After going through 9 months of hell with the UKBA I have managed to get an extension of my Tier 1 visa and would like to share some of my experiences and learning!
I was on a maternity break (not leave, this was actual break in employment) until March 2013. I joined my new workplace in April 2013 and since my Tier 1 ( main applicant) was till June 2013 I went for extension application (postal) on 28th April 2013. My husband and daughter were dependents. We included all details and papers such as my past employment as well as new job details but made one error on the form (about past earnings). As a result the application got rejected in June 2013. I failed to get points for maintenance funds ( as the bank statements covered 89 days period instead of 90! )
We filed for appeal against the decision and got hearing at First Tier Tribunal towards the end of Oct 2013. The hearing was at Birmingham and was a very unpleasant experience. The case presenter from UKBA was quite rude and at times unprofessional. The whole hearing lasted 2 hours, which was not expected ( at least by my solicitor). So my advice here is to be strong, firm yet polite and go prepared for hearings. A lot depends on the judge apparently!
The decision was made on 28th Nov 2013 - saying that we were granted points for maintenance since UKBA should have asked for additional bank statements, knowing that the 89 day period was not our fault, it was bank generated statement and a genuine error. UKBA could have clarified if they wanted to. However we failed to get points for previous earnings as I had not provided right documentation to prove that I had been on maternity leave. My daughter was there but obviously the tribunal and judge needed to see evidence in the form of documents. Judge was sypathetic but thats how he explained his position.
Obviously we decided to appeal at Upper Tier Tribunal mainly because it would give us more time to think about next steps; otherwise we would have had to leave the country within 28 days. And all this was around Christmas time when things start to slow down in this country..We knew we had little chance of winning the appeal but still went ahead with it.
In the meanwhile I had sufficient work experience and earnings being accumulated. I was slowly in a position where I could use earnings and experience only from my new workplace and make a fresh application. But in order to do that I needed my passport (which was with UKBA of course!) Throughout all this drama my husband and I had kept our employers well informed of the situation so there were luckily quite cooperative and understanding. This is something I would strongly recommend.
So in January we got a UKBA letter granting us right to appeal - note this need not always be the case. A request to appeal can also be rejected straight away. The hearing date was 4th Feb 2014. However as stated above, I had by then adequate earnings and experience from my new job (post maternity) therefore I could withdraw the appeal and make a new application for extension. For that
The trouble with this is that once you withdraw an appeal your right to stay and work in the country lapses. So you have 28 days to get an appointment (premium) and make a successful application. The tricky is getting an appointment which is difficult without a passport. You may get an appointment but you can't be assured that a] you will be allowed entry at the PEO b] your application will be processed same day (even if you are paying a HUGE fee for same day service)
Hence getting the passports was absolutely critical...we ran pillar to post, emailed and rang the enforcement team and even got MP to intervene but there was no luck. We took a risk however and booked a premium appointment at Croydon PEO for 4th Feb 2014. Once appointment was booked we withdrew the appeal via fax.
Finally few days before appeal hearing date we rang up one of the helpline numbers and we received a good piece of advice. The person on the helpline suggested that we should write to UKBA stating our intention to withdraw appeal and make a fresh application. According to him most people don't clarify their plans with UKBA and then it becomes difficult for them to process in time.
So we wrote this letter to the Sheffield PEO which was the address given on our refusal letters requesting for our passports and mentioning that we want to make a new application. Also importantly when we said in the letter that we are ready to pay for the passports to be sent via special delivery either to our home address or Croydon PEO (where our appointment was booked) The helpline person had suggested all this to us so we wrote a proper letter accordingly. All this was happening on 29th-30th. On 31st Jan we got confirmation that appeal was withdrawn so obviously we could not work after that.
By God's grace our appointment was for 4th Feb (Tues) so it wasn't much of a break in employment...on the appointment day we reached Croydon PEO with our solicitor who had already spoken to several people on the phone explaining our situation so we were granted entry.
When it was our turn the case worker was sympathetic and very polite..she started processing the application without a passport) as it was lunch time..After lunch time she popped over to another of her colleague who she said receives documents from the processing units...She came back with our passports which had been sent by Sheffield PEO (thanks to the letter!).
Thats how our applications were then processed smoothly - no questions asked! Additionally because we were applying in Feb 2014 (after initial leave to remain had expired) we got the extension until Feb 2016! (otherwise if we would have been granted extension in June 2013 as per original plan, we would have got extension only until June 2014!) By chance then we got 6 months extra !
Hope this post was useful...it was long but I'm sure those who are in similar situations will want to know how we dealt with all the issues step by step. I'm happy to clarify if anything is unclear in my post.
A good solicitor always helps but you MUST do your own research so you don't get fooled and be positive.
Wish everyone all the best!
