Acca members are exempted from English requirement or not?

Dear all,

I have applied for spouse visa on 29th of September 2018. So far I haven’t have heard anything from home office regarding my application. One thing is really baffling me, which is my English language requirements. I am a qualified member of Acca and I have used that certificate and equivalency letter from Acca to claim exemption for English language requirement. After doing extensive research, I have found out mix and match suggestion of such. Some have used to claim and approved and some refused. I would like to know what are the chances of getting approved on such. Even though it is blunt suggestion which will go against me I wouldn’t be disheartened at all as I have already applied. It would be helpful for others and future reference.
Your suggestions and advice would be highly appreciated!

ACCA is a professional qualification but not an academic degree like BSC, MSC, MBA etc which give exemptions from English language if achieved from UK. But you may get exemption if NARIC confirms its equivalency to at least bachelor degree though its red route and also issue you its English proficiency letter.

seagul wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:21 am

ACCA is a professional qualification but not an academic degree like BSC, MSC, MBA etc which give exemptions from English language if achieved from UK. But you may get exemption if NARIC confirms its equivalency to at least bachelor degree though its red route and also issue you its English proficiency letter.

Thanks for your invaluable advice. Hope for the best! I didn’t complete my Acca from uk rather completed my fundamentals from within uk. Uk NARIC does confirm the equivalency to master degree along with ministry of education. What is your instance on that? You are saying it would entirely depend on luck and modesty of case worker.

Subashrag wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:29 am

seagul wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:21 am

ACCA is a professional qualification but not an academic degree like BSC, MSC, MBA etc which give exemptions from English language if achieved from UK. But you may get exemption if NARIC confirms its equivalency to at least bachelor degree though its red route and also issue you its English proficiency letter.

Thanks for your invaluable advice. Hope for the best! I didn’t complete my Acca from uk rather completed my fundamentals from within uk. Uk NARIC does confirm the equivalency to master degree along with ministry of education. What is your instance on that? You are saying it would entirely depend on luck and modesty of case worker.

If you haven't yet finished it then simply sit for IELTS life skills A1/A2/B1 test without wasting time.

I have actually applied for my visa and I have completed my Acca with a good standing and membership from association. Wouldn’t it be too late for me to sit for test now? They have already returned my documents to me. It has already been more than three months and decision is pending!

seagul wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:31 am

Subashrag wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:29 am

seagul wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:21 am

ACCA is a professional qualification but not an academic degree like BSC, MSC, MBA etc which give exemptions from English language if achieved from UK. But you may get exemption if NARIC confirms its equivalency to at least bachelor degree though its red route and also issue you its English proficiency letter.

Thanks for your invaluable advice. Hope for the best! I didn’t complete my Acca from uk rather completed my fundamentals from within uk. Uk NARIC does confirm the equivalency to master degree along with ministry of education. What is your instance on that? You are saying it would entirely depend on luck and modesty of case worker.

If you haven't yet finished it then simply sit for IELTS life skills A1/A2/B1 test without wasting time.

I have actually applied for my visa and I have completed my Acca with a good standing and membership from association. Wouldn’t it be too late for me to sit for test now? They have already returned my documents to me. It has already been more than three months and decision is pending!

Hiya,
I would like to have an understanding on the ihs refund process! My documents were returned to me last Friday and we called ukba right after that to know decision on application but we were told it is still pending! Today we received a refund of 600 pounds in my wife’s account. I am baffled whether it constitutes a refusal of application or not? It surely wouldn’t be that prompt to refuse application right after we spoke to someone over the phone and getting refund on Sunday! Any suggestions please!!

Best Regards!

there has been some talk in the other thread about this happening. It seems they are starting to give refunds of the priority part of the total fee for those applications where they have been unable to give 24hr decisions. Whether that means your application (and many others') will now be considered Standard is another question.

Here is the mention in the other thread:
general-uk-immigration-forum/ukvcas-sup ... l#p1722054

oldmankensey wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:34 pm

there has been some talk in the other thread about this happening. It seems they are starting to give refunds of the priority part of the total fee for those applications where they have been unable to give 24hr decisions. Whether that means your application (and many others') will now be considered Standard is another question.

Here is the mention in the other thread:
general-uk-immigration-forum/ukvcas-sup ... l#p1722054

I guess OP is referring to IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge) and not to super priority fee.

oldmankensey wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:34 pm

there has been some talk in the other thread about this happening. It seems they are starting to give refunds of the priority part of the total fee for those applications where they have been unable to give 24hr decisions. Whether that means your application (and many others') will now be considered Standard is another question.

Here is the mention in the other thread:
general-uk-immigration-forum/ukvcas-sup ... l#p1722054

The UKVCAS topic is NOT relevant to the OP as they have applied for an spouse visa from outside the UK and posting about receiving the Immigration Health Surcharge back!!

nice111 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:41 pm

oldmankensey wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:34 pm

there has been some talk in the other thread about this happening. It seems they are starting to give refunds of the priority part of the total fee for those applications where they have been unable to give 24hr decisions. Whether that means your application (and many others') will now be considered Standard is another question.

