EU ILTR and Overstayer want to get married

Hi all,

I am a EU citizen (French) born in the UK with indefinite leave to remain and want to marry a Overstayer. My fiance came to the UK 5 years ago and overstayed his visa. We want to get married and live together in the UK.

What is the process and could he be deported in the process?

To marry, you have to give 28 days notice at the Registry Office. They will inform UKVI and the 28 day period could be extended to 70 days. You both have to attend the Registry appointment with both your passports and proof of right to reside in the UK.

You are basically bringing attention to your partner who is an overstayer and yes, UKVI could refuse permission or allowed the wedding and turn up on the day and arrest your partner for deportation.

What visa did your partner come to the UK on?

What prevents your partner returning to their home country and applying for a fiance visa?

Or better still return to France and get married there and apply for a spouse visa from your home country to return to the UK.
This assumes your partner has a right to enter France.

Amii2007 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:26 pm

Hi all,

I am a EU citizen (French) born in the UK with indefinite leave to remain and want to marry a Overstayer. My fiance came to the UK 5 years ago and overstayed his visa. We want to get married and live together in the UK.

What is the process and could he be deported in the process?

You need to take @Casa advise seriously. After UK left EU they easily apprehend or deport people. In the past you could use EU rules to find loops. Seek legal advice from an expert in UK before you embark on this route.

First option,
Have a child, since the child will be EU citizen it will be hard to deport EU minor parent. Even if they do you'll can just cross the French border via land and enter EU as EU family member.

Second, @Frontiers Mole option (fastest option)
If you have proof of your relationship and you both have been together for 1 year or more, you can cross the French border via land as EU partner. The French are very lenient and obey the EU laws. They will surely allow him entry. He can legalise stay in France or any EU country and return back with you to UK via visa. Atleast this more easier to return back to UK.

Third, this when you both are out of all options

Marry in some non EU country or his, return to his country and apply for UK Family visa for EU spouses.(Only do this when you have proof of relationship before marriage)

Sorry @CR001 not Casa

Hi,
I am not a lawyer but I just want to advise as I am going through a similar case (just having British and EU nationality) but using British for my partner who overtayed several years.
We found a lawyer who specialises in overstayer cases, expensive but we were able to do the application as partners in November 2023.

To cut story short before finding the lawyer we applied in a local registry to get married and our documents were sent to the Home Office. Miracle, 2 weeks after this I received a letter that there won't be any investigation and we are free to get married. This came as a shock as otherwise we will have to attend marriage interview at the Home Office and him being arrested there would be very likely due to overstaying.

Same week we have the appointment with a lawyer and found out that now we have given the Home Office his address and he can be deported at any time. We were even told stories of couples when the police embarks to the marriage ceremny and arrests the undocumented person. You want to avoid this happening. I would say the marriage and the ceremony is a lottery. The whole process so far between the letter and the application when we were aware the Home Office had his address was extremely stressful.

So the safest route: unmarried partner visa (you need to be able to prove 2 years of relationship + meaning official letters to both partners at the same address). Make an application with a good lawyer who knows what laws to use in an application, even if you do not meet the minumum income treshold.
Once the case is in the Home Office, you will receive a case number and even if he gets stopped he can show them the case number. If you go for this option unmarried partner visa, the Home Office only knows your address once the application has been submitted.

Having said that we were told by a lwayer that it may take up to 12 months to get a response and I read on this forum about possible appeals, but at least even if we pay a lot, we know that someone will take care of our case if something happens.

Timeline so far:
Requested Subject Access Request (all the info Home Office has about your partner): July 2023
Received the file (your lawyer will need it, caviat: be careful what current address you give them): September 2023
Partner Visa Submitted: October 2023
Biometrics: November 2023

No news since but it's been only 3 months + I don't meet a minimum income treshold thus 12 months decision time...

I feel very bad for my partner to be honest who has lived a difficult life, but I have also faced difficult circumstances. having said that I still feel guilty that it is because of my innability to assure the minimum income treshold to shorten the wait.

We are planning to get married once his visa is approved. Apparently the spouse visa is much more difficult to get for overstayers (been told by a lawyer).

I wanted to let you know that there are ways. You just need to look for the best option.
Personally, I would not recommend leaving the country. There must be something if people say try to resolve things from the UK if you are already in the UK.

I know it is a stressful time and I wanted to let you know that here are ways.
You will sort it out.

Lawyers have zero influence in the application and decision making process whatsoever. An application through a lawyer has no more merit or consideration than that of the individual applicant. You are paying for guidance at best and saving some research time, that is it.

As for partner route being being easier than spouse route, that is nonsense. The partner route is more difficult because you will be required to submit far more evidence and in doing so you have a greater chance of tripping up. Plus the fact in order to get joint bank accounts etc there must have been the requirement to supply documents to state they were in the U.K. legally. How does that work?

As for not meeting the income threshold - that in itself will result in a refusal.

The lawyer has done an excellent job of feeding you a line that you want to believe and that they can milk you as a cash cow.

@zoho123, could you link me up with the lawyer you use? I've got a friend in such situation. Many thanks

Ebitimi12345 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 26, 2024 12:04 pm

@zoho123, could you link me up with the lawyer you use? I've got a friend in such situation. Many thanks

Members are not permitted to post lawyer details and information on the forum.