Certificate of Approval - queries

[mno2uk]

Hello


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I am hoping that you can help me with this :

I am in the UK on a Tier 1 visa and want to get married to my girlfriend who is a british national. I know I will need to submit application for COA.

But for that I want to know that whether there is a need to hire a solicitor or go through the paperwork on my own ?
The form is pretty straight forward and I have the documents that need to be sent in for it. But the key issue is how much time it would take for it to come back ( as in my opinion its a straight forward case with her being a national with me having more than 6 months of leave available). I am not too sure about the success rate as well..

Let me know if you know something that can help me with the above..

[AUHS]

Its pretty straight forward and you can do it your self without involving any one.

Time is vary between 6 to 12 weeks depends on case to case.

[mno2uk]

Hello there..

Thank you for the reply,..

Have you been in a similar situation and done it for yourself ? The form like I said is straight forward but the time is a worry part. Can a solicitor be of use to speed it up ? As I feel all applications need to be sent by POST only and there is no personal/at counter application service available for COA.

Form, photos and p-ports to go along with it are the only items that are required as per the documentation.

Is there any need for proof of funds etc (although not asked for) or a covering letter required to be sent to inform the case worker about it (if at all) so as to strengthen the case ?

Thanks..

[AUHS]

No body can speed up the process.it's totally depends on UKBA backlog and on your individual case.

However you can send them a request at any time to speed up the process later on.

Best of luck

[Kitty]

Changes to the certificate of approval scheme

Do you have a particular date by which you want the marriage to take place?

If your own visa has enough time remaining on it for this not to be an issue, then you may want to wait until the COA scheme has been done away with (which should happen within the next few months). One less thing to worry about...

[vinny]

A possible problem will be if your leave expires before you make the application to switch.

[mno2uk]

Thanks Vinny.

The only issue is the time aspect as the marriage needs to take place in the next one month or so depends on how soon the COA comes back.

Although whether it will be abolished or not is still a question that I will have to wait till spring 2011.

Leave to remain has quite sometime and if I was to wait then the Spring 2011 doesnot look far.

Thanks again all of you all and good luck wishes..

GOD BLESS MANIKIND!