Immigrationboards.com

hi guys

I will try and make this as simple as possible.

my husband has appied for his ILR in april, we used a checking service and supplied all documents.

one missing document was a certificate for his B1 English requirement. instead of the certificate we suppied a letter from the testing centre saying the result and certificate would be issued in 4-6 weeks.

the lady at the checking service said that because he had passed an ielts exam for his settlement and the overall score was 4.0 that this would be enough for the ILR (even though it had expired) so we wouldn't need the other missing certificate. We were annoyed that we spent the money and decided to send it in when it came just in case.

after 6 weeks my husband called the exam centre and asked where his certificate was.. he was told that the centre has been inversitgated and suspended and all the pending exams ect could not be given to us, he was refunded the money he paid. we didn't worry as the lady in the checking service had said the other certificate was enough

last week (6.5 months after appliying) we received a letter asking for the certificate for his B1 Exam. the case officer referred to the letter saying it would come in 4-6 weeks. I wrote a letter back explaining what had happened. I have called the helpline for visa applications and since learned that the ielts certificate he used to gain entry (settlement) needed to have 4.0 in all 4 parts of the test. my husband got just 3.0 in one and the rest over 4.0. we are fuming that we were given wrong information by the checking service and he has now booked one to sit today to try for this B1 certificate.

I hope someone has some advice for us, im wondering if the case officer will refuse our applicaton or will she give us more time to get the B1 certificate, we have 2 children and he works here in uk.

im at my witts end any help would be amazing

melanie

There were some test centres involved in cheating and are under investigation and it sounds like your spouse had fallen victim to one of them.

Just to clarify, an expired IELTS can be used again if used in a previous application such as entry clearance, but you only need a score of 4.0 in the speaking and listening elements only, not all four. The immigration rules specifically requires speaking and listening only, so scores in reading and writing can be omitted. As such, there are tests such as ESOL which only test for speaking and listening being accepted by the Home Office.



If the husband has a score of 4.0 in both speaking and listening in the IELTS, then this can be used again, no need for another test.

If not, then there are tests out there that can fast track the progress such as LRN and Trinity. These offer certificates within a week.

Trinity:
http://englishexamcentres.co.uk/b1-esol ... vel-3.html

People on helplines are useless and most of the time don't know the requirement themselves. I'll dig out the relevant immigration rules that specifies speaking and listening only if you are to use the IELTS.

Do note that as of 6 April 2013, most certificates are not required anymore (for tests taken after 6 April 2013) as tests are now verified online. More info here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... r_2014.pdf