HSMP extension (wife had a severe accident) plz help

Dear forum members

I am in tragic mental state and in desperate situation. I need a sincere advice and help regardsing our HSMP extension.

We are a family of 4. My wife is main HSMP applicant. We have got 2 kids.

HSMP approved under 75 points criteria and 2 years EC issued in Jan 2008. And extension is due in Jan 2010. She needs to claim 35000 pounds in order to get her HSMP extension.
My wife gave birth to a baby boy in the U.K in June 2008.

My wife had a tragic accident last week. She was driving and she stopped a car on red light signal. A council truck (garbage collector) hit my wife's stationary car from the back side. It was a bloody major impact from the back side. Apart from external body injuries due to the heavy contact my wife's backbone is severly damaged. And she also had a surgery of the backone on last Friday. According to the doctors she wont be able to recover and work for at least 2 years. But in initial assessment there are also chances that she may unfortunately get permanenet disablement. We will only get to know about this in next 2 months time that if she can recover from it or not.

Police was also called on the accident scene and they took all the details about the incident.

I am very disturbed, stressed and depressed. I am not able to go to work
from the day she had accident and i dont see myself going back to work for at least 1-2 months. And due to long absence my employer will definatly sack me. I am looking after kids and my wife. And the funds I have wont last for more than 2 months if I keep sitting home and do baby sitting.

My uncle who is a British natinal has advised us to put up a injury claim against the council/truck. Which we surely plan to put up in near future. He also told me that one of his known person in similar situation as us got ILR in no time!

Now my main question is: What is going to happen with our extension application?
Our visa is due to expire in Jan 2010 and I do not see any chance what so ever that my wife can work again within next 2 years and this can be backed up with doctor's reports and surgery and other accident details. My wife needs to claim 35000 in order get our visa extension.

How HO is going to treat our application?
Are they going to award 3 years extension on the basis of above compassionate grounds?
Will we have to leave the country?
Someone told me that HO will keep giving us 1 year extension on compassionate grounds until my wife get back to normal and able to work again.

But the main thing is, the accident was caused by the mistake of the council truck driver hitting from the back side. And it was not mistake of my wife.

Please give your valuable suggestions.

It is very sad news, I hope she recovers soon.
My suggestion is to take advice from a good lawyer and also to speak with some UKBA officer. If they say that she can get extension on compassionate grounds then take this in written form so that you should have at least a proof. May be senior members can guide you in a better way.

I pray that your wife gets well soon.

Sorry to hear about your circumstances. This is veryunfortunate that you find yourself in such a situation.

(1) If your wife has been working I assume she would be covered by some sort of insurance by her employer - she can continue to get her salary under some company policy for some months which will be reduced to some percentage and then to unpaid leave in the unfortunate circumstance of her not being able to attend the office for long. Check this out with her HR. This will provide you some comfort as far as your financial situation is concerned.

(2) re FLR/ILR, I have not come across any such case. Even otherwise its due in 2010. Although, its natural for you to worry in these circumstances, I think this is something you should be concerned about when you get nearer to the date. Hovernment has absolute powers as far as "public interest" or "compassionate grounds" are concerned. Have not heard about these being applied to FLR/ILR cases (leaving aside the assylum cases) but its worth hearing from others. It will also be a good idea to seek profession help

push_hsmp wrote:Sorry to hear about your circumstances. This is veryunfortunate that you find yourself in such a situation.

(1) If your wife has been working I assume she would be covered by some sort of insurance by her employer - she can continue to get her salary under some company policy for some months which will be reduced to some percentage and then to unpaid leave in the unfortunate circumstance of her not being able to attend the office for long. Check this out with her HR. This will provide you some comfort as far as your financial situation is concerned.

No, my wife was not doing any salaried employed before the accident. As mentioned earlier she gave birth to our baby in 2008. So she was not in any position to seek any employment.

She just started her self employment in Jan 2009. Got necessary registrations and business bank account done and the accident happend. And as far as I know she did not have any business insurance.

I am worried about my finances but that wont be a huge problem. I will manage it one way or the other in next few months (and I also hope that we will get a massive compensation) but main thing I am worried about at this point is the health of my wife and extension issue of our application which is not far...

Yes, if I dont get any reasonable help here then I will go to a legal consultant for sure. I was here only with the hope of getting some knowlege or a way out of this situation and avoid legal help which of course will cost me..

Could anyone please give me contact details of concerning Home Office department to write an application.

I'm sorry to hear about your wife.

Would you qualify for Tier 1 or perhaps Tier 2 in your own right? Then perhaps you could apply to switch with you being the main applicant.

