ESA does not constitue financial exemption on requirements

[grungeandgaze]

Hi,

I met a Russian woman in Manchester last July and she had to leave in January when her student visa expired as she had not found work. We applied for a fiancé visa so she could come back to marry me. The Home Office informed me that my receipt of ESA would exempt me from meeting the financial requirements, they also led an investigation into the validity of our relationship and determined it was real and that we were allowed to marry. However, the fiancé visa was denied because ESA, in the eyes of the Home Office, is considered an income based allowance, not a disablitiy based one, although it is indeed listed under the official list of disability allowances on the gov website.

My plans are now to try and get to Russia in June to marry there are she is technically banned from the UK until my situation changes. However, even married, I would need to earn 18.6k/year, which isn't easy with my disability.

I have started a petition and would ask as many of you to sign and share this petition if possible to try and correct this wrong. I have turned everywhere for help, but it is fruitless

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125682

Thanks