IHS form change [Unmarried Partner joining EEA pre-settled]

[Akemi]

Hello,

Has anyone else witnessed this change?

I have applied for the unmarried partner to join my EU pre-settled partner.
When it comes to the IHS page, the prompt question was

from
"Are you applying to join or remain with a person already in the UK?" and subote
You don''t need to add this person's details if they are a UK to EEA citizen.

to smth along the line:
"Are you applying to join or remain with a person already in the UK?" and subnot
"You dont need to add this perdson's details if they have British citizenship/are British citizen" [no mention of any EEA anymore]

So from not needing to add my partner before, now I added him.

This of course triggers everying else, including a page where you need to fill out your details and the visa you apply for - all good here; and details of partner and what I suppose to be their visa (?)- and here one cannot choose anything like pre-settlement EU scheme.

Needles to say, this triggered a payment of IHS until partner's pre-settlement expiration date, instead of the 33 months surcharge.

Not sure when this change happened. Has anyone seen it and went ahead with it and what happened?

I have paid then the visa application, the TLSContact and scheduled biometric, but I am worried that this whole thing is wrong. And to be honest, no idea what else I coould have chosen from drop down except for Settlement -> Unmarried Partner, if for him the pre-settled and EU route was not an option to select.
[ https://www.immigration-health-surcharg ... er/Joining
These are/were the options...]

I am reading about the IHS top-up and wondering if I should add something in the cover letter or a separate letter to ask them to check and contact me if needed, rather than reject? According to the below link, they should? https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark34

Or should I cancel the whole thing, and try to get refunds for IHS, visa costs, UKVI cost, and TLS?... And then start again - though unsure about what to select with IHS even so. This seems crazy and it is already very confusing...

Thanks a lot.

[marfon]

Hi,
my partner is applying for a family visa, and I have pre-settled status. We are facing the exact same problem.

On the government website, they say that you don't need to enter the sponsoring partner's details if they have EU settled status. I'm wondering if if this also applies to pre-settled status, as technically those are two different things, so I'm not sure :/

Hope someone can help with this.

Thanks,
Marco

[Akemi]

My barrister advised that I should not have added the pre-settled, but I had already, and had paid all the fees. I/we decided to go for detailing the situation in a separate letter /or can be done in the cover letter. Not sure how it will turn out. When I have details in a few weeks, I will share... We are expecting a top-up request...

[marfon]

Hi Akemi,
Thanks. I didn't know about the option to write a cover letter via IHS top-up. That sounds like an option (for us), even if it looks a bit complicated.

In my case, I can apply to switch to the settled status next week, so I'm wondering if I should just wait to get that (I don't know how long it's going to take, but it should be fast, right?).

Otherwise, we could apply now without mentioning the settlement. I'm not sure if the form allows that tho. In principle, if you declare that you're joining someone and you don't enter any visa expiry date, it should allow you to add the details of a British citizen (or someone with settled status). I'm not sure about that because now that I entered a visa expiry date, there's no way to go back I think I'll have to start a new application to clear up the form

[Akemi]

I dont think the settler or pre-settled changes anything from the IHS p.o.v. I mean, either this has changed indeed to be valid only for British citizens, or, it is still valid or pre-settled and settled equally.

But if you havent paid anything yet, I would start from scratch as well... and then make the right selections for the IHS. (Or what we assume to be the correct choice based on the published Rules. I will know for sure when home office replies... or if anyone here has that knowledge.

[marfon]

Thanks, Akemi, you're giving me hope
Good luck with your IHS top-up letter. I'll keep you posted.