Here is the mention in the other thread:
general-uk-immigration-forum/ukvcas-sup ... l#p1722054

I guess OP is referring to IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge) and not to super priority fee.

Yes I am referring to immigration health surcharge! Any suggestion to settle this unsettled mind for now?

A full refund of the IHS is potentially a visa refusal. You need to wait to hear back from HO.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:01 pm

A full refund of the IHS is potentially a visa refusal. You need to wait to hear back from HO.

Well, it probably is a refusal! At least once they worked so promptly to have a decision made and refund right way!! Kudos to home office efficiency!!

You mention in your previous post it was deemed by NARIC as UK Masters equivalent.

Did you get UK NARIC red route assessment on your ACCA or not??

What documents exactly did you submit (list them) to prove you meet the English requirement for a spouse visa??

CR001 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:19 pm

You mention in your previous post it was deemed by NARIC as UK Masters equivalent.

Did you get UK NARIC red route assessment on your ACCA or not??

What documents exactly did you submit (list them) to prove you meet the English requirement for a spouse visa??

I actually did not get UK NARIC certificate because uk NARIC do not provide comparable certificates for one that has been awarded by uk institutional!

Subashrag wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:21 pm

CR001 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:19 pm

You mention in your previous post it was deemed by NARIC as UK Masters equivalent.

Did you get UK NARIC red route assessment on your ACCA or not??

What documents exactly did you submit (list them) to prove you meet the English requirement for a spouse visa??

I actually did not get UK NARIC certificate because uk NARIC do not provide comparable certificates for one that has been awarded by uk institutional!

I provided them with my Acca membership and letter of equivalency of masters degree taught in England from Acca!

In that case, your visa is likely refused for failing to meet the English language requirement.

letter of equivalency of masters degree taught in England from Acca!

This would not be sufficient. ANY qualification must be assessed by NARIC for comparable to UK degree AND English.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:39 pm

In that case, your visa is likely refused for failing to meet the English language requirement.

letter of equivalency of masters degree taught in England from Acca!

This would not be sufficient. ANY qualification must be assessed by NARIC for comparable to UK degree AND English.

Most probably! Never mind, you learn from your mistakes! I shall update you with the grounds of refusal soon. I have involved MP as well to have a look into it. She happens to be very helpful, hope she comes with a reason before I get official letter from home office.

A recent update! We phoned UKVI for an update but they were oblivious of the fact the refund has been processed but no decision made. Their system still says that decision is pending and we have escalated it again.
I am having strong feeling that they will ask me to pay if visa granted which will happen after 8 January. Bu that time the fee would be doubled.. anyone having a same problem then please shed some light on here to ease the stress!!

Well, recieved a refusal saying that even though I have claimed Acca membership is equivalent to masters degree for English language requirements, I have not provided evidence for such. You have only provided membership and advanced diploma certificates even though I had supplied with equivalency letter. I have lodged a formal complaints to home office and involved my MP to look for a consideration. I had provided them with an equivalency letter which they have overlooked and made decision hastily. If they had said they do not accept my equivalency letter then I would have let it go but they didn’t even bother to look into and make some rational judgement.

You did not submit NARIC equivalency and assessment. A letter from acca stating equivalency is irrelevant.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:55 am

You did not submit NARIC equivalency and assessment. A letter from acca stating equivalency is irrelevant.

I know where you coming from but uknaric doesn’t provide a comparability of assessment for uk certification in that case I should just let it go and move on or fight for it?

Subashrag wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:20 am

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:55 am

You did not submit NARIC equivalency and assessment. A letter from acca stating equivalency is irrelevant.

I know where you coming from but uknaric doesn’t provide a comparability of assessment for uk certification in that case I should just let it go and move on or fight for it?

You should have supplied the English test then or at the very least asked the question before applying for a visa.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:22 am

Subashrag wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:20 am

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:55 am

You did not submit NARIC equivalency and assessment. A letter from acca stating equivalency is irrelevant.

I know where you coming from but uknaric doesn’t provide a comparability of assessment for uk certification in that case I should just let it go and move on or fight for it?

You should have supplied the English test then or at the very least asked the question before applying for a visa.

I know I was at fault but at the time if visa application me and my wife verified with Home office and prolific immigration lawyer for such and on both occasion I was given impression that it should be fine. Later when I started researching I came to know there are mix and match feelings on acceptance and refusal on the Acca grounds. People have claimed requirements from Acca and accepted and some refused. It already been done and dusted now nothing you can’t change but I still think it’s worth a while to forged my luck with complains and MP involvement. Do you think I should make a new application with a English test or wait a bit from home office to respond to it? Either way I am loss of pounds of money and time!!!