Parallel Applications, COA and FLR(HSMP) - need advice!

Greetings!
I ran into complicated situation and am totally confused now.

I sent COA application (£295) on 03 July and it is now being reviewed. I requested and received my passport back, without withdrawing application.

Since my HSMP was expiring 11 August (today!), and COA is not an immigration application (no visa is given as result of it), I had to apply for FLR(HSMP)(another£350), which I sent 10 August by Special Delivery. I was reassured by post clerk it will be delivered by 1 pm today, but I think it will be 1 pm Monday. I have IELTS booked for end of Sept, I presume, FLR(HSMP) will not be granted till mid October.

Questions:
What needs to be done to avoid further waste of time and money?
What can go wrong with applications considered in parrallel?
Should I receive COA next week, how can I marry with expired visa in my passport, or apply for FLR(M)?
Do I need to inform COA caseworker that I applied for FLR(HSMP) but will not have it resolved till mid October?

My main idea is to get FLR(M) and after a year apply for ILR. Please share your opinions, if you know how to do it better, or have been through same experience. Thanks.

rayb wrote: Should I receive COA next week, how can I marry with expired visa in my passport, or apply for FLR(M)?

Did you not send ur passport in with ur FLR(M) application?

i didn`t apply for FLR(M) yet.

as for FLR(HSMP), no, I didnt sent my passport.

rayb wrote:i didn`t apply for FLR(M) yet.

as for FLR(HSMP), no, I didnt sent my passport.

Sorry, misread!

Don't u need to send ur passport with HSMP application?

I only got my passport returned from COA case after I sent FLR(HSMP). I dont have to send passport for HSMP staright away, as i need to take it to IELTS.

Does anyone have opinion on how my situation could be developing, what are the risks, do I need to cancel COA?

do I need to cancel COA?

Given that you want to get married, why would you do that?

As you have rightly realised the CoA is not a visa. It is a totally separate issue, and correctly you applied for a new visa on or before the expiry date of the old visa.

As regards the date of your visa application, stop worrying! For visa applications that are posted, it is the date of posting that counts as the date of application. But do retain the receipt stamped by the Post Office when you posted the visa application.

My main idea is to get FLR(M) and after a year apply for ILR.

Well you can't! The spouse visa is a 2-year visa and you would need to wait until the last 28 days of validity of that 2-year spouse visa before you could apply for ILR.

But why not just stay on the HSMP visa, if you can, and then apply for ILR near the end of the 5-year period.

I dont want to cancel COA, but do I have to? With visa expired and not extended, how COA caseworker could decide to grant approval? They will probably reject it. Again, do I need to inform COA team about my FLR(HSMP) - will it help or only complicate things?

Thanks about clarifications on post date, I am relieved now. I do have tracking number and receipt.

As for ILR, my understanding was, I can apply for it if I am a spouse of british citizen on FLR(M) visa and I have been in the UK for 2 years. It doesnt have to be that I am a spouse for these 2 years. I hear people applying and getting ILR this way. Am I missing something?

Even if 2 years start counting from marriage date or FLR(M), I still look forward to it more than to completing 5 years under HSMP. I dont trust HO on HSMP promises.

I dont want to cancel COA, but do I have to?

No, why?

With visa expired and not extended

Your visa has not expired! You are not an overstayer! Because you applied for your new visa prior to the expiry of the old one, that old one is "treated as continuing" until they either grant the application or, worse case, the time for appealing against a rejection has run out.

Am I missing something?

Yes. Don't apply on form FLR(M) if you want to get your ILR in one year time.

If not FLR(M), then what do I apply for straight after marriage, with perspective to get ILR?

You don't, you just stay on your FLR(HSMP).

Stay on FLR(HSMP). how this could be the faster way to get ILR?
You confused me totally.

My plan was as follows:

1. Get visa extended with FLR(HSMP)
2. Get COA
3. Marry! Apply for FLR(M)
4. After one (or, as you say two) years get ILR.

With FLR(HSMP) I will need to wait for four years.

John, you make me worried, could you please explain what you meant.

You confused me totally.

Don't worry the feeling is mutual! You are talking about getting ILR after a further one year. Accordingly I am assuming .... am I right(?) ..... that you have already been in the UK for 4 years on the HSMP path ... so just have one more year on that path before you can get ILR.

If my assumption is wrong, on what basis are you talking about possibly getting ILR after one year?

Do appreciate that a spouse visa is of two years duration. It used to be for just one year, but that only applied to spouse visas issued prior to 01.04.03. All spouse visas issued on or after 01.04.03 have been for two years.

OK I didnt make it clear, sorry.

I`ve been in UK on HSMP for one year. After extention, there will be four years to go till ILR.

If I marry, say next month, and get FLR(M), it will be two years to go till ILR.

I want to apply for ILR as a spouse, not as HSMP.

In which case "My main idea is to get FLR(M) and after a year apply for ILR" is simply misleading.

OK, after the marriage apply on form FLR(M) for a two year spouse visa, and then near the end of that, you will apply for ILR.

Then, if it is your intention to apply for Naturalisation, based upon what you have posted, you will be able to make the application as soon as you have ILR.

John wrote:OK, after the marriage apply on form FLR(M) for a two year spouse visa, and then near the end of that, you will apply for ILR.

Then, if it is your intention to apply for Naturalisation, based upon what you have posted, you will be able to make the application as soon as you have ILR.

You don't need ILR to apply for Naturalisation. A spouse of a UK national can naturalise as a UK citizen having lived legally (in any capacity) in the UK for 3 years.

That's the whole point of the 'ppron method' (see http://tinyurl.com/36uf2e).

mym, that is correct, but does involve a trip to Dublin or somewhere else outside the UK, in order to lodge the application.

John wrote:mym, that is correct, but does involve a trip to Dublin or somewhere else outside the UK, in order to lodge the application.

Yes, but that's easier and cheaper than paying £750-950 quid for ILR and completing the intrusive form...

...and then having to fill in and pay £575 for the application to Naturalise in the UK anyway! :)

Again I agree .... and the ppron method is particularly good for the OP here as the application could be made in about a year's time, whereas the ILR could not be applied for until about 2 years have passed.

Indeed if intending to go down that route, why bother with the FLR(M) application at all? Merely stay on the HSMP route.

As regards the fee for Naturalisation, in fact £655 has to be paid up front, but £80 is refunded if the application is unsuccessful for any reason. What is the £80 for? For the Citizenship Ceremony.

you guys are genious! why didnt I spot it myself! I dont need FLR(M), dont need ILR - just apply for AN in two years time.

ppron method is particularly good for the OP here as the application could be made in about a year's time, whereas the ILR could not be applied for until about 2 years have passed

apologies for being thick, but which application did you mean(to be made in a year`s time)?

rayb, why I am sometimes reluctant to mention the ppron method is because it is rather technical. And before you make such an application you really need to be totally up-to-speed as regards all the technicalities. Get anything wrong and you could have a totally wasted journey to Dublin, or wherever.

Yesterday in this topic MYM provided you with a link. You need to study that topic in great detail. Not only does it tell you which form to use, but lots more information as well. Except I have just noticed the form to use has since been renamed from AN(NEW) to merely AN. And you can get a copy of that form by clicking here.

Finally, before you travel to Dublin, or wherever, do check in with this board, to ensure that everything (hopefully) has remained the same, and the method has not been closed by a change of legislation.

thanks a lot for help!!!

yes, I am reading the info on links provided.

Will study these options with my boyfriend, consider traditional ILR-AN vs ppron method. a hell of a lot to study there!

I am still awaiting COA, and there are two years to go before I could be eligible. Plenty of time to think.