Overstayed Visa

Hi,

my wifes spouse visa expired 4 yers ago.
I want to know what to do now...we could not renew it because we thought we had lost the passport and couldnt find it anywhere, until we were moving all the furniture recently we found it in the corner of the room behind the metal filing cabinet.

I understand she now needs to return to her country and apply from there.

What is the process or do we just book the tickets and goto the airport, if so, will we get stopped and detained by immigration control ?

Dear ididntknow

A lot of things can happen, depending upon the discretion of the officer and also luck! Your wife may just be banned from returning to UK for one year if she is returning at her own expense. I don`t think the immigration officer will buy your explanation that you couldn`t renew commission because the passport was lost. He will wonder why your wife didn`t apply for a new passport from her country`s High Commission in UK and then get it stamped by the Ho etc.

However, all is not lost. I think you need expert advice and help from an immigration solicitor as well. If it was say one or two months extra, it would probably be easier to grant her benefit of the doubt, but a whole 4 years! She better anticipate the questions to be asked and provide nice answers to them. I want the more experienced gurus, moderators etc to proffer some advice too. Goodluck.

Firstly, rest assured that as she is applying as spouse she won't be subject to a ban. She can book her return flight, return to her home country and re-apply. There's no reason she should have a problem on exit. They may stamp her passport...but that's it.

I agree with Casa on this. You should have no problem getting out of the country and getting back in if you follow the correct procedures by applying for spouse visa

Its good to hear nothing will happen during exit.

but i just want to be prepared for the unexpected....

In case its not my lucky day and theres a stern immigration official where they check the passport...am i still looking at her being detained and interrogated for a few hours and then end up missing the flight and being locked up in some cell and the keys thrown away?

or should i hire a solicitor to come with me to the airport ?

I personally think you are worrying to much about something and nothing.

If your wife is questioned by an I.O just explain the circumstances of what has happened, but I dont know of anyone as yet that it has happened to so far.

batleykhan wrote:I personally think you are worrying to much about something and nothing.

If your wife is questioned by an I.O just explain the circumstances of what has happened, but I dont know of anyone as yet that it has happened to so far.

I totally agree!

I've never known anyone to hire a solictor to leave the country. They certainly won't detain people for paying for their own ticket and leaving. Breathe OP.

I believe your wife can still apply for ILR in the UK in light of some recent judgement that I read about recently.

The tribunal held that Immigration Rule 287, the one under which spouses apply for settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) does not require the possession of current leave to remain at the time of application.

The panel of immigration judges ruled that the word ‘has completed’ mean ‘had just completed and reached the end of’. They held that this was wrong and that there is no need for the two year period to have just concluded. It could be historic, as long as it is the required type of leave, i.e. as a spouse. This allowed the appellant, who had allowed his leave to expire and had become an overstayer, to regularise his position and gain ILR.

It could be an alternative which could ease all your worries.

so, how likely are we to succeed under immigration rule 287 considering it has been 4 years since the spouse visa expired...?

i was thinking if it is it possible to extend the visa while she is in the UK anyway and if not what about paragraph 320(7b)...can she stay here under this condition ? but again it brings up the question of likely it will be a success.

Would we have to battle a court case for these or make our reason for overstaying very good. So, far we dont have a good reason apart from what i said in my first post unless someone else has another reason/idea.

She does have a slight medical condition i dont know if it will be accepted.