Spouse visa overstayer - JR vs voluntary return

[superll]

We would really appreciate some advice on our situation. I’m a British citizen, and my husband originally from Malaysia. We got married in Aug-11 and in Sep-12 we tried to apply for a spouse visa here, but it was rejected as my husband didn’t have the required 6 months on his visa, and was told he should apply for this from his home country.

However the situation is a bit more complicated as he had previously (under poor legal advice) renounced his Malaysian citizenship to apply for a British passport, however this was not successful, so he only has a British Overseas Citizenship. This means that he can’t stay in the UK, and also he can only travel back to Malaysia as a tourist for 3 months.

We have initiated a judicial review, with the bundle served at the end of Aug-13. However we still haven’t heard back from the Home Office or from the court on whether permission has been granted. So my first question is whether anyone has experience with judicial reviews and assuming that the Home Office doesn’t agree to settle, how long it could take for permission to be granted. And then afterwards how long it would take to go to court? Also if we do end up winning the case, how long does the Home Office take to re-review the application?

We are currently looking into other options to regularise my husband’s status. We are currently planning for my husband to voluntarily using our own money to travel back to Malaysia as a tourist and apply for the spouse visa from there. However given that he is an overstayer, does this mean that he will automatically be banned for 12 months? Also given that our initial application for a spouse visa was rejected, will this, coupled with being an overstayer reflect badly on his application? Also if this application is rejected, I know we can appeal it, but again, are the waiting times similar to the judicial review?

Apologies for the multitude of questions, but we are trying to weigh up whether it is worth waiting around for the judicial review, or to try and apply for the visa in Malaysia. I am sure many of you can appreciate the frustration of your life being on hold waiting! Any useful comments would be appreciated!

[superll]

For anyone interested, some helpful advice from other members on overstayers applying for visas:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=151637

However, does anyone have any experience with how long judicial reviews take? We served the bundle at the end of Aug-13, but still haven't heard anything from the Home Office or even whether permission has been granted.

[elastep]

For anyone interested, some helpful advice from other members on overstayers applying for visas:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=151637

However, does anyone have any experience with how long judicial reviews take? We served the bundle at the end of Aug-13, but still haven't heard anything from the Home Office or even whether permission has been granted.

@superll
I'm on JR right now. Sent PAP to Home Office in mid September and applied for permission for JR in first week of October. Since then Home Office has filed their acknoledgement of service within 21 days of recieving my bundle of documents and the court sent me a copy of the acknoledgement and I'm now waiting to see if permission is granted. Apparently it takes up to 8 weeks to receive courts decision and I have 4 weeks left to go.
I hope this answers your questions. Stay blessed.

[superll]

Thanks elastep for sharing your timeline.

For anyone interested, this is ours:
PAP sent on 20th June.
JR bundle sent on 15 July.
No response from the home office within 21 days, deadline extended to 28 August, but still no reply, so permission to proceed requested.

29 Nov - no further news as yet.

[superll]

Thanks elastep for sharing your timeline.

For anyone interested, this is ours:
PAP sent on 20th June.
JR bundle sent on 15 July.
No response from the home office within 21 days, deadline extended to 28 August, but still no reply, so permission to proceed requested.

29 Nov - no further news as yet.

Elastep - any news on your case? Still no response on ours yet.