COA in a hurry - please help.

[stidge]

Hi

My girlfriend is a SA National working here on an HSMP which is due for renewal on 6th July. I am a British Citizen.

However when she cme to apply for her renewal we were surprised to discover the new maintenance rules. We immeditately transferred funds to her account but the three month over £800 balance rule is not met for two weeks in March so she will not be able to provide evidence of this until mid-July - after her visa has expired.

She has been in the UK since 2003 (initially married to a EEA citizen - but divorced in 2007 hence her HSMP) and has worked for the same company since 2003.

We got engaged in Feb this year so if we cannot do anything to fix the HSMP issue we could bring our marriage forward but we would need a COA. Given her visa expires in 5 weeks we are cutting it rather fine so I am hoping someone has some ideas as to how we can proceed. If we have a COA application in can she stay whilst it is considered. We can provide proof of our relationship being genuine.

Many thanks for any help

Regards

Steve

[Wanderer]

No, CoA is not a visa and confers no leave to remain.

[ginoT]

Wanderer is right here but the "rules" are not as inflexible as you might think. Follow my case (I should have an update middle of next week) as I think they are kind of similar. Effectively your financé is here legally, you want to marry and apply for the spouse visa. The only reason you can't do this is because of bureaucratic rules which are legally questionable (IMO) and time delays.

The COA does not give you the right of stay but you can still apply for it when your visa has expired and you can get married without a visa. Technically speaking you'll have to return to SA to apply for the spouse visa at that point as your visa has expired rather than apply in country

Two options

1 - apply for the COA now and say that, once obtained and you're married, your financé will fly back to SA and you'll apply for the spouse visa from there.

2 - apply for the COA now and state clearly that you want to marry without delay and that once married you wish to apply for the spouse visa in country (FLR[M]) also before the visa has expired. Effectively let them know that any reason you do not marry and apply for the spouse visa is due to THEIR delay. This is basically my situation. They delayed and that's why my wife applied for the spouse visa after the previous one had already expired.


Two things to keep in mind in this situation you're in. The COA scheme they are running is legally questionable. The Law Lords ruled against it back in June 08 but as the HO are continuing the scheme (albeit with some changes) they are potentially breaking the law. I will challenge them on this in court if they don't give in and give my wife her visa. The second point is that the HO need to be reasonable and assess what benefit for immigration control would there be for your financé to go back to SA and reapply from there. They have been told by the courts that they have discretion and should use it on a case by case basis

So it all comes down to how @rsey you want to be with the HO or whether you're happy to play by their way of doing things. Note, spouse visas made from abroad cost more than in-country applications + you'd have to buy plane tickets, put your life on hold etc.. Your call. My wife didn't want to go back and preferred to fight it out here