Spouse visa refused - hearing date set for appeal tier 1 Tribunal

[Sez]

Good evening,

This is my first post here but I am a regular reader of the boards.

I am looking for help, shared experience, and advice on my husbands current immigration problems.

He has been in the uk for just under 19 years, he arrived here with his family from Zimbabwe when he was still in junior school. All of his family in the uk either are British citizens or have valid ILR.
We have been together for 10 years now, I am a British citizen, born in the uk.

Due to his parents fear of uk authorities and lack of understanding of the immigration process, my husbands visa expired when he was young without being properly sorted - it was only when he was old enough to understand the immigration process that he went to the home office and started trying to sort things out himself (this was when he was around 19 years old). He made an application for asylum with his sibling, his siblings application was granted but my husband did not get a letter and wrongly assumed that his had been granted as well.

He carried on his life thinking everything was ok. It wasn’t until we met and wanted to move in to a property together that he needed to sort out ID. We called the home office who sent a copy of the refusal to him. The reason why his sibling was granted and my husband was refused was due to a mix up with the dates he arrived in the uk. (My husband was a young boy when he arrived, how would he remember dates?)

So we appealed the refusal and attended a hearing at the 1st tier tribunal, our legal representative prepared us for the hearing thinking we were needed to prove our relationship was genuine and everything would be ok, the hearing was not what we expected and our appeal was also refused. We appealed this decision which was refused. Our legal rep seemed to back off like this was the end of the road.

We approached many different lawyers who all had the same advice - go back to Zimbabwe and make an application outside of the uk. My husband does not have any form of Zimbabwean ID or passport so cannot travel.

We then made further submissions which were also refused.

He made another application for FLR (family life) which was refused with reasons given that I can live in Zimbabwe and that his family relationships can continue via social media in another country.

He has been reporting every month for the past 3 years and suddenly we got a letter to attend an interview with an enforcement agent who took lots of notes and asked questions on our personal life In the uk and Zimbabwe. She was amazing, she listened and made us feel very comfortable she couldn’t believe we are in this situation and said she had been sent to explain the voluntary departure scheme but didn’t take that any further as she could see what had happened and knew it wasn’t suitable. She said a report would be added to the home office case management system which the caseworker could access when making a decision on future applications.

The most recent application was made earlier this year for a spouse visa - I have had a change in work meaning I now earn over the threshold. This was refused again on the grounds that I can move to Zimbabwe. This is not an option! We have appealed and attending a hearing in a couple of months. If we moved to Zimbabwe we would be homeless, I have no savings to be able to support us whilst we looked for work, I have never been out of Europe let alone to Africa and my husband has spent almost 20 years out of his 30 years of life in the uk! He doesn’t have any ties to Zimbabwe how would he protect us, not knowing the way of life, culture and with no friends or family?

Really what I am looking for is some advice from someone who has had a similar background and refusal decisions? Did you attend an appeal hearing? What was the outcome?