Apply For A UK Spouse Visa

Our client, a Canadian National recently received fantastic news that his application for a Spouse Visa extension was approved.

We were contacted by our client looking to extend his Spouse Visa. The couple had been married a number of years and living together since his entry Our client’s spouse had been working in the UK for around 18 months in full time employment but was employed on a Zero hours contract.

In terms of the Financial Requirement, we advised our client that Zero Hour contracts are common in the UK and the Home Office will be aware of the type of documents applicants will have in this in this situation. We advised our client in his particular circumstances, we would need to aggregate his spouse’s earnings over 12 months and would need a letter from her employer confirming her employment in both the present and the future.

Following the submission of the application, our client recently received the fantastic news this his application was approved, 4 weeks after the application was submitted.

Our Client had applied on three previous occasions through another Immigration Solicitor for a Spouse Visa but had been refused on each of those occasions. Surprisingly, the Home Office seemed to raise a different issue on each occasion. Naturally, this left the Client and her Spouse frustrated and tired as they were unsure as to what the Home Office required from them.

Our Client was unable to provide us full copies of the previous applications so we arranged to have an electronic copy of her file sent to us from the Home Office which detailed her previous applications. After reviewing her case file, we noted that the Home Office were in fact wrong to refuse one of the previous visa applications.

We advised our Client of the documents that would be required for the application, not only to support the current application but also to counter the point raised by the Home Office previously. It was important for us to provide the Home Office with as many documents as possible to support this application as our Client would be submitting this application having already been refused three times. If not backed up with key evidence, the Home Office could take the approach of “skimming through” the application as previous points have not been addressed.

Following a wait of just 4 weeks, our client was contacted by the Visa Application Centre in Sylhet to collect her Passport. The Client was relieved to find that she had been granted an Entry Clearance Visa as a Spouse.

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.

His Spouse was in full time employment and was 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.

After a 5 week wait, our Client received fantastic news that his application had been approved.

Our Client, an American National had been married for around 6 months. Having gone through the Home Office website and some other forums, felt that the correct Visa to apply for was the Fiancé Visa. She believed that her marriage in the United States would not be accepted in the UK for Visa purposes and therefore began preparing the Fiancé Visa application.

A concern regarding the Financial Requirement led her to give us a call after which it was realised that she had prepared the wrong visa application.

How we helped

Our Client had made clear that the application would need to be prepared on an urgent basis. We prioritised her application to ensure that we could have the application prepared within 48 hours. Where normally we would take the application stage by stage, we agreed with the Client to work through the stages at the same time.

This required for us to provide our Client with a documents list which was needed for the correct type of application as our Client had collected documents for the Fiancé Visa. Our Client was unsure as to what information some of the documents would need to include. We discussed this at length with our client to ensure that the documents were in order and that she was aware of what the requirements were.

Our Client was issued with an Entry Clearance Spouse Visa after 14 working days following our application submission under the Priority Service route.

When our Client’s Partner first contacted us, she was unsure whether the Fiancé Visa or the Spouse Visa was the correct route. During our chat with her, we discussed the benefits of applying for both Visas and the cost and time implications.

Ultimately, our Client and his Partner opted for the Spouse Visa route as applying for the Fiancé Visa would mean that our Client would need to switch from the Fiancé Visa to the Spouse Visa after 6 months which would incur an additional Home Office fee. The Couple were happy to move forward with their wedding plans and therefore the Spouse Visa became the better option.

Our Client and his Partner were in a long term relationship having first met each other whilst both were working in Dubai. Due to the Pandemic, both lost their jobs and returned back to Pakistan and the UK respectively. The couple remained in touch and following introductions to each other’s family, they decided to marry.

Fortunately, our Client’s Partner secured employment in the UK upon her return. She relied on her 6 months’ payslips demonstrating that she was able to meet the financial requirement and was able to accommodate him too.

How we helped

We were able to lay out the two visa options to our Client, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages. The matter came down to cost and whilst it was in firm’s interest for our Client to apply under the Fiancé Visa, it was not in the Client’s best interest. We advised him honestly which he was extremely appreciative of.

We advised both him and his Partner of the requirements, specifically for someone employed for less than one year.

Our Client, after a wait of approximately 5 weeks was issued with Entry Clearance as Spouse to join his wife in the UK.

Our Client needed to join her husband in the UK urgently. Her Spouse was an International businessman who travelled for work extensively. Due to a change in her personal circumstances she wished to join her husband in the UK.

The Couple had in fact been married for a number of a years and had lived together in numerous countries over the last 10 years. Most recently, due to work commitments our Client’s Spouse had been working and living in the UK, establishing his own Company here. They were slightly worried as to how the Home Office would feel about the fact that they had been married for so long but had not applied for a Visa before.

We were able to file a comprehensive application providing a large amount of documents detailing all aspects of their relationship from the start until now. We filed detail letters from both our Client and her Spouse to ensure to humanise the application to make the Home Office understand why our Client and her Spouse were not able to make an application sooner.

Our Client was delighted to hear the news that she had been granted an Entry Clearance Spouse visa for 30 months.