Hi, I'm helping some Ukrainians leave there cities near the frontline which are being bombed daily. Most of the fighting is the east. The closest airport would be Chisinau in Moldova. There is a VAC centre from where a Ukrainian refugee visa can be collected/obtained. But one Ukrainian told me the ...

Thanks. Yeah get it now. The grammar could have been less ambiguous as the "who are not" bit could apply to both friends or family criteria. Trust UK Border Agency or whoever it is now to make it unclear

Sorry for the dumb a$$ question, but can't figure out which visa I need a friend to submit if they are coming to visit me in the UK given I'm a British national. General visit visa says: "you’re visiting friends or family who aren’t permanent residents in the UK" So that rules out the general visit v ...

tried to find some specific guidance on this but couldn't. Is having a one way ticket grounds for refusing entry when on a family visit visa? My mother in law is flying over but we are not exactly sure when she will leave & getting one way tickets is the most convenient thing for us right now. Best ...

My wife's visa was refused in British embassy in Moscow because the caseworker assumed that I'm not earning enough to support her, he calculated my basic pay and didn't take into account all the overtime I've done even though it clearly says on UKBA website that overtime and bonuses should be ...

ok just to complicate matters, it seems that we need to reference Discretionary Leave rules before 9 July 2012 as this would applicable to us. So the current website guidance is not applicable. The FLR(O) has a nice fee attached to it. Having spent a ton of money so far I'm loathe to give UKBA ...

hmmm - think I'm beginning to understand you. are you saying that FLR(O) gives you a DL visa?

and how can I be sure that FLR(O) isn't classed as switching?

ok I get where you're coming from, but do you understand my point? She's on DL already. HPDL is to be used to extend an existing DL visa. UKBA's own Immigration Directorate Instructions say that DL can be used for family members excluding cases where it applies to asylum or humanitarian protection ...

thanks. Did see FLR(O) but wouldn't she be switching in that case? The Immigration Directorate Instructions 2011 says switching isn't allowed into the marriage category: those persons granted discretionary leave who apply on or after 1 October 2004 on the basis of a marriage, or the establishment of ...

sorry I've been away so long! hope you are all well. So I'm back with more problems since my last major post my wife's request to extend her Discretionary Leave visa was not accepted/not considered: the reasons given were that the application was seen as invalid due to the following: 1 - You ...

have no idea about this "admin review". Like I said before, you've limited time in which you can submit a JR. Miss the deadline and you can kiss goodbye to anything you could do going down that route.. I'd work out deadlines first and if you've time to submit an admin review, fine do it - but if ...

I can't really advise on all the details of whether the rejection was valid or not. But if a Judicial Review is the only remaining option to you, and you want to pursue it, I would go ahead with the following advice 1 – find a solicitor who has done them before, preferably in a case similar to your ...

Hi MK in my experience of going down the JR route you really want to try every other option as the JR will be the lengthest option in front of you as well as being the most expensive. If you believe your appeal hasn't been lodged within a timely manner (as is still not lodged) then I would 1 - get ...

We were with Matrix Chambers and used Raza Hussain and Samantha Knights. The meeting I mentioned was with Samantha - she was fantastic

Yes I have an update. Not the greatest one. Sorry, have been meaning to come back to you all. We’ve dropped the JR. We saw our barristers and long story short by allowing the HO to grant my wife LTR (remember we let them re-review her case while waiting for the JR) we lost the biggest stick we had ...

I'm a bigger fan of applying via post. In-person applications cost lots more and they can still say, "actually, this application needs further investigation". There's no guarantee you'll get an answer on the day. If they have any reason to suspect the application is dodgy, they'll put it on ice and ...

how did I pay? I thought this is your query? You tell me how you've made the payment. Options are credit card details on the application form or cheque. Anyway, it doesn't matter - as long as you have provided them with a recognised form of payment they have specified then they should accept it ...

you can apply 1 day before the visa expires, no difference. Just make sure you marry, have all the docs ready to submit before his current visa expires. You don't need to have been granted the visa before the current visa expires. Once the application has been submitted you have temporary leave to ...

payment is normally instant so it's odd they haven't withdrawn the funds. Without payment they won't look at your case. If your current visa is expiring soon I would write to them with details of the application and request they take payment immediately. If for whatever reason the application is ...

there's one critically important detail missing from this thread - exactly which visa was granted? was it the actual spouse visa originally requested or was it discretionary leave?

katiebridges87 - would very much appreciate your feedback as it impacts my case

look, you've got the right of appeal so use it. As batleykhan and I have said, assuming the appeal pack is good enough, you could easily get the refusal overturned in no time. If that doesn't happen you can request the appeal is made on papers only (ie so you're not represented in person at the ...

but if he hasn't got these docs (ie they don't exist), what does he do? Like you say, you need them over a period of time. But he needs them now!

just to be clear, you've been given the option to appeal? You've 2 routes from here. 1 - Either you get a good immigration solicitor to manage your appeal application. All in, it'll cost a good £1000-£1500 2 - You manage your application, appeals 'n all. Option (1) is the easy option and the saf ...

(iii) each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse or civil partner and the marriage or civil partnership is subsisting photos, postcards sent to friends/family, phone bills, email or skype, anything you can get your hands on. You also need to prove the bit ...

I iz bak! Sorry for having abandoned you all for so long. I've been missed, right? :D @Vinny - thanks for the post, will delve into it more. Ok, mini update. First off, JRs can have turnarounds of under a year. They can also, as in my case last years. I've already lost track how long we've been ...