Fiance visa - are we eligible?

[HanaM]

Good evening,
I was wondering if anyone would be able to help with my situation.
Briefly - I am enaged to Nigerian who has been living in the UK on student visas for 14 years. He applied for permanent residency a while ago, however it was denied to him so and now we have only Court of appeal left which will most likely deny his application as well. We have 3 weeks to appeal.
We got engaged in December 2016 and we would love to get married however it seems like Home office is holding up his passport which we requested back a while ago so we can get certified copy for register office. HO said though our solicitor we shall receive the passport within 10 working days but we never did. We rang HO yesterday and they suggested we should request it via online form again / which might take another 10 working days / that is if we even get it at all
It seems like there wont be enough time to get married due to these circumstances (passport is not with us, then 2 weeks to get appointment with register office, another at least 28 days before we could actually get married. We think his appeal will take place in less then 2 months time.
Now, I was doing some research and there is this fiance visa, but I am not entirely sure if we could be entitled as he is already in the country. Some of the articles I have read says it has to be submitted outside of UK.
Could anyone be so kind and let us know what to do? We have been together 14 months so HO wont see it as a durable relationshio
We are a genuine couple who love each other and now I live in constant fear and stress what is going to happen to us.
Kind Regards
Hana

[Casa]

A fiance visa application can only be submitted from outside of the UK. Do you meet the minimum income level of £18,600 p.a?

In order to marry in the UK you will have to give notice with a Home Office designated Registry Office. As your partner is a foreign national, the Registrar is legally bound to notify the HO who can then extend the registration period from 28 to 70 days in order to interview you both separately before the wedding can go ahead, if they choose to do so.

What was the reason given for refusing his ILR application?

[HanaM]

A fiance visa application can only be submitted from outside of the UK. Do you meet the minimum income level of £18,600 p.a?
Yes, I earn about 25,000 a year so this is probably the only thing which is not an issue. I am just a bit confused because when I go on the gov website there are 2 options - applying from outside of the UK and when you are already in the country.
In order to marry in the UK you will have to give notice with a Home Office designated Registry Office. As your partner is a foreign national, the Registrar is legally bound to notify the HO who can then extend the registration period from 28 to 70 days in order to interview you both separately before the wedding can go ahead, if they choose to do so.
I do know about that. The interview should not be an issue as we are in genuine relationship and we have nothing to hide. What worries me, is the fact that without enough time we wont be able to get to this stage.
What was the reason given for refusing his ILR application?

The reason is - apparently he doesnt have a private life here as he is not married and without kids. They say he can start a new life back in Nigeria as he is an adult. He has been in the country for 14 years, all of his siblings are in the UK as well. He has no one back in Nigeria as his parents dont talk to him.

[CR001]

What is his full immigration history from when he came to the UK?

Appeals at the moment are taking roughly a year.

[Casa]

To be realistic, your best option is for your partner to return to Nigeria and either submit a fiance visa application to return and marry in the UK, or marry in Nigeria and apply for a Spouse Settlement visa.

That's providing there haven't been any 'aggravating circumstances or frustration of the Immigration Rules' during the 14 years he has been living in the UK. Did he enter the UK legally on a visa?

Edit: Beaten by CR001

[HanaM]

What is his full immigration history from when he came to the UK?

Appeals at the moment are taking roughly a year.

Entered UK in September 2003 and on student visa till December 2010, then applied for LTR which was refused in Jan 2011 bacause he failed to provide original birth certificate. Lodged an appeal which was not admitted because it was lodge out of time and appeal rights exhausted in May 2011. Then further application and he granted LTR from June 2012 till October 2014. Appealed for settlement in October 2014 - refused in Feb 2015, again appealed but apeal was dismissed in November 2016 by First-Tier tribunal judge. April 2017 granted permission to appeal. June 2017 appeal against decission was refused by Upper tribunal.

It sounds really bad right? We are just worried that if we go to Court of Appeal they will give us date in a month time and then we definitely wont have time to sort it out.
What do you think? We are so desperate...<

[CR001]

You won't get a date in a months time, they are taking months at the moment.

He didn't qualify for settlement (ILR) in 2014, so not sure who told him to apply for it.

[HanaM]

You won't get a date in a months time, they are taking months at the moment.

He didn't qualify for settlement (ILR) in 2014, so not sure who told him to apply for it.

It must have been his previous solicitor - it actually states in the paperwork the she messed things up for him.
I probably have a stupid idea but what if me as his fiance would send a letter to the Court of Appeal? Could this possibly change anything for us or is there anything else at all we could do? Or would there be possibly another suitable appication for us?
Thank you so much for your replies, I appreciate it so much.

[HanaM]

Hi,

My fiancee applied for his indefinite leave to remain which got rejected and we are appealling the decision. However we want to get married and have gone to the registry to inquire, they told us as his passport is with homeoffice he should get them to send a certified copy to the registry. We have contacted homeoffice several times and they keep telling us the department that deals with it is extremely busy and it can take forever. We have gone to our local MP to intervene and help speed this up, his office has written to them to chase this up but its been a month now and they have not heard back from homeoffice yet. I would like to know if this is normal that they can choose to ignore emails from an MP`s office.

Our solicitor also requested his passport be sent back so we can take it to the registry ourselves and we would like to know if this is a possibilty as his application was rejected and an appeal is in place. Is there anything else we can do to be able to get married other than what we are doing already.
Thank you

[CR001]

Topics merged. Kindly keep all questions regarding your fiance in a single topic.

[HanaM]

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