This is top quality.
You spent some good money and got real value for your money. I see a perfect blending of skilled workmanship, quality materials, funding and adequate supervision. Congratulations Sir. Your contractor/architect/builder deserve a pat on the back.

Quite reassuring to find that it is still possible for diasporans to sponsor and have a successfully executed construction project. Especially when this is carried out a by a hitherto unknown(nairalandwise) contractor/architect/builder.

For those looking to leverage the contractor instrumental to the success being showcased here - note that the sponsor did say he made it a point of duty to be on ground for the groundbreaking and he engaged qualified Engineers and consulted another in his part of the world. He carried out his due diligence. You can spend all the money in the world and hire the best hands but without adequate supervision - one may or may not end up with this kind of good story being shared.

Does anyone know where to find the photos of the completed structure.
I know I once saw a pic of a completed block of 4 X 3flats and a duplex in the property section. There was 3 flats stacked on one side, with the duplex and 4th flat on the other side, but all in one block.

Or was it completed by another builder?

qwertygeni:


[color=#000099][/color]

Thank you lumidii for your beautiful and insightful synopsis

Dear op, I believe you need to avail us on the kind of environment where your edifice would be. This information is needed for a purposeful opinion as the kind of people around you would have great influence on your designs and desire.

I make bold to say that if you are just among the few rich house owners in your vicinity, kindly disregard any attempt to have a low/ see through fence cos you would definitely become a cynosure of both evil and good eyes. This is just besides the turning of your house to a mecca for those looking for charity from you, knowing fully well your worth from the display of your weatlth.

These days men of the underworld would follow you in gently like a member of the family without raising the slightest suspicion. More so, in many cases neighbours uphold the principle of 'to your tent oh Israel' when most crimes are happening. Kindly, know that be it high or low, see through or closed, most perimeter fencings are not fool proof. This reminds me of an attack on a supposed elite . The man had his fence broken at the base by these men of the underworld who came handy with tools. I think they killed his dogs one after the other, disarm his guards and made for the main house door which was bulletproof. As fortified as the house was, they gained entrance through the point where the point where the pipe coming from the water tank goes into the house. Who could have thought about this Achilles heel in a supposedly fortified house!

So make the best decision for yourself sir!

The incident you narrated reminds one of the saying "Security is a chain, and it is only as strong as its weakest link"

I have seen people spend so much on supposed security and then undermine that same security by leaving a huge gap elsewhere. It was commonplace for folks to barricade their doors with bolts on the inside, with an unsecured window right next to the door, and a thief just reaches a hand through the window to unlatch the bolts and gain unimpeded access.

Even the pic uploaded here by the advertisers of electric fence has a huge gap in between the arched gates and the electric wires and I wonder what's the point.

xreal:



I love your thinking. It's so straight forward.

We are talking security here, a security conscious person reason more illogically and less logically to curb insecurity.

A see-through fence is the best (as I said), because you need no 'gateman/human guard', your neigbors and passers-by will do the job for you FREELY and at all times .
When you have a fully ceiled and very tall fence, you have done 70% of the job for prospective robbers uninvited guest(s); 'cos they feel so secured once they scale over the fence, into the compound.

See-through fence really scare away robbers, let me not go much into details here...

If u got flashy cars, let them see, afterall they see you drive by, they know your worth.

Trust me, get a low fence, make sure ppl can see through, even if u plant flowers around the fence, they mustn't cover the perforated part of the fence; and get GUARD DOGS.

To each, his own.
I will not have a see through fence unless I am in a gated and secured estate where all the inhabitants are of relatively equal means.
People get robbed and killed in broad daylight, out in the open, on the highways, on the streets, and an argument is being put forward to rely on the bravado of neighbours to secure one's property? Rows of houses on the same street have been robbed for hours and the residents cower and scamper.

In a developing community - the purpose of my fence would be fortification and to repel any form of intrusion into my compound. And then there would be bullet proofed doors every step of the way.
Nothing is fool proof, but I would do all I can to protect me and mine.

msogunro:


I've checked every Google product on android, ios, and desktop. All show the entire area as bush, when most of it was cleared earlier this year. I also don't see a toggle to view by year.

You can modify your post.

The toggle is to flip back and forth between earth and maps.
See time slider below

[img][/img]

erico2k2:

check well bro cos I can see my build, and I can see my fence too,if not now check again say 2 weeks, do you have existing structures at that point? do you know what you immediate surrounding look like? cos that will help you know your patch

Msogunro says he's not getting his site on google. You can see yours on google.
Which google are you both referring to? Google maps or Google earth? Google earth desktop or the one for android?

