Adamg9331

Hi all just after your thoughts

My wife and son have been living in the UK since Easter while I'm still stuck here in Australia and we have come to the conclusion that there is no way we can meet the criteria of what the UK government is asking for.

So my Wife and father in-law contacted an immigration lawyer over there in the UK to get advise.

Basically she has told us that my application will be rejected under the grounds that we don't meet the financial requirements and once rejected she will then appeal it in a court of law and because a child is involved the rejection will be over turned and I will be granted a visa.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening I just thought I would ask as this route will basically cost me 3 times the amount because I have to pay her as well as the visa app fee

Adam

Kiwikaye

I have no idea, sorry, but will be really interested in any replies you get. Good luck.

37100

Ask the lawyer how many cases she has won and, if any, how long did it take.

Adamg9331

She told my father in-law that she never lost a case in 7 years but atm she is on holidays because of Christmas and I'm waiting for her to get back on the 5th so I can get more info

Adam

BritInParis

I would be very cautious about immigration lawyers who claim they can get around legislation, especially through the appeal process. I suspect it will end up costing you a lot of money and heartache and get you no further.

A recent example:

Quote:

We are now on our 3rd appeal and each time are given hope by our legal advisors- “this time you have an 80% chance of success”, “if you go to court you will have a 90% chance of success”. The new rules have created such a grey area in the law that they are misleading even our legal professionals onto whom we pin our hope and pay our fees.

The non-British spouse in this case is now awaiting deportation.

Man faces removal as UK wife's salary too low

I would be looking at proven solutions to this problem like Surinder Singh or whether you have any recent European ancestry that might entitle you to a passport or ancestry visa which sidesteps the financial requirements.

SanDiegogirl

Several stories over the past year or so where lawyers/MP's have become involved in cases where families are apart due to the financial requirements. Some have won their cases, some not. In all cases it took many months to resolve. (wonder why your lawyer mentioned 7 years, since your type of case has only been around since July 2012 when the new rules came in!)

In your case you decided to return to the UK after 13 years in Australia and were fully aware of the financial requirements. From your postings you relied on your wife obtaining the necessary income. Subsequently she has failed to do so.

One might say this was an outcome which could have been anticipated. Many well qualified people are out of work in the UK, so arriving in the country with a young child after being away for 13 years was going to prove a challenge in obtaining work quickly and at the necessary level.

Lawyers can be similar to doctors. They keep going until the money runs out.

What happened to your Austrian mother connection?

Adamg9331

I think that she saying never lost a case in 7 years I reckon she was speaking about her job as a whole not this type of case.

As for being fully aware about the financial requirements last time I looked into it all this bullshit they ask for now was never here but when my Mrs wanted to go it was all change but she thought she could get a job paying enough when I was more level headed in all this.

The other problem we have as well is that here in Australia I'm still paying rent while trying to save as much as possible and all the savings we have I gave to her plus over there she has the same to deal with as well as raising my son.

When we decided to live in Australia we were told by her family about how bad it was in the UK at that time so we never thought about going back as we used to fly over ever 18 months or so plus Australia is a lot more expensive than people think so saving money is hard or even harder in our case as my son was born through IVF

As for my European routes they were shot down in flames as each way I went about it I had to produce birth certs and passports in original docs which in my Mums & Grand parents case is impossible as my mum was born in a concentration camp and they came in as immigrants on a boat in 1950 so no passports either.

How hard is the Surinder Singh route?

Adam

Vadio

As SanDiegogirl said, the financial requirements changed in 2012, so if your wife & child have been in the UK since Easter, the current requirements were definitely in place.

Immigration lawyers are not cheap, and no matter what she says, your chance of winning are not great. No lawyer is likely to tell you 'forget about it'....why would they when a retainer is forthcoming?

mikelincs

you say your wife's family told you hiw bad it was in the UK, so you believed them, moved to Australia, but were you in the UK before moving? if so taking the advice of family about how 'bad' things are is purely subjective, and is a reflection of how they see things, you now find it's worse in Australia and are having difficulties getting back to a place that was so bad you couldn't live there before. This really does show that going on anything other than your own wxperiences and research is a bad idea. Ask a hundred people in the street how bad it is where they live and you will get replies varying from Great, to really horrible, but they are answers coloured by their experiences. I'm afraid that with the current climate about immigration, and the publicity being given to politicos who want to stop, or severley crub all future immigration, then the authorities are very unlikely to set precedents allowing people in who do not fulfil the requirements.
Personally I feel they are too draconian, however I'm not in any position to do anything about it.

