new age limits for sponsors / spouses

[kingspal]

can someone please advise me on the following: I got married in 2008. i was 18 and my husband was 20. we applied for a settlemet visa in delhi a few days before the age limit was raised to 21 for BOTH the sponser and spouse to be 21. we were refused a visa because my husband was not 21.
now i want to apply again nearly a year later and have been told that now I AM NOT 21.
This was not an arranged marriage and certainly not forced. where do i stand?
i have been apart from him for months on end and its tough to keep going out to India every couple of months.[/b]

[ciaramc]

Sorry but you have to wait until you are both 21 that is the new Law.....

[kingspal]

Sorry but you have to wait until you are both 21 that is the new Law.....

thanks for your reply

but surely they should consider my previous application history? and would it be worthwhile applying any way and if rejected appeal on grounds that we applied before the law changed?
many thanks

[batleykhan]

What was the reason for the refusal on the refusal notice. Surely if you handed in your application before the new age limit came into force, they can not reject your application.

I think what has happened is that although you handed in your appliaction before the new age limit came into force, the ECO probally has not looked at for a few weeks, and when he has looked at it,he wrongly decided that one or both of you were not over 21 and refused it.

I think this is the wrong decison. You could have appealed against this decision shortly after you were refused.

However as you did not excercise that right at the time of the refusal, I am afraid you have no choice but to wait till both of you are over 21 now before you can reapply.

[kingspal]

many thanks for the reply

basicly there was only one reason for refusal. The applicant was not 21 at the time of marrage but they were fully satisfied of eveything else.

They did state on the refusal that if we had a previous application and immigration history they may have considered.
we got married and applied 2 months before the NEW rule came out that we BOTH have to be 21.

On the refusal they did not point that the sponser has to be 21 only the applicant. To be honest i really think this is a breech of my human rights if they refuse i will not hesitate to take this further. I mean i know the law changes every 6 months but by the time that im 21 there will be 4 more laws to abide by.
im going to see a solicitor on monday hopefully he can point me in the right direction

[batleykhan]

Like I have already stated, I think they made a mistake and should not have refused you on the grounds that one or both of you were under 21 at the time of the application,because the law relating to the minimum age didnt come into force untill 27/11/08.

You had a right of appeal against this refusal, but it had to be lodged within 28 days of refusal. Beacuse you didnt follow it up then, I am afraid its to late to do anything about it now, other than bite your teeth and wait till both of you are over 21.

Try a solicitor if you wish,but you could be banging your head against a brick wall.