I'm British and my FI is currently on the second year of his post study visa

Anyone here had to apply for a certificate of approval to get married in the UK? How long did it take? FI and I posted our application 28 November 2009, got a confirmation of receipt the following week. Four weeks later nothing, then today we receive an envelope with just our passports inside. No letter, no compliment slip and none of our supporting documents returned.

Is this the normal process, do they always send your passport back first, then the COA?

Anyone here had to apply for a certificate of approval to get married in the UK? How long did it take? FI and I posted our application 28 November 2009, got a confirmation of receipt the following week. Four weeks later nothing, then today we receive an envelope with just our passports inside. No letter, no compliment slip and none of our supporting documents returned.

Is this the normal process, do they always send your passport back first, then the COA?

@ VOR

We did and have considered the fiancé visa, but it has restrictions on the ability to work and seeing as he has a job and has been working for the past one year, it wasn't a good option for us.

Thanks again.

Thanks for your response - you have been really really helpful and have helped us decide.

He came into the UK as a student and switcher over to a one year IGS visa after he graduated from university and was in the process of getting the second year under transistional arrangements.

Just out of interest, all this information you know, is it common knowledge or are you a specialist in this area?

The lawyer doesn't seem to think he has overstayed. Is he counting from the wrong refusal (the Tier 2 instead of Tier 1)?

Also if he leaves now and he isn't classed as overstaying, will he banned from entering if we apply from Nigeria?

On what grounds would he banned from re-entering? He hasn't done anything 'wrong'.

@ JJM

Thanks so much for your response JJM. That has been my worry all along. His last letter from the Home Office which came with the refusal stated that he needed to contact the law enforcement office before the 8th September to collect his passport and provide details of how and when he will return home.

We contacted them on the 2nd, they didn't have his passport back yet. They then rang us a couple of days later to say they have it and we should book the flight and come back to them when we have the ticket and they will release his passport. In these situations how long is a reasonable time for you to book your flights and leave?

This whole thing is a mess (over a £800!). I really don't want him to be classed as overstayed because he hasn't and any decision he made (re-applying) was made on the instruction of either his employer or a lawyer.

The judicial review is not cheap and I do not want to have to go through all of this, to have a negative result and we're back to square one. I am much more comfortable with fighting the marriage case as we will have no issues providing the evidence.

Why would the lawyer say we have a strong case if we clearly don't?

Thanks so much for your response JJM. That has been my worry all along. His last letter from the Home Office which came with the refusal stated that he needed to contact the law enforcement office before the 8th September to collect his passport and provide details of how and when he will return home.

We contacted them on the 2nd, they didn't have his passport back yet. They then rang us a couple of days later to say they have it and we should book the flight and come back to them when we have the ticket and they will release his passport. In these situations how long is a reasonable time for you to book your flights and leave?

This whole thing is a mess (over a £800!). I really don't want him to be classed as overstayed because he hasn't and any decision he made (re-applying) was made on the instruction of either his employer or a lawyer.

The judicial review is not cheap and I do not want to have to go through all of this, to have a negative result and we're back to square one. I am much more comfortable with fighting the marriage case as we will have no issues providing the evidence.

Why would the lawyer say we have a strong case if we clearly don't?

Hi everyone. Needs some advice please.

I am a British citizen and my fiancé of two years has had two in-country (UK) visa renewal applications refused by the HO. First one was a Tier 1 Post Study Work, refused on the grounds of not meeting maintenance. We mmisunderstoodthe requirements for the 800 pounds. We were given no right of appeal as the application was made out of time.

To give some background, his initial application was made in time, however was returned four weeks later (after his leave expired) as invalid as the forms had changed. We weren't aware of the update.

On receiving the refusal his employer (A rated sponsor) agreed to sponsor him under Tier 2. We got the PIN number and maintenance letter and with a strong cover letter, sent everything off. We had no reason to believe it would not fail as all the criteria was met (or so we thought). The application was considered and after 7 weeks we received another refusal stating that the salary he was being paid was not at the minimum required for his job code and they were refusing the application on those grounds.

As you can imagine we were devastated by this as we were not aware of job codes etc and believed that his employer knew what they were doing.

He then made the decision to go back to Nigeria, with me to follow in a few weeks and do a court wedding and apply to return under the husband visa as I am UK citizen. We have now been advised by a immigration solicitor that if we do that he may not be allowed back in the country for a min of 2 years and that we should challenge the Home Office decision via a judicial review.

We are really confused. We don't want to jeopardised his record by over staying but we really don't understand what this judicial review will do. Are we taking a big risk to stay in the UK and do the judicial review, as opposed to going back home and getting married?

Any advice or thoughts welcome!

Hi everyone. Needs some advice please.

I am a British citizen and my fiancé of two years has had two in-country (UK) visa renewal applications refused by the HO. First one was a Tier 1 Post Study Work, refused on the grounds of not meeting maintenance. We mmisunderstoodthe requirements for the 800 pounds. We were given no right of appeal as the application was made out of time.

To give some background, his initial application was made in time, however was returned four weeks later (after his leave expired) as invalid as the forms had changed. We weren't aware of the update.

On receiving the refusal his employer (A rated sponsor) agreed to sponsor him under Tier 2. We got the PIN number and maintenance letter and with a strong cover letter, sent everything off. We had no reason to believe it would not fail as all the criteria was met (or so we thought). The application was considered and after 7 weeks we received another refusal stating that the salary he was being paid was not at the minimum required for his job code and they were refusing the application on those grounds.

As you can imagine we were devastated by this as we were not aware of job codes etc and believed that his employer knew what they were doing.

He then made the decision to go back to Nigeria, with me to follow in a few weeks and do a court wedding and apply to return under the husband visa as I am UK citizen. We have now been advised by a immigration solicitor that if we do that he may not be allowed back in the country for a min of 2 years and that we should challenge the Home Office decision via a judicial review.

We are really confused. We don't want to jeopardised his record by over staying but we really don't understand what this judicial review will do. Are we taking a big risk to stay in the UK and do the judicial review, as opposed to going back home and getting married?

Any advice or thoughts welcome!