If you are putting in the coordinates of your land - then you are good to go. I find it really accurate on google earth.

Plus google earth has a time slider that you can drag and it shows you images from 2005 to the latest acquisition date. There's a toggle button that allows you view the same spot on google maps - so you can toggle between the two. The latest date i saw for the spot i checked was June 29th, 2016. There's also a new google earth pro - which I've never used.

I had the chance to go on a tour of the Emergency Operations Centre, built three floors underneath the ground, in my neck of the woods - and they had this tool that shows real time live imagery of any address you pop in from different angles. It was as closest as you could get to 4K quality and this was on gigantic screens on the wall. I was wide eyed and asked tons of questions and I only contained myself after the Police tour guide asked me to send him my resume. And they also use a scaled down version of this tool to determine if residents have done any illegal builds or improvements(decks, fence, trees etc) without obtaining permits from the municipality. They had some real techy stuff there.

As an aside, do they have auto-correct on here for some typed words

Kingsproperty1:
Standard 5 Bedroom Fully Detached House with
Boy's Quarters in very decent location on tarred
road in an Estate, well built with very good finishing.
This well finished and neatly built 5-Bedroom duplex
with a room boy's quarters is built with a whole lot
of safety measures, high standard and well tested
building materials. All rooms are en-suite and very
spacious with large size in-built wardrobes. POP
Ceilings are built for beautification in all rooms,
living room, dining section, and kitchen. Kitchen is
very spacious with good quality, beautiful cabinets
and is fitted with Smoke Extractor. Very good
Security measures and Personnel are in place with
CCTV Camera, Intercoms, etc. The Compound has
ample parking space on Interlocking grounds,
Security House, Generator area, Portable Water,
etc.. For Outright purchase.
For inspection contact Mr Dimeji on 08089832962

Where exactly is this located?

gbadexy:

Greetings sir, I think the parties can come to some agreement. Perhaps covering land, legal fees and some compensation to enable the land owner procure land in a choice area at a reasonable amount.
I don't think any reasonable person with sense of empathy would allow such building to be destroyed even though the owner of the building may be at fault.

In most cases, by the time the court issues an order, the relationship between the two parties would have degenerated beyond what you are proposing. It would have taken years before getting to this stage. And there would have been warfare, not just in the courts but physical spiritual psychological verbal etc. Courts are a last resort in 9ja, every other means would have been exhausted.

What i do not understand is why would someone rush to erect a building on a land over which there is an unresolved dispute For me, if the title documentation hasn't been perfected - I'm not putting anything more than a fence on the land. I do not know the facts here but one can hazard a guess that whoever erected the building did so with impunity and brazenness. And that really irks.

topsy23:


@ Erico; in addition to what NlresidentQS says, the quantity surveyor is the person responsible for figuring out just what a construction project is going to cost. They have other roles too, especially making sure that construction costs are managed as efficiently as possible.

Quantity surveyors have this title because they prepare a ‘schedule of quantities’ — estimates of the material and labour costs — that contractors’ tenders can be measured against. (However, contractors are not selected for cost alone.) The schedule is also called a cost estimate.

Other names for people employed with quantity surveying qualifications include estimator, cost engineer, cost manager, cost analyst, project coordinator, project cost controller and cost planner.

Quantity surveyors’ main roles are:

• managing the finances for any kind of construction project, whether it’s a house, a high-rise, a bridge, etc

• working to keep the project on time

• working to keep the project within the budget

• making sure that construction costs are managed as efficiently as possible

• Resolving disputes between contracting parties in terms of measurements and cost
 
Before the project, the quantity surveyors calculate a budget based on their client's requirements. They prepare detailed estimates to ensure the budget is sufficient for each stage of construction.

Their main task is to find out what a construction project will cost, including materials, labour, and services.

A wide range of distinct and specialized roles have been lumped together here.
On smaller projects - the distinction between the roles become fuzzy and overlap. But on Mega-Projects running into hundreds of millions of dollars or billions- they are distinct and separate. You could even have 4 or 5 Cost Analysts working on each project phase. I am talking multinationals with advanced and effective Project Mgt Office setup. An estimator usually comes in after the project charter is drawn up, at the Initiation/Planning stage. He provides an estimate to the Project Manager based on what is known about the Project Scope. The estimate gets firmed up as the scope gets clearer. This gets locked down and becomes a Baseline Budget- against which progress and performance metrics is measured- EV, CPI, etc.