Please seek legal advice ASAP

Sorry to hear about the tragedy mate. I read this on the BIA website, I think what it means is they need not enforce their power to refuse an extension for medical reasons if found valid (or if recommended) by the Medical Inspector.

I would suggest calling the help line at BIA and asking them what should be the course of action and I think given the amount of time you have they would most probably ask you to call them back at a later date. I suggest that you request a clarification irrespective of whether you have time or not so that you have time to act.

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/policy ... les/part1/

38. A returning resident should not be refused leave to enter or have existing leave to enter or remain cancelled on medical grounds. But where a person would be refused leave to enter or have existing leave to enter or remain cancelled on medical grounds if he were not a returning resident or in any case where it is decided on compassionate grounds not to exercise the power to refuse leave to enter or to cancel existing leave to enter or remain, or in any other case where the Medical Inspector so recommends, the Immigration Officer should give the person concerned a notice requiring him to report to the Medical Officer of Environmental Health designated by the Medical Inspector with a view to further examination and any necessary treatment.

Dear forum members

Below is the response I received in relation to the similar inquiry from the team leader of the HSM team of HO.. The reply is shocking..

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Mr xxxxxx

Thank you for you enquiry relating to Tier 1, it has been passed to me to reply.

I am very sorry to hear about your news. In relation to an extension of stay under Tier 1, as you quite rightly say, evidence must be provided to obtain points in all attributes - one of which is earnings. Unfortunately, whilst your circumstances are very difficult, we must apply the Tier 1 policy consistently, and as a result we would be unable to waive this requirement.

You have also asked how we consider applications where the main applicant is unable to work due to medical grounds. Again, we are unable to take this into account when assessing whether an individual meets the requirements under Tier 1.

I am sorry that this does not help your current situation in obtaining a further extension of leave. You may wish to refer to our website at www.ukba.gov.uk which provides Tier 1 policy guidance, as well as the immigration rules.

Kind regards

xxx

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Senior members please help.

I wonder how a solicitor or legal advisor can facilitate my siutation when member of policy team of HO has refused to consider these compassionate grounds.

It is just unfair and inhuman...

Please advise the necessary course of action.

Many thanks

Dear asu1z,
I'm sorry hear about your family's mishap.

Based on that letter from HO, I would seriously consider seeking advice from an Immigration Lawyer. You still have a period of time before you need to apply, but given the current circumstances, I would start approaching them for legal advice.

Is there anyway you can take over her self employment and apply for extension yourself?

nangvil wrote:Dear asu1z,


Is there anyway you can take over her self employment and apply for extension yourself?

That does not seem like a possible solution as a HSMP/Tier 1 dependent can not apply for an extensions in his or her own capacity.

nangvil wrote:Dear asu1z,
I'm sorry hear about your family's mishap.

Based on that letter from HO, I would seriously consider seeking advice from an Immigration Lawyer. You still have a period of time before you need to apply, but given the current circumstances, I would start approaching them for legal advice.

Is there anyway you can take over her self employment and apply for extension yourself?

This is workable but not legal.

I need some legtimate way out.

I am really stunned after seeing a last reply from member of HO. There is no special circumstances. Even if some one is half dead or in comma they still want you to meet 75 point criteria or leave the country. This is utterly inhuman, wrong and unjustifable... God knows what is written in our fate and what is our destiny in this time of hardship.

Hi azu1z,

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, I pray God's help for you and your family. Is it possible at all for you to switch into another category such as tier2 or even tier 1 with you being the main applicant? Are your employers aware of the situation? You should certainly pursue legal action and seek compensation from the other driver's insurance company or employer for the injuries sustained by your wife and the loss of potential earnings etc. Keep strong and I would suggest trying to hold on to your job.

OFCHARITY wrote:Hi azu1z,

I am so sorry to hear of your situation, I pray God's help for you and your family. Is it possible at all for you to switch into another category such as tier2 or even tier 1 with you being the main applicant? Are your employers aware of the situation? You should certainly pursue legal action and seek compensation from the other driver's insurance company or employer for the injuries sustained by your wife and the loss of potential earnings etc. Keep strong and I would suggest trying to hold on to your job.

No, I can not switch to a Tier1 or Tier 2 as I do not have degree.

Yes we intend to make compensation claim.

But the question here is 'How come HO have given such a rude answer'? How come is it possible for someone to work in term of long term health damage? How come there are no compassionate grounds?

Hello asu1z

You got an answer to the question about if you wife would qualify for an extension for Tier 1, she wouldn't if she doesn't score enough points. You would have to make an application based on something else such as compassionate grounds or one outside the rules.

You need advice from a solicitor or OISC representative about these sorts of applications.

Regards