unmarried partner visa advice

[betty]

Hi
I'm awaiting decision on an unmarried partners visa application i submitted back in Nov last year. My partner and i meet all the requirements except that i am classed as an overstayer as before submitting the application i was awaiting decision on a previous one (which lasted 18months!) my previous application (made under EEA law) was declined and no right of appeal given so i was automatically an overstayer. I was considering going back to my country to apply for unmarried partners visa from there but have a lot of doubt, i think they'll denied it due to me overstaying, and i don't want to be separated from my partner which makes this agonising. I have all the documentation and we won't need to resort to public funds, have proper accommodation and my partner is in full time permanent employment. I either wait (God knows till when, i was told it would take a very lonnngggg time) for them to decide on my application as it is, or withdrew it and apply from my country. Could i please have some pointers as to which of the options is more viable for me to resolve my situation favourably? I have been in the UK for 10 and half years, colombian national. My partner is british born and has lived here all his life.
Thanks

[Wanderer]

Hi
I'm awaiting decision on an unmarried partners visa application i submitted back in Nov last year. My partner and i meet all the requirements except that i am classed as an overstayer as before submitting the application i was awaiting decision on a previous one (which lasted 18months!) my previous application (made under EEA law) was declined and no right of appeal given so i was automatically an overstayer. I was considering going back to my country to apply for unmarried partners visa from there but have a lot of doubt, i think they'll denied it due to me overstaying, and i don't want to be separated from my partner which makes this agonising. I have all the documentation and we won't need to resort to public funds, have proper accommodation and my partner is in full time permanent employment. I either wait (God knows till when, i was told it would take a very lonnngggg time) for them to decide on my application as it is, or withdrew it and apply from my country. Could i please have some pointers as to which of the options is more viable for me to resolve my situation favourably? I have been in the UK for 10 and half years, colombian national. My partner is british born and has lived here all his life.
Thanks

You will be denied. You cannot change ur status in UK while u r illegal except in extreme circumstances, which urs aren't.

Two choices for me - go home and apply or hang on for three and a half years and apply under 14 years illegal stay rule, assuming the HO haven't scrapped it by then.

I'd recommend going home - u wont be denied despite being an overstayer if your case is strong and it's sounds as if it is.

If you hang on you run the risk of the rule being withdrawn in these anti-illegal immigrant times and indeed - I still think it will take a while after that to get your application considered under that category.

[betty]

Thanks a lot for your reply. i have read of cases where couples have to spend months apart waiting for a decision and sometimes even get a refusal. No having family or friends in my country (after a decade's absence) to draw support from, waiting for months away from my partner is something i find really daunting. We'd go back together but is not possbile for him to take months off work, as i have also been told once you are an over stayer they refer your application to their offices in croydon? Does this mean i am in for a lonngggg wait regardless?

[londonese]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this will help, but what happened to my girlfriend and I, is in some ways similar to your case.

At one point during my girlfriend's stay in the UK, she had overstayed for a few days because we were waiting for a reply from the home office. The appeal to change the status of the visa failed, so she left approximately 10 days after her visitor's visa had expired, the overstay had apparently been noted. Once she returned to Mexico, she applied for a student visa, for which she was granted, and we have since lived together for 2 years both in the UK and in Mexico (I've been living in Mexico with her since October 2006).

Today, we headed down to the consulate in Mexico City, with all the documents to hand and without appointment (they don't give appointments), and got the unmarried partner visa within the hour! The decision is apparently made there and then by the staff at the embassy, the issue of overstay was acknowledged, but because of her subsequent successful application for a student visa, I'm guessing that they had chose to overlook that. I didn't have to be in Mexico either, I wasn't allowed to enter into the consulate building and the staff didn't realise that I was outside, so I guess if you do have all the papers in place, your partner doesn't really have to be there.

We were told on the phone (before heading down to the consulate) that they have no real guidelines to follow, or a proper list of required documentation. As long as you can convince that you had been living together for 2 years, and that your partner can fully support you (and himself!) that they see no reason to deny the visa.

But it did bloody cost £500, most expensive little bit of sticker I've ever seen. We shall treasure it!

Hope that this helps. It’s probably a good idea to call directly to the embassy in Colombia and ask about the process down there. If it's anything like Mexico's embassy, you'll get it almost there and then.

Goodluck