To report breakdown of marriage or not?

[LonelyHighway]

Hi,

I'm a UK citizen and just over a year ago my wife (who is from a non-eu country) moved here to be with me on a spouse visa. Unfortunately a few months ago she indicated she didn't love me anymore and was leaving me. She only wanted to be friends and would be returning to her home country.

She did then go home for a short while. I was surprised when she decided to come back to the UK but she has now acquired her own accomodation and has started back at her job.

Over these last few months I have tried to change her mind/win her back and that is why I didn't inform the home office that our relationship had ended. It seemed like there was still a chance for us so I didn't want to make that definitive move.

Now that I know for certain it is over between us, she is aware that she should be informing the home office about our separation but she seems to have no intention of doing so. I believe she wants to live and work here for longer and decide herself when to leave (some point before her current visa expires in 2023). As such, she has asked me not to contact the home office either.

The consequences for her if the home office somehow find out about the separation are obvious ie deportation...

Like I said she wants me not to contact them. I am not too interested in contacting them. I have no desire to hurt her. I am also quite sure if I do contact them, she will take it badly and make the whole divorce process more difficult. I am just worried that this may all end up coming back on me negatively somehow? Would I be doing something wrong by not informing the home office? Would I be at risk of getting into legal trouble?

Many thanks and I am sorry for the length of this post.

Dave

[secret.simon]

Keep in mind that you can't sponsor another non-British spouse while one sponsored spouse is living in the UK on the spousal visa.

Also, when the spousal visa comes to an end in a few months time, she will need proof of co-habitation with you for the period of the preceding visa. If you were to falsify that, you could end up with issues of deception that may impact future sponsored spousal visas and other potential legal issues.

So, even if you do not notify the Home Office of the breakup fo the marriage, you should advise your ex that she will need to come to formulate alternate pathways to reside in the UK before her existing visas run out. It is quite likely that her current employer could ask her to prove her right to reside in the UK again when her spousal visa with you has expired (due to lack of co-habitation).

Even if you are willing to help her out, she will need to start planning now on what to do when her spousal visa expires.

[LonelyHighway]

Keep in mind that you can't sponsor another non-British spouse while one sponsored spouse is living in the UK on the spousal visa.

Also, when the spousal visa comes to an end in a few months time, she will need proof of co-habitation with you for the period of the preceding visa. If you were to falsify that, you could end up with issues of deception that may impact future sponsored spousal visas and other potential legal issues.

So, even if you do not notify the Home Office of the breakup fo the marriage, you should advise your ex that she will need to come to formulate alternate pathways to reside in the UK before her existing visas run out. It is quite likely that her current employer could ask her to prove her right to reside in the UK again when her spousal visa with you has expired (due to lack of co-habitation).

Even if you are willing to help her out, she will need to start planning now on what to do when her spousal visa expires.

Thanks for your reply, Simon. I can't see myself putting myself through the nightmare of a visa application again but you never know...

Her current visa doesn't expire until 2023 and she is well aware that she won't be able to extend the visa at that point. She understands that A - I won't be signing anything and B - we will not have proof of cohabitation. I recently removed her name from all bills at my home and we closed our joint bank account too.

She seems to understand this will all end for her in 2023 and she just wants to keep living here and working here until then. Unless she decides to move back home sooner than 2023.

I'm inclined to be okay with it as I hold no grudge against her. I just don't want to land myself in any hot water.

[secret.simon]

To the best of my knowledge, you should not have any issues if you do not inform the Home Office of the breakdown of your marriage, provided you do not extend the visa with false documentation, but wait for others to advise. There are perfectly legitimate reasons not to do so, such as working to save the marriage.

Another approach you can take/consider is that you will not notify the Home Office while she is in the UK, but you could notify then when she is outside the UK. Everytime she enters the UK, she will likely be asked questions about her right to live in the UK (there is a cursory immigration check) and you would not want to be involved if she lies at that point. Of course, make her aware if you plan to take this approach.

[LonelyHighway]

I think you are right about there being perfectly legitimate reasons. I may sound like a fool but I do still love her and would like there to be a chance to save the marriage or even just to try being friends. With my thinking hat on I realise it is over but the heart tends to rule the head and that makes the idea of reporting it pretty tough. I had a look at the document the home office ask you to sign and you have to sign a statement saying that you have split and you don't intend to live together as spouses in the future. My thoughts on seeing that were who knows what the future holds...

I would absolutely not get involved with false documents or anything like that. And as much as I can't see inside her head, I don't think she would do anything of the sort either. Thanks for your last idea. I will keep that in mind.

[higgs1818]

I understand that they ideally would like you to inform them, only if the relationship has "permanently ended". If she applies for any other visa in the future to come into the UK, she'd have to actually prove that it had permanently ended too, either with divorce or steps towards it. Otherwise they'd probably prefer her to come back in on a partner based visa.