British Man married to South African woman, living in the UK

[Linda Steers]

This isn't for me but for a very close friend and his family. Barry moved to South Africa about 10 yrs ago and met his wife while working there. They were married, have 2 gorgeous children and moved to the UK 2 yrs ago (it might be a bit longer). His children have British passports/nationality while Deverony still has her SA passport.

They've just received a letter telling them that Deverony's visa is out of time and they've got to scrape together £1200 for an new one or she'll be deported back to SA.

These are the details that I know. I don't want to ask them about it as yet because Barry's just come out of hospital after being treated for a serious bowel problem and they are surviving on sickness benefits.

Any advice or suggestions that I could pass on to them?

Thanks.

[geriatrix]

If one is required to pay for an immigration application then one needs to pay.

When did the wife enter UK as spouse of a British citizen? (date)
Has the wife passed LITUK test?
Does she / husband have a source of income?

[Linda Steers]

Thank you for replying, I'm most grateful but it seems that my friend has discovered a Fairy Godmother in SA and he & Deverony will be able to sleep more easily. I know it sounds frivolous but he's not saying who his benefactor is because they don't want people to know. Karma

[John]

Linda, so she had a 27-month spouse visa? And she just let it expire? Surely she realised that would have consequences.

When did her spouse visa expire? The exact date please.

[Linda Steers]

Hi John

This would have been the last visa that she needed and they were getting everything sorted out (very limited budget) when her husband was whisked into hospital for an emergency appendectomy. If he doesn't work, he doesn't get sick pay and, like most benefits, it's only comes after a lot of paperwork, time, etc, not helped by the fact that he was on a 24hr emergency watch when he proved to be allergic to morphine. As you can imagine, the visa was the last thing on either of their minds.

Thank you very much for letting me use the board to try to help them; I think that all of their friends felt pretty useless as most of us seem to be unemployed, on low wages or with huge debts already and it felt good to find a place where I could find reliable information.

Linda

[Casa]

You still haven't answered John's question which is crucial to the situation.
What date did your friend's visa expire exactly?