Brisbanebrit

Morning all,

We are now on day 45 of our wait. We will wait it out to 60 days despite paying priority, but I wanted to know if there is any help (in the form of the MP intervention) for applicants whose sponsor is not in the UK? They seem to be very effective in moving things along, but I'm assuming our local Australian one will not hold much sway...

BritInParis

I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in any MP being able to speed up a decision when there is evidently a backlog. Much like paying priority when everyone else is, the effectiveness of a Parliamentary enquiry diminishes the more times they are received. That being said your Australian MP will have zero influence over the UK Home Office. Your UK MP will be the one you’ll need to contact. Your sponsor doesn’t need to be in the UK; you just need to contact the MP in the constituency in which they are registered to vote.

Brisbanebrit

Ok, thank you BiP, that's good to know, I know the backlog is what it is and theres mot much to change it, im more thinking if it goes on past the 60 and further (we had a fairly complicated case what with me being part time and then on mat leave using wages and savings with a wage that varied despite being permenant and employed for over 6 months). We also got bad advice (should've come here first but went to a lawyer) who overlooked my husband's ancestry and we thought because he had already used that visa and the lawyer didn't pick up on it that we wouldn't be able to apply for it again . Such is life.

Can I still contact the UK MP even if I haven't lived there for 5 years? I can't even remember the last time I voted, 2010 I think!

BritInParis

You can vote for up to 15 years after leaving the UK so that’s not a problem.

Are you referring to a UK Ancestry visa?

Brisbanebrit

Yes, basically we met in the UK whist he was on an ancestry visa. He had limited leave to remain, could've applied for his ILR but we chose to come to Australia. We contacted a lawyer who made no mention of this or that we could apply for it more than once and insisted spouse was the way to go. We assumed that was because it was a one use visa like the working holiday visa in AU. I then found out in a forum he could apply more than once but it was too late to cancel our current application.

​​​​​In short, its a mess, which has only added to our worry. We did put on our application all the details of his previous visa. I truly wish I'd come on here first because everything would have been much easier, quicker and cheaper.

spouse of scouse

You're a far more even tempered person than I am - I'd strangle that bloody lawyer! I know it's not a lot of consolation, but if it's necessary an ancestry visa application would process far more quickly - currently 70% within 15 days and 100% in 30 days. Wishing you the best of luck.

Brisbanebrit

Thank you, I'm channeling my inner zen at the moment for the sake of my children, but the few days after I found out I was furious! I'm viewing it now as a second chance if our spouse visa doesn't happen.

spouse of scouse

It's nice when the ankle biters save our sanity, usually it's the other way around Hopefully you'll hear very soon that his application's been successful.

Shadowfair

I have to say I have learned so much from this forum and wish I did not waste £500 on lawyer. I regret it so much for not using this forum thinking lawyers act in my best interest .

Brisbanebrit

The forum is a font of immigration knowledge. My reticence in utilising it earlier was born of the fact that I'm a little anti social media and online presence (that made proving our relationship fun with undated photos!)

Our bad advice goes even further...literally the words were "what did your last p60 say? That's fine you'll be fine". No mention of the difficulties in me being paid fortnightly (and how they work this out) or being on mat leave, or being perm employed since Sept but still on a variable wage (they take the lowest one! Dropped my actual wage by 6k) the list goes on. He didn't even point us in the direction of the FMSE, we found them pretty late in the game too!

Brisbanebrit

I should add, to clear up confusion, I was with the same company as a contractor on back to back contracts for 3 years, I was made perm in the sept, mainly so I could access the paid maternity leave entitled to me.

BritInParis

If your husband intends to work for the next five years I wouldn’t even bother continuing with his current spouse visa application. Withdraw it, reapply for another UK Ancestry visa and chalk up the waste of time and money to experience. I’d actually go one further and check with this forum whether your husband is entitled to British citizenship and skip the visa process altogether.

Brisbanebrit

Yes he does....that's very interesting to hear. We considered withdrawing, but seeing you type what you would do makes us think we should also trust our gut. I did say to hubby it's a good plan B, but it won't be as easy if we get refused for the spouse. Food for some very serious consideration. Seeing as people are waiting 80+ in Brisbane, it seems like an even better idea!

BritInParis

Once you start down one visa route you have to stick to it in order to qualify for ILR. For instance, your husband would have to stick to the expensive spouse visa route for five years as it stands to qualify for ILR. He could swap to a UK Ancestry visa from within the UK to save money but any time spent on his spouse visa would not count towards ILR so potentially an extra 2.5 year wait for ILR and citizenship.

Brisbanebrit

With the cost of the FLR (M) Vs the ancestry we actually break even by cancelling and reapplying over the course of the 5 years plus we leave all the heartache of the FLR application.

He has two grandparents born in the UK, he used his maternal grandfather last time, but also has his paternal grandmother who was born in London.