Please help! overstayed almost 3 years, British unmarried partner, clueless as to what to do!

Cindy2019 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:47 pm

Hi everyone

At this point of my struggle, i realize that i need help and advice from people who may know more or who have experienced the similar situation before, please. Here is my background and my current situation. Sorry for the long story, just thought it could help draw a better picture of my situation.

My name is Cindy (Chinese national), I had a Tier 4 student visa for several years in which time i received both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. During this time, i lived with my current unmarried partner (British citizen, and we lived few more years together aboard before my studies in the UK as we met abroad, total of 9 years now).

Our initial plan was to apply for the unmarried partner visa before my Tier 4 student visa expires in 2017, as we qualified all the requirements back then. However, my partner made some stupid mistakes and helped a friend which he shouldn't have and was arrested and eventually imprisoned few months before my visa's expire date. As a result to the court hearings etc, i didn't have his passport to even attempt to apply for a unmarried partner visa myself. Eventually i decided to overstay so i could be here for him during his 1 plus years sentence as he has no families here, there were a lot of considerations to my decision: to help him financially, to support him morally, weekly visits, plus we have a dog who i would never abandon in a million years. Overall, it was a very distressing time for us. So fast forward to this day, my partner has been back with me for almost two years now, with full time employment over £18,600, so i decided that i need to do something about my status.

However after calling several solicitors, i find the suggestions vary between two choices, which is even more confusing as either way i know i am taking a risk. So basically some suggested that the best way is to go back to China and apply for a marriage/fiancee visa through fast track services (4 weeks decision) and then come back to the UK to marry and then switch to spouse visa in the UK, but even people who suggested this route has split opinions, as some said that it will be approved easily without being affected by my overstaying history, while others said that it will very likely be refused straight away due to my history but would then be appealed with a very high success rate. I have no clue to which one to listen, but i do know that if i have to go through appeal while in China, then the process could take around 1 year something, which is really something that is painful to consider...

On the other hand, there are solicitors who are against the applying outside the UK method, but insisting on me to apply within the UK, some even mentions that applying for marriage/fiancee visa in China would be a big risk as it would be refused due to the overstaying history. They encourage me to apply FLR 10 years settlement as unmarried partner (discretionary leave to remain) , saying that its my family rights and there are good chances to be approved. However, based on my personal research, i do know that FLR under discretionary leave will require you to have strong reason as to why our relationship can't survive elsewhere if you do not have children, compelling reasons on compassionate grounds. I am not sure if we qualify for such high requirements but i do think that we might have some arguments too.

Most importantly, i have no close ties to China as i haven't lived in China since 2006. My mother is remarried abroad (outside China) and the country does not offer any family visa for me due to its extremely strict immigration rules, so going to my mother's is impossible unless as a visitor only. As a reason, i don't really have a home to go back to. Additionally, since meeting my partner in 2010, we have been living like a 100% married couple, between 2012 and 2013, i moved with him to several countries for his work but eventually moved to the UK as we wanted to settle finally, so my argument is that we are in a extremely close and serious relationship that separation would bring massive devastation to us. So all to conclude, i am not sure if these arguments would be sufficient to satisfy the FLR requirements.

So now i am really stranded between the options, as going back to China to apply through fast route and sort everything out in a month would be perfect in theory, but that carries the risks of refusal and then appeal which means a potential year of separation for us. Applying in the UK may be ideal but i find it hard to be convinced that we can meet such high requirements for FLR considering we have no children.

PS. I have never worked illegally during my 3 years overstay, i was lucky to be supported by family abroad.

So my questions are:
- Which option is more suitable given our situation?
- If both are viable solutions then which one is more suitable in terms of time, cost and success rate?
- Would what happened with my partner be a compassionate reason for them to consider my case? obviously on my behave not his.

Thank you very much for your help in advance, any help is much appreciated!

geoeng wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 25, 2019 8:13 am

Leaving the UK and applying from China for a spouse/fiancee visa would likely be faster. Wouldn't recommend trying to use the fast-track service as your application will take longer to process due to the history of overstaying. There are several threads here of members who have had success using this route despite overstaying in the past. Your application will be likely viewed more favourably if you leave voluntarily and then apply rather than continuing to overstay. That said, nothing can be guaranteed when there is a history of overstaying but the most important thing is to be completely honest in your application, don't try to hide things.

Hamidalize wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:35 am

Hi there,
I'm in same situation as you I've been in the uk for seven years initially entered the uk as student after the expiration of first visa I applied for leave to remain in January 2014 and was granted until may2016 until I went to Pakistan for holidays when I came back my student visa was cancelled on the basis of bad quality English Toeic test I decided to fight the case and was granted temporary leave to enter later I lost the case because of being immature and stupidity of not knowing the court system in the mean time I met my lovely partner I was detained from her home for missing the reporting event to home office

We decided to apply for asylum on the basis my partner being a Christian and family pressure I was refused asylum a couple of times as my partner spent all her money on my asylum case we decided not to go further solicitors said do flrm as they knew it's gonna be refused but they want you to keep paying them so I would not suggest you to apply within the uk
I decided to go back to home country and apply as spouse as some of the solicitors said your history doesn't matter as long as your sponsor meets the requirements your case is straight forward and shouldn't be an issue I collected all the documents and left voluntarily my partner visited me we got married and now I'm gonna apply from here as long as you can proof the relationship is genuine they can't refuse your application if they do then it's a higher success rate in appeal cases as they can't refuse on human rights bases please let know when you get the result I pray that you succeed in your application and let us know what you put with your application as supporting documents the outcome of it
I'll be applying soon as well so pray for us as well
This is my personal experience and I'm not immigration expert and my advice would not assure you getting your visa I hope my experience helps

Zerubbabel wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:17 pm

I relate to your experience. I understand your reluctance to go back to China to lodge an application.

