Desperate situation

[dolldie]

Hi there

I am a South African Citizen that was living in the UK on a 2 year working holiday visa. I met my husband (a UK citizen) 3 years ago and we were married on 13 February 2010. I applied for my UK spousal visa the following week (17 Feb) via post as I could not get a appointment at the public enquiery office before my visa ran out on 4 March 2010. I have since waited and waited as I was informed the process would take 4 weeks and last week thursday I only recieved my letter to go and give my biometrics. I rushed straight to our local post office as they do biometrics on thursday (18 March) and am now waiting for the next step. This is were my problem lies. I have our honeymoon booked for 16 April and I do not know wether the visa/passport will have arrived in time for my departure. I have called up the border agency for a rough estimate of how long it will take but no one can tell me. The only thing they could tell me is that if it has not arrived in time I have to cancel my application and leave the country. Herein lies my problem. They have told me it takes 10 working days for my passport to make it's way back to me once I have cancelled the application. That would mean that with all the bank holidays coming up I would need to cancel my application a week from today in order to get the passport back in time for our travels. On the other hand if I cancel it and the process after having taken your biometrics only takes a few days then it would be worth waiting for BUT NO ONE CAN GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER which is causeing me a lot of trouble as I just want to now what to do.

My second question is, if I do have to cancel my visa application I will then have to return to SA after the honeymoon and apply for the visa again from outside the UK. Is there a waiting period I have to go through before I can apply for my spousal visa again in SA?

Any help or insight from anyone who has been through this process would be HUGELY appreciated as I am really struggling with what to do????

Many thanks

[Casa]

You realise that if you withdraw your application the Home Office won't refund your fee and when you re-apply in South Africa you will be paying for the full Spouse application fee (not FLR-M)? You will be able to submit your application in SA immediately but it may well take several weeks to process.

[mochyn]

Can you clarify a few things

you met your husband 3 years ago but you were in the UK on a 2 year working visa? Where did you meet?

You are applying for a change of visa status inside the UK? Who gave you this advice?

[dolldie]

Yes I am aware that I will have to pay again. I am just in a bit of a desperate situation and I don't know what to do? It will cost me far less to apply for the visa again than it will to cancel the honeymoon as it is non refundable.

I met my Husband when I was in the UK for a mutual friends wedding 3 years ago. We then continued to keep contact and started dating when I returned to the UK on my working holiday. Sorry I should have been more clear.

Yes I am currently in the UK and in the process of changing my status. I have applied for the FLR(M) visa. I was told by the UK border agency helpline that I would need to cancel my application 10 days before I was to leave the country if my passport was to return in time to travel. I was told by a lawyer that the process usually takes 4 weeks.

Basically I need to know wether it's likely that my visa will be cleared before 16 April or wether I should cancel my application next week and re apply in South Africa after my honeymoon.

[Lynnuk]

Can you clarify a few things

you met your husband 3 years ago but you were in the UK on a 2 year working visa? Where did you meet?

You are applying for a change of visa status inside the UK? Who gave you this advice?

My little knowledge tells me that someone with 2 years working holidays visa can switch to spouse visa.