Spouse visa - Admit to previous breach in application

Hello, I am a British citizen and my partner is a US citizen. We met two years and three months ago in the UK - she was in the country on a spouses' visa, however this relationship had broken down the year before and they had not been living together for some time.

We lived together for nine months until June 2019. A couple of months before her visa expired in August 2019, she notified the Home Office that her previous relationship had broken down and received a reply confirming that she would be allowed to remain in the UK until the end of her visa. She subsequently got divorced and this has been completed.

She is now back in the US and we are due to be married there in two weeks time and plan to apply for a spouse visa for her to return to the UK. I have had a sudden panic that her not immediately informing that Home Office that her prior relationship had broken will be seen as a breach of her visa conditions and could preclude her being granted a new visa.

To summarise, her relationship broke down November '16. We met in August '17 and lived together between September '18 - June '19. She notified the Home Office that her relationship had ended in June '19, finalised her divorce and left the UK.

Could someone please confirm whether this sequence of events will be an issue from the Home Office perspective or whether I am worrying about nothing...

Many thanks

Will say it is normal you feel anxious about this. Though i can not categorically state if this will be a problem but i doubt if it will be.
She didnt inform them immediately, this could be because she believe the marriage as not broken down irretrievably and can still be salvaged. What she told HO when reporting is important as i presumed it influenced HO response. If it were to be a problem, her visa would be curtailed immediately and she would be told to leave the country but according to you, she was told to see out the duration of her visa.
Address this in the cover letter of the application you will be submitting.

Urchin wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:06 am

To summarise, her relationship broke down November '16. We met in August '17 and lived together between September '18 - June '19. She notified the Home Office that her relationship had ended in June '19, finalised her divorce and left the UK.

It can be problematic where if these events are asked on the application forms there you have to answer honestly.

Tell the Home Office
You must tell the Home Office when you divorce or separate from your partner if your visa is based on your relationship.

You must then either apply for a new visa or leave the UK.

Your visa is based on your relationship if you have permission to stay in the UK for a limited time as:

a dependant on your partner’s UK visa
a spouse or partner on a ‘family of a settled person’ visa
the partner of a British citizen, EEA national, ‘settled’ person with indefinite leave to remain, or someone with refugee status or humanitarian protection

https://www.gov.uk/visas-when-you-separate-or-divorce

Thank you for the replies. My concern is that the HO may see the fact we were living together when she was on another spouse visa as a clear indication that the marriage had broken down irreconcilably and that she should have notified them of the fact then. I hadn’t really considered this before as was concentrating on the other visa requirements, but i am now really worried about it.

Hi Urchin,

I feel your worry which prompted me to respond. I have no immigration qualifications but think you are worried without needing to be.

As immigration is law, consider more whether she would be able to fulfil the legal requirements for her visa with you. Although it may be advised to alert the Home Office of a relationship breakdown, does not informing them constitute breaching a visa? I don’t think it would be this serious as she wasn’t told to leave with immediate effect.

However, when she informed them her relationship had broken down, was she required to give a date of when that had happened? Issues with this could jeopardise relationship evidence you may be relying on, so I think it is better to focus on fulfilling the requirements which is your legal case for a visa.

Hopefully that helps you see that worry isn’t necessary when you look at it as being as black and white as possible.

Happy New Year

Xianon

Hello, we are working through the spouse visa application process and would like some guidance on whether my wife has breached UK immigration law in the past, and whether this should be fully disclosed in the application.

She was previously in the UK for five years on a spouse visa with her ex husband. They separated in November 2016 but did not divorce until June 2019. We have been together since September 2018 and married a few weeks ago. She notified the Home Office of her previous relationship ending in February 2019.

I understand that a condition of the spouse visa is that you notify the Home Office if your relationship breaks down. As she did not do this for 26 months after her relationship ended, i assume she has technically breached her visa, even though the divorce was not completed until later that year.

In the application it asks have you ever breached UK immigration law. Should we be answering yes or no to this? We were planning on explaining her previous visa situation in the covering letter, but answering ‘yes’ feels like a big declaration and very risky. However, we do want to be honest and transparent. Any advice gratefully received.


Thanks

Did your wife submit a FLR(M) spouse extension application while separated from her first husband?

No, she just notified them that they were not in a relationship anymore. The HO replied and said she could stay until the end of her visa, which only had a few months to run.

Urchin wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:04 pm

No, she just notified them that they were not in a relationship anymore. The HO replied and said she could stay until the end of her visa, which only had a few months to run.

This is very difficult dilemma where you both ways can be caught into trouble.

Indeed...

She was under the impression that you only had to notify once the divorce was finalised, as opposed to the relationship ending. I am inclined to be clear and transparent about it and explain this, as there is no way the case officer won’t pick up of the dates. However, whether that will be an automatic decline, i’m not sure.