Adamg9331

When we decided to live in Australia I was only holidaying in the UK and was not living there so all I had to go on was info from other people, I love the UK and Australia but as my wife was getting more and more home sick it was decided to make this move before we get too old and since being there I have seen my son excel in schooling more so than what he did in Australia.

I guess I will have to be apart from them a lot longer than I thought

formula

£18,600 is waaaay below the poverty line for for a couple (or single parent) with 1 child. For 1 child, the family is considered to be in poverty if the parents earn less than 26k. That's why the welfare state steps in to provide for that child so that a child isn't disadvantaged. Although, bizarely at the moment, the childs welfare money is given in cash to those parents.

Add another child into the family and the poverty line rises again, as does the money the welfare state provides for that child.

Even childless couples on £18,600 can ask the welfare state to help them with things such as their housing costs.

Although it's 'all change' under the welfare reforms, regardless of which party forms the next government.

formula

Adam, I see from your prevous posts that your wife only earns 13k and claims income based benefits. Do you realise that your wife can make this £18,600 to be able to sponsor you, from more than 1 job? She will need to advise the various benefits agencies of any income rise, which will reduce the benefits she claims. However, benefits (via the benefit called Working Tax Credits) will help her with up to 70% of her childcare costs. From April 2015, I believe this childcare help will no longer be regarded as a welfare payment and this childcare costs money will come to the parent as a tax free lump sum.

Once she has earned 18,600 for the required time and you have a spouse visa, she could reduce her hours, because your UK salary can be combined with your wife's salary to make the financial requirment for the next spouse visa.

Or do you work for a firm that has a UK office, have worked for them for at least 1 year and earn at least 20k, for a Tier 2 (ICT) visa to the UK? This visa doesn't lead to settlement, but once in the UK, you could switch to a spouse visa using your salary to meet the financial requirements.

Or do you have the skills to get a UK company to sponsor you on a Tier 2 (General) to the UK?

Another option as a final resort, is for you all to move to another EEA country for several months, but your wife willl need to work there and all her UK benefits will cease. However, you will be able to work in that EEA country too if your wife exercising her free movement rights i.e. working. You may be able to claim benefits from that EEA country if your wife works there and you still can't financially support your family. Under the present rules, you could return to the UK via the Singh route if your wife has been working in another EEA country, but you will not be able to claim benefits straight away from the UK and that includes no benefits to help pay for your child. You would also need too check the new NHS billing rules that are due to come in from April 2015, to see what you would be allowed from the UK healthcare service for free, as these rules have changed under the Immigration Act 2014. Of course, your wife and child would still be able to use the NHS for free when they rerurn, regardless of these changes, because they are British. You would also need to continually check any EEA rule changes (they seem to change all the time) and the UK's stance on the EEA, during your time in the UK.

On a UK visa route, you will also get free healthcare for yourself (although you may have to pay a small levy for this). It will also mean that when treatment in A&E ceases to be free for all in 2015/2016, your spouse visa route will still allow you to receive any treatment you might need, for free in A&E.

As you can see, if your wife takes another job/increase her hours for a few months, this would be your safest and quickest route to UK settlement.

Adamg9331

Yes I do realise that she can work more than one job but she also still needs to look after my son as her parents are getting older and don't really have the patience to look after him
I also looked into moving to another country but I don't really want to drag my son out of school again as he's doing really well

Here in Australia I work for a company called Fonterra they are based in the UK but there is no jobs there at the moment and no one here can tell me if I can transfer there

Adam

formula

Her parents' don't have to look after your son while your wife works because, as I mentioned above, the state will pay up to 70% of your wife's childcare costs if your wife uses a registered childminder.
https://www.gov.uk/find-registered-childminder
This childcare money comes via her claim for Tax Credits, which I assume is one of the beneifts she is claiming since she returned as she only earns 13K? If so, her claim is already set up and she will just need to give details of the childminder she is going to use and any other details required.
https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childca...re-tax-credits

Fonterra Logistics have a sponsorship license according to this list.
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...2014-12-30.pdf

These are the requirements to be elegible for a Tier 2 Inter company transfer visa to the UK, if a job comes up.
https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-intracompa...-visa/overview

If you fit the eligibilty requirements, can you push/beg them? Use any contacts you have in the UK office? Make a contact/s in the UK office?

Adamg9331

She does get a little money off the government but not much

That fonterra company is different to the one I work for the one I work for makes yogurt


Adam