Hi, everyone! I would really appreciate an opinion.
Here's my application timeline:
Applied: 28-01-2014
Received Ack. Letter: 05-02-2014
Biometrics booking letter and request to take a new English exam arrived: 19-03-2014
Biometrics Appointment: 03-04-2014
New English Test sent: 28-04-2014
Visa Type: FLR(M) for spouse
Some background:
I entered the UK as a fiancée about 3 years ago. After getting married I applied for a FLR (M) 2 year residence card. There was no problem. I submitted the application at PEO center in Liverpool and got an approval the same day. After a year living in the UK I had to do a course to renew my medical license back home (I needed a valid license to be able to apply in the UK) and for that I had to leave the UK. There was no way I could get out of it, so I decided to go back home. My wife was in her last year at Uni and couldn't follow me to Kazakhstan. I planned to complete the course in 6-7 months but instead it took me just over 10 months to complete the whole thing. I did visit my spouse over Christmas and stayed for a few weeks in the UK during that time. When I came back I applied for an FLR(M) residence card extension. I decided that that's the best way to go since at the time I hadn't completed the 2 year period necessary for ILR nor taken the Life in the UK test. A month and a half after submitting the application I received a letter stating that my application was put on hold due to the fact that my English exam results (TOEFL) could not be verified and I had an option of either to wait indefinitely until the end of the investigation or take another exam.
Just a quick background on the exam issue. What happened is that about a week after submitting my application, BBC made a documentary exposing fraud at an ETS English test centre. Here's a link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26024375 ETS is the organization that administers TOEFL (the test I took when I first applied). As a result, next day after the documentary was released, the Home Office decided to start an investigation.
The earliest I could book the new test (this time it was IELTS) was about 3 weeks, then after sitting the test I had to wait for 2 and a half weeks for the results before I could send them off to the Home Office.
Now it's been over 7 weeks since I sent my results (I got 8.5 on IELTS - just as high as my TOEFL results) and I'm still waiting. During this time ETS decided not to renew their license with Home Office (and since April it's no longer accepted) and Daily Mail uncovered another fraud. This time it was Cambridge ESOL English test. I'm hoping nothing similar will happen to IELTS now ))
The problem is that I now need my passport to register for my licensing exams. Actually, I was planning on taking them in the spring. I requested return of documents and received a letter stating that my passport couldn’t be returned until they reach a decision on my application.
This is incredibly frustrating. Has anyone had a similar problem? Does anybody know where I could get help to find out about the stage my application is at? Or an approximate date I might get the documents back. Could I apply to have my application reviewed at a PEO for an extra fee?
