nice to see that someone is in the same boat as me and im not the only one, only concern is you have been waiting longer then me which gives me no hope of a decision sometime soon like i am praying for.

I am also Married to a Belarus lady,i submitted All Documents and Spouse Visa Application on 01.08.17 and we have heard NOTHING..she is frantic with worry as i am as i miss her so much.

I am married to a Belarus Lady,we married on the 29th of April 2017,and all paperwork for Spouse Visa was recieved by Sheffield on 01.08.17..so far we have heard nothing..next week we will hit the 60 day Target for the decision on the Visa..or am i setting my sights too high..will we have to wait longer than the 60 days ?

Hello everyone!!

I am about to go through the same process as you all and having looked at your posts it has made it seem a lot less daunting.

I did have a quick question though. I recently married my wife in Moscow and was wondering if she will have to send her foreign passport away to Sheffield or whether she can hold onto it as we would like to go on holiday if it takes up to 3 months to receive the visa. Would she just need to send away a notarised/apostillised copy? And do we then collect the visa in Moscow or how does it work from the Russian side? Any help would be really appreciated!

Regards

G30rdie wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:24 am

she will have to send her foreign passport away to Sheffield or whether she can hold onto it as we would like to go on holiday if it takes up to 3 months to receive the visa. Would she just need to send away a notarised/apostillised copy? And do we then collect the visa in Moscow or how does it work from the Russian side? Any help would be really appreciated!

Regards

It is not very difficult to read TLS website, is it? Here is what you need - https://uk.tlscontact.com/ru/mow/page.p ... rvices#SWP

Dear all,

Thanks for this incredibly kind and helpful community.

Simon- many congratulations! I hope your wife is enjoying life here and you are both having a great start to married life. Is she able to go back to Russia for months at a time (as I've read in VISA conditions we are both to settle here, but my girlfriend would want to also spend a fair amount of the year back with her mother too, at least at first). So impressed you still come back to try to help others.

I met my girlfriend online around 5 years ago, and spoke extensively for all this time. We finally met in June last year and she had a 6 month tourist visa and ended up coming back (so three visits in total). She had put very basic and bare information and we are now told by some she was incredibly lucky to get that first one approved. We met in Paris over Christmas (she has Schengen through til the summer) and Barcelona last month.

This week the second UK Visa application got rejected (after first one last year being successful). My world turned upside down as she would have come the week after next for a month. They've said no based on her sums not adding up- mainly because of a recent change in employment and they don't believe she won't overstay. From what I'm being told, my only real option is to wait another 6 months and re-apply. I think I will do that, and whether it fails, or if it succeeds (and so 6 months after) the next step will be to get married. I am tempted to do this now if it is a more guaranteed way of ensuring she can get over here. Only really went for 6 month tourist at first since it worked the previous time so thought most likely to succeed. Not sure now if would try the 1 or two year options as it's just a bigger financial loss if denied again.

Of course it is also because I love her dearly and will struggle with all the time apart and costs for travel etc. On top of the fact if she could come for two and a half years AND work!

Sorry to have rambled I guess I'd like to know if 1) I should just go down the marriage route now, and whether recent rejection of tourist visa would affect the likely out come of this? 2) Seemingly there is no better way of having high chances of spending time here in the UK than getting married in Russia and then applying for Spouse visa?

She has traveled to Russia from her home city and back so many times recently, done everything in the most honest and transparent way, and is being accused of wanting to overstay- even though she clearly went back all the times previously! There have been many challenges so far, and this community helps to show there could be light at the end of the tunnel (but realise that it was due to the tenacity and skill of those who have succeeded. Thanks for everything. I have been asked by some people for thousands of pounds and just want to give myself the best chance I can with the girl I love, and realise I need to save money for the admin of getting married and spouse visa, rather than spend on solicitors that can't actually seemingly guarantee anything.

Hi Scott_Idn1,

I am very sorry that your girlfriend's Visitor Visa Application was refused. I am Russian myself and got refused recently Settlement Fiance Visa Application. It is really very very sad and it hurt both of us.

1) I think you shouldn't attach marriage to the visa rejection. Marriage is much bigger commitment than a refusal in the visa. She may reapply for a Visitor visa again earlier than 6 months unless 6 months are stated in the refusal. But her circumstances and evidence that she is leading an independent life should demonstrate substantive change.

Rejection of tourist visa shouldn't affect the outcome of settlement spouse visa if you prepare the right set of documents.

2) You can apply for a Settlement Fiance visa, where she will be ready to spend 6 months with you, preparing your wedding in the UK. Then you will have to change her status for a Spouse visa. However, if you get married anywhere else, you can immediately apply for a Spouse visa and she will be granted right to work (it is not allowed to work on a fiance visa) and you will not need to pay the settlement fee twice.

Thanks for the reply- anybody else who can advise anything are welcome to do so.

As it stands it seems my options are only really to wait 6 months after trips in Europe whenever possible, and then re-apply for the Visitor Visa, in hope that will be ok. Failing that, will look into marriage in Moscow ahead of wedding Spouse as this seems the more "guaranteed" route, because although looks to be tremendously difficult, at least there is an appeal process and seems more chance of success.

Thanks again

Scott