Pls help: A Kiwi in a jam...

[TWebbNZ]

Hi,

I wanted to ask if anyone can help me.

I have been married to my British wife since 16th Nov 2013. A few days after we got married I went to the home office and applied for my spouse visa for 2.5 years. A month before it was due to expire I applied for an extension, not knowing that it would be taken from the date of the application (mistake #1). This meant that my second spouse visa expired on the 1st October. At the time I didn't take much notice of it but now I'm in all sorts of bother.

Mistake #2 - last week I was misguided on information and thought that I could apply for naturalisation before my spouse visa expired. I was not aware I had to get ILR and by that time I had already paid the £1,330 fee and studied and passed the life test.

I went back to apply for ILR but my spouse visa was around 2 weeks short of the '28 day grace period' to get to the 5 years. As a result and in fear of losing my job etc I had to apply for another 2.5 year spouse visa extension just so I could get over the 28 day threshold. I am awaiting a response but don't expect any issues

As you can see, I'm effectively loosing roughly £2,400 due to this. Once I get my spouse visa I can then apply for ILR once I'm over the line for the 5 years....the best outcome would be to have the home office pro-rata my spouse visa fee, and hold my naturalisation fee until i have the ILR.

Does anyone think is achievable or can advise who I can talk to to discuss this? I've tried calling the Home Office but don't seem to get anywhere on the phone.

Please help!

Thank you,

Tim the Kiwi

[CR001]

No such "Pro rata" or "hold" of fees. You have to pay the stipulated fee for each application you make.

Have you written to HO to withdrawn your citizenship application explaining your error?