Urgent assistance needed .............

[Nel]

Hello,

Firstly, I would like to apologise for being long winded in explaining my current situation. Also, I would like to thank you in advance for your kind understanding and assistance.

I am a Singapore citizen and I arrived in the UK on the 3rd of August 2002 via the channel tunnel from France. I was allowed to enter the country without any problem. I stayed with a friend in London and in November 2002 I met my now husband who is a British citizen. He lived in the Midlands and would come to London to visit me whenever he got the chance to. We would interact with each other via e-mail and phone. You could say love at first sight...

In February 2003 he was in a coma for three days due to meningitis ( I was petrified that I might lose him) and when he came out of it he asked me to move in with him and his family in the Midlands. Anyway, I moved in and he proposed to me on the 3rd of March 2003 and we had a civil marriage ceremony on the 12th of June 2004. He is still recovering from the side effect of the meningitis till now.

Since we have been married for a year and we are planning to have a family of our own, also I have been living here for almost three years now, we talked about me applying for citizenship. When I went to the website, I had the worst shock of my life when it stated that I need a proper visa for the time I was here before applying for citizenship. When I arrived here in the UK, it was my first visit, I wasn't aware of the immigration rules/ visa rules hence I did not apply for any kind of visa beforehand. As I have said earlier, I was allowed to enter the country without any problem. He just asked me how much money do I have with me and what was my purpose of being in the UK (told him I was visiting). Also, the stamp on my passport wasn't clear, it didn't say how long was I allowed to stay hence I naively assume that there weren't any time limit for me to stay here, until now.

We are at lost and don't know what to do next. We don't even know if our marriage is valid in the eyes of the immigration department due to me not having a proper visa. We were married by our local registrar and we have the legal civil marriage certificate. All this time, as far as we are concern, we are legally married and we haven't broken any law coz we weren't aware of the immigration rules. Even when we register / gave notice to our local registrar office of our intention to be married, we weren't told of any immigration rules ( I gave them my Singapore passport and other documents to process the application).

We are really worried that we might be in great trouble with the law due to this and that I might be ask to leave the country and not allowed back in. My husband is not fit to travel at the moment as he is still recovering from the side effect of meningitis.

Any assistance and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Blessed be,
Nel

[John]

Nel, the first thing I say is ... don't panic. It really is possible to get this all sorted out, although not without some cost.

OK, it sounds like you were given permission to enter the UK as a tourist, but such permission would probably have been limited to six months. The unclear stamp in your passport does not help.

Anyway, it sounds like you are now an overstayer and clearly you need to put that right. Since 1st April 2003 it has not been possible to convert a visitor's visa into a spouse visa in the UK. You will need to go back to Singapore and apply for your spouse visa there. The fee for making that application will be £260, or rather the equivalent of that amount payable in local currency.

Assuming the application is successful, and why not, you will be issued with a two-year spouse visa, and near the end of that two years you will be able to apply for ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain). Three years after you get back you will be able to apply for Naturalisation as British.

Will the spouse visa application be granted in Singapore? There are some tests to pass .... financial ... can it be proved that you will not need to claim certain UK Public Funds? ... accommodation .. is the accommodation suitable, and certainly not overcrowded? ..... evidence of contact .... the marriage certificate and evidence that the two of you have lived together should easily pass that test.

You say :-

We don't even know if our marriage is valid in the eyes of the immigration department

Well the marriage is certainly valid! The marriage certificate will of course need to be part of the evidence produced when you make your application in Singapore.

Before you ask ... can all this be sorted out in the UK? Regretfully not ... there is scope for the rules to be bent but only in exceptional circumstances, none of which seem to apply here. That is, Singapore is not a dangerous place, and presumably you have no exceptional health reasons preventing you from travelling. Your husband's health? He does not need to be there when you make your application.

In short, "bite the bullet" ... go for it .... travel to Singapore with all the evidence you need to get your spouse visa .... make the application (using form VAF2) .. return to the UK .... and get on with your life. Hope it all works out.

Lots of information for you on the BHC Singapore website. For example, the application fee for a spouse visa is currently S$832, and the turnaround is just 2 to 4 days. Lots more by clicking here.

[Kayalami]

I am a Singapore citizen and I arrived in the UK on the 3rd of August 2002 via the channel tunnel from France.

How have you maintained and accomodated yourself in the UK since your arrival almost 3 years ago?

[antontony]

If you have been living togther for 2 or more years, even if you have done that in violation of the rules you can benefit from the IND policy DP3/96, yet it may take years to be approved.

The best way is to go back, reapply as a spouse etc...but you will have to wait 3 years before you will be entitled to citizenship.

Yours,

Anton

[Kayalami]

My understanding is that DP3/96 applies only to the length of the marriage (in this case 1 year) as opposed to length of relationship to counteract the 'flood' of applications the HO would have to deal with in the case of the latter being the consideration.

[Nel]

Hello,

First I would like to that you all for the kind advice and assistance.

How have you maintained and accomodated yourself in the UK since your arrival almost 3 years ago?

The answer is yes, I lived in London from the time I arrived in August 2002 till February 2003, then I moved in with my husband and his family in the Midlands for five months before renting a house in July 2003. We have been living here together eversince. I haven't been out of the country eversince I arrived, not even back to Singapore.

We are worried that my application will be denied because I have overstayed (Unintentionally) and obviously certain law has been broken (Unintentionally), even if I apply in Singapore.

Another thing that are troubling us is me going back to Singapore. We are worried that the immigration officer at the airport here in the UK will stop me from boarding the plane when they find out that I have overstayed. I have heard stories of overstayers who was stopped at the airport on their way back to their country and was charged for overstaying. They weren't allowed to enter UK for a period of time.

1 .Do I just go to the airport as normal or will it help if I go to the Singapore High Commission for assistance?

2 .Will there be a stamp on my passport stating that I have overstayed in the UK? If so, will it effect my application in Singapore?

3 .If due to the reason that I have overstayed here in the UK will the turnaround for my application in Singapore will be longer than 2 - 4 days maybe months or years or even be rejected?

4 . When will be my deadline to leave UK?

I am terribly sorry for asking too many questions and worrying extensively. It's hard to swallow the fact that we will be seperated from each other. Eversince we got engaged and now married, we are always an arm length to each other. During the weekdays, we are apart for no more than 9hrs a day, the evenings and weekends were always spend together.

I almost lost him due to meningitis in 2003 and we were told that there are possiblities that he might get it again anytime in future. It terrifies me when I think about it happening while I am in Singapore and not here with him.

It is really painful to watch your own life falls apart piece by piece due to an unintentional mistake and can do nothing about it but just wait. Especially when it is dragging the most important person in your life with you.

I guess what happen next is to wait and see if there are enough or even any compassion left in this world for us. But in our case, does compassion applies?

Blessed be,
Nel

[John]

Hi Nel, using your numbering :-

1. Just go to the airport. There are no embarkation immigration checks on leaving the UK. All the people at the airport will be checking is to see that the name on the ticket/boarding card are the same as on the passport.
2. See no. 1 above ..... therefore no stamp in the passport.
3. Just fill in the VAF2 application form truthfully. There are a number of instances of members of this board not being delayed in your circumstances. Just prove that the tests, mentioned by me previously, have been passed and the application should be granted without delay.
4. Six months after you first arrived, so February 2003! Since then you have been an overstayer and liable to be removed from the UK.

Clearly you need to rectify this situation as soon as possible. What you need to start doing now is building your "evidence folder" to take to Singapore, because one thing is certain, if you apply and fail to prove that the tests have been met then the application is liable to be rejected.