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on March 19, 2022
Our client, an Indian national, was over the moon following the decision by an Entry Clearance Officer to grant him a Spouse visa. Our client was previously residing in the United Kingdom having entered the UK with a Student visa. Unfortunately, he was not able to extend his visa and remained in the UK illegally. He was introduced to his spouse through friends and shortly after, the couple entered into a relationship. The couple’s relationship grew from strength to strength until they finally decided to get married
Naturally, his spouse was worried about his immigration status and had consulted with various lawyers who had advised for him to make an application under human rights laws.
Our client felt that he had a strong enough case for it to be successful if he applied for a visa from within the UK; however, he had many friends whose visas had recently been refused. He was unsure about what to do and crucially, whether he should apply from within the UK or return to India and seek entry clearance.
His spouse was in full-time employment and earning in excess of £18,600. She had been in employment for a number of years and felt that the financial requirement was met.
We advised our client that the matter not only had a legal element to it but also a human element. If he remained in the UK without making an application, he would be starting his married life on the wrong foot as well as causing unnecessary stress and strain on his relationship. Our client was advised that even if he was to make an application from inside the UK, he would always remain liable to being detained as he did not have immigration status in the UK.
We were able to assess the rest of our client’s circumstances and felt that they were able to meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules.
We felt confident that the law would support him and advised him to make the application from India. The added advantage of this was that he would be placed on the five-year route to settlement and not the 10-year route to settlement if applying from within the UK.
The application was prepared for our client while he was in the United Kingdom. This enabled us to prepare the application a lot more efficiently as he was able to pop into our office to provide documents and information.
Once we were ready with the application, he arranged to return to India and the application was submitted days after his arrival there.
After a five-week wait, our client received fantastic news that his application had been approved. The client was overcome with emotion following our call with him. Despite our preparations, he had a nagging doubt that the application would be refused as many of his friends told him that he would be unsuccessful because of his immigration history.
Overstaying in the UK does not necessarily mean that all future visa applications are bound to fail. If you have overstayed your visa in the UK and are thinking of applying for a visa to remain in the UK, contact us today to see how we can help.
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