ILR for wife please help

[flyingv26]

Hi
I have been living here in UK as a student for last ten years and my wife joined me three years ago. In june 2012 i applied for my ILR and used FLRM for my wife's visa extension. I got my ILR approved this month but so far no reply for my wife has come (not even biometrics).
My question is: Can i apply for my wife's ILR as soon as her FLRM reply arrives?
Should i use SET (M) for her?
I would really appreciate if someone could reply quoting their experiences and immigration rules. Thanks

[geriatrix]

Yes.
Yes.

[xpscapable]

Hi
I have been living here in UK as a student for last ten years and my wife joined me three years ago. In june 2012 i applied for my ILR and used FLRM for my wife's visa extension. I got my ILR approved this month but so far no reply for my wife has come (not even biometrics).
My question is: Can i apply for my wife's ILR as soon as her FLRM reply arrives?
Should i use SET (M) for her?
I would really appreciate if someone could reply quoting their experiences and immigration rules. Thanks

Curious why don't you apply ILR together? You and your wife as dependent?

[flyingv26]

Yes.
Yes.

Thanks alot for replying sushdmehta, i've been reading different experiences when at first the wife's ilr got rejected and then they had to quote the ukba rules. So i'm just a little concerned do i need to quote any rule as well? (I'm thinking of applying in person)

[flyingv26]

Curious why don't you apply ILR together? You and your wife as dependent?

Its because i got ILR on the basis of long residence(10 years), my wife wasnt eligible for that.

[Amber]

Hi everyone,
I recently got ilr in november 2012 after living for 10 years on a student visa. my wife came here in 2009 as a student dependent,As i was applying for my ilr, i applied for my wife using form flro in august 2012. After a whole long year, home office contacted me in october 2013 asking to provide proof that me and my wife live together, so i provided everything from bills, gp letters, bank statements etc (almost everything they asked for), and today they've sent me visa refusal letter for her. I am unable to understand on which basis they have refused it. Also i have a 2.5 years old daughter who was born here. Could someone please help and advise what needs to be done. Would really appreciate your help.thanks

[Amber]

Why did you apply for FLR(O) and not FLR(M)?

[flyingv26]

Because at that time my ilr was not decided yet, so she was only eligible for the form flro

[Amber]

That was incorrect, she could have applied for FLR(M) and asked for a decision to be made after yours. She is now left in a precarious situation and should ask the tribunal to consider FLR(M) otherwise you will set her on a 10 year route to settlement with FLR(O) leave. When did her PBS dep leave expire?

[flyingv26]

thanks for replying amber, but thats what (flro) my solicitor advised and yes i did her case through a solicitor. Now when i went to that solicitor her receptionist gave me an appointment on 23rd october when my wife's got a deadline of 29th october to contact local enforcement officers to leave the country. all of this is just too stressful, but i'm not sitting home posting on forums, i have contacted as many solicitors as i could and what i found out was that she's eligible for judicial review, which is filed in high court to challenge ukba's decision. If any of you could tell me your experiences and advise me what could be the solution now, i would really appreciate. thanks

[Amber]

Was she not given the right of appeal? They have refused because family leave is open to (mis)interpretation and is not a 'tick the box' and pass application, unlike FLR(M).

I would seriously question the competency of your solicitor. You are chasing family life leave under exception one which will set your wife on a 10 year route to settlement, meaning she will only be eligible to settle at the earliest in 2019, who knows what the rules will be then?

If the solicitor had advised you to complete FLR(M) and ask for a decision to be made after yours, in all likelihood your wife would be settled now as per 287(a)(i)(d).

You should be taking this matter up with your solicitor, tell them you want a word urgently not next week, but now.

[flyingv26]

yeah they have not given her right of appeal, and yes i'm very distressed about the incompetency of my solicitor as apparently she's done a phd in immigration and stuff and she failed to guide us and she still maintains that it would be best to see her on wednesday next week. I'm trying to contact different solicitors for second opinion. lets see what happens. And yeah you're right they've refused her on para EX.1 basis.

[vinny]

It's a pity that you didn't follow sushdmehta's advice.

If she made a valid in-time application, then she should have been given a right of appeal, unless she still has leave to remain after the refusal.

[Amber]

That was incorrect, she could have applied for FLR(M) and asked for a decision to be made after yours. She is now left in a precarious situation and should ask the tribunal to consider FLR(M) otherwise you will set her on a 10 year route to settlement with FLR(O) leave. When did her PBS dep leave expire?

[flyingv26]

thanks for the reply amber, she was here as my dependent, (student dependent) she wasnt here on pbs leave, her leave expired last year july 30th.

[vinny]

Did she apply before July 30th 2012?

[Amber]

She's was a PBS dep. You should have been given the right of appeal if she applied before her leave expired, has the solicitor appealed?

Or are you saying that you applied for FLR(M) and this was refused as you were not settled and the solicitor put in FLR(O) after leave expired?

[flyingv26]

@vinny actually we did apply through solicitor on 26th of july and somehow the application got lost in post and after dealing with all those royal mail hassles it reached home office on 15th of august. So it wasnt more than 28 days. And also my solicitor provided them with the evidence that it was royal mail's fault.
@amber
No we never applied through flrm, its just a typing error on the top post. My solicitor recommended the form flro and we got reply after 1 and a half year now and its a refusal with no right to appeal.

[flyingv26]

my solicitor has suggested the judicial review now

[Amber]

The date of posting is the date of application. Your solicitor needs to sort out the mess she has created and get an appeal in arguing that you have appeal rights as the application was posted before leave expired. Then ask the appeal to consider flr(m).

[flyingv26]

thanks for your help amber, my only concern now is that should i go ahead with the same solicitor or not? Because she's already messed up this case, would she be able to reason a good enough grounds on which we'll base our judicial reveiw?
Or should i go for some other solicitor but then he wont able to justify that little bit late application? dont know what to do? :s

[Amber]

When did you get a decision notice as you only have limited time to appeal? You can submit an appeal and state clearly that you should have appeal rights as you made an in-time application as per the proof of postage.

An appeal can be brought until the end of the time limit for appealing against a
decision which is 10 working days from receipt of the notice of decision. If the
decision is sent by first class post, the decision is deemed to have been received 2
days after it was sent, unless there is proof to the contrary

[vinny]

Has your wife satisfied the English Language requirement for FLR(M)?

[flyingv26]

@amber i got it yesterday on 17th of october, i'm not sure how i can ask for appeal when they've not even given right for appeal, itsonly going to be through judicial review isnt it?

@vinny yeah she's a dentist with her degree equivalent to uk's bachelor taught in english, also she did her ielts before coming to uk which has expired now but should be fine as her degree document would be enough

[Amber]

If for example, you have not been given the right of appeal because the SoS believes you made an out of time application then that will need addressing so that you can have appeal rights.