When I met with my wife, she was illegal in the UK. I wasn't keen to put her in a plane back home and maybe never see her again.

We decided to get married no matter what. We went to the registrar office to start the process. I remember the lady turning my wife's passport around, looking to all pages trying to find any visa or leave.

- Do you have a residence in the UK?
- Not at the moment, I responded for her

The waiting days were stressful and we didn't enjoy our own wedding. Imagine walking down the aisle and thinking that the Home Office go team is going to jump on you before you reach the table/altar.

My bestman whispered to my ear: I checked the surroundings, there is no Home Office around.

We got married then we applied for residence. But at the time, I was EEA +ILR. I strategically didn't apply for British Citizenship at the time to stay 100% under EEA laws which are more flexible in this kind of situations.

The good news is that there are many people in this forum who were in situations exactly like yours. Illegal for a while and in couple with a British. If you prepare the visa then go home, you will be back in no time and 100% legal. That would be a life changer for you.

verbina wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 25, 2019 3:15 pm

Cindy2019 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:47 pm

Hi everyone

At this point of my struggle, i realize that i need help and advice from people who may know more or who have experienced the similar situation before, please. Here is my background and my current situation. Sorry for the long story, just thought it could help draw a better picture of my situation.

My name is Cindy (Chinese national), I had a Tier 4 student visa for several years in which time i received both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. During this time, i lived with my current unmarried partner (British citizen, and we lived few more years together aboard before my studies in the UK as we met abroad, total of 9 years now).

Our initial plan was to apply for the unmarried partner visa before my Tier 4 student visa expires in 2017, as we qualified all the requirements back then. However, my partner made some stupid mistakes and helped a friend which he shouldn't have and was arrested and eventually imprisoned few months before my visa's expire date. As a result to the court hearings etc, i didn't have his passport to even attempt to apply for a unmarried partner visa myself. Eventually i decided to overstay so i could be here for him during his 1 plus years sentence as he has no families here, there were a lot of considerations to my decision: to help him financially, to support him morally, weekly visits, plus we have a dog who i would never abandon in a million years. Overall, it was a very distressing time for us. So fast forward to this day, my partner has been back with me for almost two years now, with full time employment over £18,600, so i decided that i need to do something about my status.

However after calling several solicitors, i find the suggestions vary between two choices, which is even more confusing as either way i know i am taking a risk. So basically some suggested that the best way is to go back to China and apply for a marriage/fiancee visa through fast track services (4 weeks decision) and then come back to the UK to marry and then switch to spouse visa in the UK, but even people who suggested this route has split opinions, as some said that it will be approved easily without being affected by my overstaying history, while others said that it will very likely be refused straight away due to my history but would then be appealed with a very high success rate. I have no clue to which one to listen, but i do know that if i have to go through appeal while in China, then the process could take around 1 year something, which is really something that is painful to consider...

On the other hand, there are solicitors who are against the applying outside the UK method, but insisting on me to apply within the UK, some even mentions that applying for marriage/fiancee visa in China would be a big risk as it would be refused due to the overstaying history. They encourage me to apply FLR 10 years settlement as unmarried partner (discretionary leave to remain) , saying that its my family rights and there are good chances to be approved. However, based on my personal research, i do know that FLR under discretionary leave will require you to have strong reason as to why our relationship can't survive elsewhere if you do not have children, compelling reasons on compassionate grounds. I am not sure if we qualify for such high requirements but i do think that we might have some arguments too.

Most importantly, i have no close ties to China as i haven't lived in China since 2006. My mother is remarried abroad (outside China) and the country does not offer any family visa for me due to its extremely strict immigration rules, so going to my mother's is impossible unless as a visitor only. As a reason, i don't really have a home to go back to. Additionally, since meeting my partner in 2010, we have been living like a 100% married couple, between 2012 and 2013, i moved with him to several countries for his work but eventually moved to the UK as we wanted to settle finally, so my argument is that we are in a extremely close and serious relationship that separation would bring massive devastation to us. So all to conclude, i am not sure if these arguments would be sufficient to satisfy the FLR requirements.

So now i am really stranded between the options, as going back to China to apply through fast route and sort everything out in a month would be perfect in theory, but that carries the risks of refusal and then appeal which means a potential year of separation for us. Applying in the UK may be ideal but i find it hard to be convinced that we can meet such high requirements for FLR considering we have no children.

PS. I have never worked illegally during my 3 years overstay, i was lucky to be supported by family abroad.

So my questions are:
- Which option is more suitable given our situation?
- If both are viable solutions then which one is more suitable in terms of time, cost and success rate?
- Would what happened with my partner be a compassionate reason for them to consider my case? obviously on my behave not his.

Thank you very much for your help in advance, any help is much appreciated!

Oh babe, first of all, what is it with us smart sensible women getting ourselves in a situation over a bloke eh! But thankfully, your man sounds decent and worthy! And your lovely doggie awwwhh!

Be wary of leaving to apply from China, even though it may sound like a straightforward enough route.

My friend was advised to do the same, so she went home to Moscow, but got a refusal siting her immigation history.

I think it's definitely best not to apply from here either until you clock a minimum of two solid years of cohabitation and with solid evidence of it. Just in case the time you spent apart goes against you.

Get a consultation with a top Human Rights solicitor, there are way too many immigration advisers imo right now who give generic advice and don't really think outside the box. It would be worth it to pay for a consultation with a top notch firm.

Good luck!!