Pls help: A Kiwi in a jam...
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:45 pm
Hi,
I wanted to ask if anyone can help me.
I have been married to my British wife since 16th Nov 2013. A few days after we got married I went to the home office and applied for my spouse visa for 2.5 years. A month before it was due to expire I applied for an extension, not knowing that it would be taken from the date of the application (mistake #1). This meant that my second spouse visa expired on the 1st October. At the time I didn't take much notice of it but now I'm in all sorts of bother.
Mistake #2 - last week I was misguided on information and thought that I could apply for naturalisation before my spouse visa expired. I was not aware I had to get ILR and by that time I had already paid the £1,330 fee and studied and passed the life test.
I went back to apply for ILR but my spouse visa was around 2 weeks short of the '28 day grace period' to get to the 5 years. As a result and in fear of losing my job etc I had to apply for another 2.5 year spouse visa extension just so I could get over the 28 day threshold. I am awaiting a response but don't expect any issues
As you can see, I'm effectively loosing roughly £2,400 due to this. Once I get my spouse visa I can then apply for ILR once I'm over the line for the 5 years....the best outcome would be to have the home office pro-rata my spouse visa fee, and hold my naturalisation fee until i have the ILR.
Does anyone think is achievable or can advise who I can talk to to discuss this? I've tried calling the Home Office but don't seem to get anywhere on the phone.
Please help!
Thank you,
Tim the Kiwi
I wanted to ask if anyone can help me.
I have been married to my British wife since 16th Nov 2013. A few days after we got married I went to the home office and applied for my spouse visa for 2.5 years. A month before it was due to expire I applied for an extension, not knowing that it would be taken from the date of the application (mistake #1). This meant that my second spouse visa expired on the 1st October. At the time I didn't take much notice of it but now I'm in all sorts of bother.
Mistake #2 - last week I was misguided on information and thought that I could apply for naturalisation before my spouse visa expired. I was not aware I had to get ILR and by that time I had already paid the £1,330 fee and studied and passed the life test.
I went back to apply for ILR but my spouse visa was around 2 weeks short of the '28 day grace period' to get to the 5 years. As a result and in fear of losing my job etc I had to apply for another 2.5 year spouse visa extension just so I could get over the 28 day threshold. I am awaiting a response but don't expect any issues
As you can see, I'm effectively loosing roughly £2,400 due to this. Once I get my spouse visa I can then apply for ILR once I'm over the line for the 5 years....the best outcome would be to have the home office pro-rata my spouse visa fee, and hold my naturalisation fee until i have the ILR.
Does anyone think is achievable or can advise who I can talk to to discuss this? I've tried calling the Home Office but don't seem to get anywhere on the phone.
Please help!
Thank you,
Tim the Kiwi