Issues with online application for extension to FLR(m) visa UK

[Suelen]

Hello,

I need some advice. My wife and I have applied for her spouse visa extension online.

Foolishly I did not do as much research as I did for the original fiancée visa application. I have made a couple of chicken ups and I'm not sure the best course of action.

1) her visa expires on Feb 18th 2020 so it seems we have applied too early. A friend of ours advised us to apply as soon as possible which panicked us but now I am reading that it may cause difficulties for her ILR app if she has not completed the full 5 years.

Is there a way to postpone the online application?

Will it matter if she has only completed 2 years 2 months by the time of our appointment next week?

When is the renewal visa date from? From the date of submission of online application or the date of them granting the extension?

2) I got confused when completing the IHS reference number on the online form. Thinking that I was actually paying for the IHS instead of the application itself I inputted her previous IHS number. Now her online application has her old IHS reference number.

The online application says that you cannot amend anything. So what is my best course of action here?

Can I apply for a new IHS reference number and submit it as part of the supporting documentation in the premium service appointment this Saturday? Explaining my mistake and proving that we have paid for her IHS?

Many thanks in advance for your help with this! I am going a little crazy haha

[seagul]

Is there a way to postpone the online application?

No. But you may loose the application fee.
https://www.gov.uk/cancel-visa

[geoeng]

1) her visa expires on Feb 18th 2020 so it seems we have applied too early. A friend of ours advised us to apply as soon as possible which panicked us but now I am reading that it may cause difficulties for her ILR app if she has not completed the full 5 years.

Is there a way to postpone the online application?

Will it matter if she has only completed 2 years 2 months by the time of our appointment next week?

When is the renewal visa date from? From the date of submission of online application or the date of them granting the extension?

The extension should be valid from the date of approval. They should also add 28 days of your existing leave to remain. Since it usually takes about 8 weeks to process the application from the application date, you should end up with leave to remain roughly 33 months beyond the application date. I suspect this would still leave you short of the 60 months required for ILR so you will probably have to apply for another extension to the spouse visa before you can apply for ILR. An expensive mistake but the application fee is not refundable for applications within the UK anyway. Might be worth withdrawing the application and re-applying closer to the expiry date in order to avoid paying an additional IHS fee though (if you cancel your application now, you should only lose the application fee as I believe the IHS fee could be refunded, if you have to apply for another extension you would have to pay for the application fee and the IHS fee when you only need a few additional months of residence to meet the ILR requirements).

2) I got confused when completing the IHS reference number on the online form. Thinking that I was actually paying for the IHS instead of the application itself I inputted her previous IHS number. Now her online application has her old IHS reference number.

The online application says that you cannot amend anything. So what is my best course of action here?

Can I apply for a new IHS reference number and submit it as part of the supporting documentation in the premium service appointment this Saturday? Explaining my mistake and proving that we have paid for her IHS?

They should ask you to pay the IHS fee prior to granting a visa I believe. You could try calling/emailing them to confirm though. I'm not sure you can get back to the point in the application form to pay for a new IHS reference number. See my comments above regarding possibly withdrawing the application though. Might be worth some professional advice on this one.

[Suelen]

Thanks for that.

Seems like cancelling the application and reapplying is looking the best option. Is there any way we can get the £1,052 back seeing as we haven't supplied any of the supporting documents yet?

[AmazonianX]

Thanks for that.

Seems like cancelling the application and reapplying is looking the best option. Is there any way we can get the £1,052 back seeing as we haven't supplied any of the supporting documents yet?

From the HO website and which link was posted by seagul it states "You won’t get your fee refunded if you cancel an application that you made in the UK".
Maybe you contact HO and see if there is a way you can get it back.

[geoeng]

Is there any way we can get the £1,052 back seeing as we haven't supplied any of the supporting documents yet?

You are considered to have applied once you submit the application form and not the supporting documents. If you would require a second extension to reach 60 months residency for ILR, it's a fee you were going to have to pay anyway but you wouldn't have had to pay the IHS fee for 2 applications which is a £1,000 savings (more if they increase it again in the future). No good way to go about it really, which is why it may be worth some professional advice and/or serious consideration.

Also re. the IHS fee, looks like you could pay it and then perhaps include the correct reference number in a cover letter or contact UKVI to see if they can change it: https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... cation/pay

[seagul]

Is there a way to postpone the online application?

No. But you may loose the application fee.
https://www.gov.uk/cancel-visa

Thanks for that.

Seems like cancelling the application and reapplying is looking the best option. Is there any way we can get the £1,052 back seeing as we haven't supplied any of the supporting documents yet?

Not for applications from inside the UK I m afraid.

[Suelen]

Wow that seems unbelievably harsh.

Surely if I haven't even submitted any paperwork I can get a refund!?

[geoeng]

Surely if I haven't even submitted any paperwork I can get a refund!?

You could ask but I wouldn't expect to get one as you have already submitted the application. You seem to expect a different answer every time you ask this question and I don't think you are going to get the answer you want to hear.

The other thing you could try is postpone getting the biometric appointment as long as possible; I think they give you a couple months or so to do it before they consider the application withdrawn. With the application processing time and 28 days of remaining leave added to the visa, this may just get you to the 30 month mark to stay on track for ILR after this extension. Obviously can't guarantee that as nobody can really guess with certainty how long they will take processing the application.

[seagul]

Safer will be to withdraw asap otherwise UKVI might not switch you into flrfp route due to have applied earlier than allowed which will reset your ILR clock to zero.