6 April changes - advice please
 

I have just been looking at the latest advice from the Government regarding changes to visas because of the Coronavirus. The guidance includes the following statement

”You can apply from the U.K. to switch to a long term visa until 30 May 2020. This includes applications where you would usually need to apply for a visa from your home country”.

MY son (UK citizen etc) is married to a Costs Rican National and until recently, they had expected to apply for a Family Visa in the normal way via Panama. However, this new guidance seems to imply that, if she were to come to the U.K. as a tourist, in May, she could then do the online application process for the Family Visa from WITHIN the U.K. (as long as she met the 30 May deadline) which would be great because she would not have to leave the country again to apply (they had originally envisaged going to stay in Lisbon for a period of time).

Does anyone have a view on this?

Many thanks

JOHN

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

This recent thread may help - https://britishexpats.com/forum/citi...ing-uk-932005/

Welcome to BE.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

Hi John.

The advice you reference is for people who are already in the UK and are unable to leave due to travel restrictions or self-isolation due to the coronavirus, hence the concessions made. As your daughter in law is not in the UK this temporary rule change is not applicable to her.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavi...y-uk-residents

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

That thread was a bit different christmas, as the poster's wife is already in the UK on a visitor's visa. Even she is not able to apply for a long term visa under the temporary change in rules, as her visa doesn't expire before 31 May.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

That's why I linked to that thread, the last post from BiP said that it's only for those with visas expiring before then, which wouldn't apply to the OP's daughter-in-law. If they applied now from their home country there's a chance they could move in May isn't there? Assuming Panama does priority processing of course.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

Oh yeah :D I was coming at it from another angle, sorry for the confusion.

What I was getting at in my round about way was the OP is asking if his daughter in law could travel to the UK now on a tourist visa, and then apply for a spouse visa while she's in the UK. It wouldn't matter if her tourist visa expired before 31 May or not, the temporary changes in the rules are for people who are 'stuck' in the UK because they can't leave, not for people to deliberately travel to the UK now in order to circumvent the 'apply from your home country' rule.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

yes, they had originally planned to apply online and then visit Panama for their visa interview. However, Panama is currently closed off and the visa centre is closed (so no Priority applications either)

i am am trying to find a way for them to get the Family Visa as quickly as possible without the faff of having to go and live outside of the U.K. for a period of time.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

:thumbsup:

Where are they both living now?

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

They are both currently living in Costa Rica.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

She does not actually need a visa in order to visit the UK as a tourist so she would have no visa to “run out” if you get my drift....

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

But as a visitor she would only be admitted for a finite period of time, which would expire. Further to the above advice, if your DIL is able to travel to the UK it will defeat the clause of the visa rules relaxation that specifies that she can apply in-country only if she can't travel,

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

Yes, I am sure you are correct. Many thanks to everybody for the replies.

Re: 6 April changes - advice please
 

No, this exception would not apply to your daughter in law.

This applies to those people already in the UK and are unable to leave the UK due to travel restrictions.

If your daughter can fly into the UK, she can fly out. - not likely to be able to fly into the UK now, as nearly all commercial flights from Costa Rica to UK have been suspended.