Leave to remain refused

Hello
My settlement (M) application has been refused because I have not completed 60 months of continuous period as a partner.
My visa History:

granted tier 4 student visa from Sep 2009 - Oct 2013

Married in 2012, applied for spouse visa in Oct 2013. However didn't meet the £18,600 at the time and was on hold while waiting for Court case regarding £18,600. In the meantime, got a new job and met the £18,600 requirement, but was told it couldn't be considered, it had to be 6 months prior to my application. I was however granted 30 months leave under immigration rules D-LTRP.1.2, family life (mainly because of parental responsibility to our 8 month old at the time).

12/01/2017 - 16/09/2019 - applied and granted 2.5 leave to remain as a spouse.

Sep 2019, naively thought, this is the end of paying extortionate visa application fees. when I re-read the reasons I was refused settlement, I then remembered that initial 2.5 years was not under the spouse category. I wonder why the 10 years I have been in UK lawfully not taken into consideration? Doesn't sound logical to me why the initial 2.5 years can not be considered.

I have been advised to pay the NHS surcharge (£1,000) for 2.5 years spouse visa to be granted. Does that mean I have lost an additional £1,300 by applying for settlement?

Any advice?

Thank you for your response Zimba. I am surprised why the letter I received asked me to pay for the surcharge for a spouse visa for another 2.5 years instead of telling me it will be granted based on my 10 years of living lawfully. There is no mention of an appeal either. I am thinking of paying the surcharge since I got 10 working days and risked of being removed if I don’t then appeal for the decision. Can I appeal why it wasn’t considered under long residence even though I didn’t apply for this. Does the 10 years start from the date I was granted a tier 4 visa in September 2009?

arii2019 wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:44 am

Thank you for your response Zimba. I am surprised why the letter I received asked me to pay for the surcharge for a spouse visa for another 2.5 years instead of telling me it will be granted based on my 10 years of living lawfully. There is no mention of an appeal either. I am thinking of paying the surcharge since I got 10 working days and risked of being removed if I don’t then appeal for the decision. Can I appeal why it wasn’t considered under long residence even though I didn’t apply for this. Does the 10 years start from the date I was granted a tier 4 visa in September 2009?

You would specifically have had to apply for ILR based on 10 years long residence on form SET(LR) for it to be considered.

HO does not go around checking everything or your history to decide if you qualify for some other route. They base their decision only on the application you have submitted, in this case SET(M) 5 year ILR, which you did not qualify for.

The standard option for a refused SET(M) is another 2.5 year leave to remain, nothing else. Up until about a year ago, you would not even have had the option for another 2.5 year extension, it would have been an outright refusal of ILR.

10 years long residence ILR qualifying period starts counting from the first date you ENTERED the UK and not the date your first visa was issued.

thank you for your response. Does anyone know what ‘consent’ the letter refers to: ‘in accordance with the consent you gave on the application form, we are now treating your application as an application for limited leave to remain’?

There is a part of the form where you have consented to be considered for leave to remain etc if you don't meet the ILR requirements.

@Zimba, can I put in another application now that they have granted the 30 month flr(ft)? Do you know anyone who appealed their flr (ft) decision, all the info about my partner was on there..

Thank you for that link, I guess when I paid for the health surcharge a few days ago made it look like I accepted the offer. There is nothing about an appeal. The letter says if I don’t pay for the health surcharge my application wouldn’t be unsuccessful and I will not be refunded.

Zimba wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:25 am

arii2019 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:00 pm

Thank you for that link, I guess when I paid for the health surcharge a few days ago made it look like I accepted the offer. There is nothing about an appeal. The letter says if I don’t pay for the health surcharge my application wouldn’t be unsuccessful and I will not be refunded.

I suggest to wait and see if they granted you FLR(M) or not

I have been granted 2.5 years, on the card it says ‘leave to remain’ under type of permit. Doesn’t say ‘spouse/partner’ as the expired one. Letter received says as per last letter I have parental relationship with a child and been granted leave within immigration rules D-LTRP.1.2 of appendix FM.

To qualify for settlement i would need to have completed 120 months - family life.

arii2019 wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:02 am

granted tier 4 student visa from Sep 2009 - Oct 2013

Married in 2012, applied for spouse visa in Oct 2013. However didn't meet the £18,600 at the time and was on hold while waiting for Court case regarding £18,600. In the meantime, got a new job and met the £18,600 requirement, but was told it couldn't be considered, it had to be 6 months prior to my application.

When you say that the application was "on hold", do you mean that you had a valid application with the Home Office? Or that you had held the application back?

Yes I had an application with the home office and they sent a letter to say it was on hold due to the Court case. I sent documents regarding meeting the financial requirement when I got the new job since the application was on hold.

Zimba wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:51 pm

You have been granted leave under the 10 year route FLR(FP) as I predicted. Accepting their offer is always a mistake

I didn’t know I had the choice not to accept? They only said to pay for the surcharge, otherwise the application will be rejected.