A project scheduler draws up a sequence of all activities to be carried out on a Project based on a Work Breakdown structure, and there are different levels of schedules depending on Project complexity. Project progress is also measured against the baseline schedule for metrics such as SPI etc.

A Cost Analyst carries out a continuous analysis of Project performance to see if it is under or overbudget. And he is more focused on historical costs.

A Project Controls Analyst takes it a step further by now projecting the Estimate at Completion. He looks at trends, scope changes, and highlights to the PM if there's going to be an overrun or a delay. There's a big element of forecasting and look-aheads in his role. What Project Sponsors detest is halting the project because of cost overruns. If there's a slippage - they need to know in advance so they can get the funding in place or look for ways of mitigating it.

Quantity surveyors do not manage project costs. At Project completion - lessons learned/lookbacks are conducted and the Estimator/Qty Surveyor will get the chance to see how accurate he was. He can also now use the completed project as a benchmark for future similar projects.

I don't know the Project Mgt methodology being used in naija though....On smaller projects the roles overlap.

aftatechbiz:
1,200 sqm of Land at Kolapo Ishola
Price = N12M

All enquiries to be directed to: AFTA TECHNOLOGIES, C6, Ijokodo Junction, Sango Eleyele Road, Eleyele Ibadan.
Tel. No: 08034123455, 08056320179.

Sir, Is this still available?

DCTrendy:
call me today.

Is this still available?
If yes - you mentioned 1.5 plot size, fenced and gated. Can you post the exact dimension of the land?
Is this bungalow positioned such that another small structure can be erected within the property?
What documentation do you have?
I would like to see some more pics of the property.

Many thanks.

Many thanks. Received.

msogunro:


Just replied to your email.

LoL.

That is commonplace in my part of the world. I've even reimbursed a neighbour who put up a fence without my prior agreement, for the sake of good neighbourliness on a rental property. He put up the fence right on the property line thereby "encroaching" and stealing 3inches of my land due to the width of the fence. I had the property line staked out by a survey company, pointed out to him his error, and i reimbursed him for half of the material costs attributable to the side of the shared fence.

He agreed it wasn't fair to expect me to pay for his labour costs as he did the work by himself and some of his friends. We had a good handshake and he has been helpful keeping an eye on the tenants for me.
.
Ohh...i just realised who i'm responding to. Thought it was msogunro. So you have made a quick move on this one? I doff my hat. Nairaland Avenue in the making...

EgunMogaji:


In haste, I think we might have a shared fence cost situation

@msogunro Kindly resend the agent's number. Had to update the email linked to NL.

msogunro:


Nice. Very nice.

@msogunro Congrats on the acquisition of your land. I'd been watching silently from the time you were deliberating whether to buy it or not. I was looking at buying already completed houses but the stuff i'm seeing on here in the property section is making me have a rethink. There's an indescribable joy in seeing those builds go up - even though they aren't mine. Just seeing the transformation from 3D to actual physical building is enough. If you don't mind me asking, how close is this to Green Springs Hotel? Are you able to share with me the details of the agent selling the next plot? Many thanks in advance.

msogunro:


Sure. Why not? I believe the corner piece next to my land is still available. If you're serious, I can give you the agents #. It's #2 million unless you're a superb negotiator.

@ edmanpumpin

Is this still up for sale?
What is the size of the land? If i can have the dimensions please.
What title does the property have- Survey & Agreement?

Edmanpumpin:
Tenement Building, 8 Rooms Up/Down at Benjamin Eleyele Ibadan.
Documents:-- Survey & Agreement.
Price:--- #7Million Asking.

Contact Eddie Tokunbo on 08160121265 or 08095612214
Whatsapp:---- 09052279456 or Murphy_sparrow@yahoo.com

egbedore:
I have a very nice and cheap 4 bedroom storey building for sale in Ibadan at a giveaway price of just 10M.

It also has a BQ at the back. Fenced round with double gate. Suitable for school,or any other use.

Contact me today,pay,and pack in.

Lest I forget the property has C of O

Check my signature for my contacts. Thanks

Where in ibadan is this property located?

fullblast:
This property is as close as 250m to St Louis Grammar Sch and has been in this state for about 3 years. It's source of water is well.
My sincere advice is for an on the spot assessment to be carried out. All documents n drawings are available. Pls do call for more details. Thanks for your immense patience.

Thank you. I shall ring you later on today.
Regards,

fullblast:
Awaiting the owneR this July

Any response to my questions?

TouchstoneNgr:
Wardrobe closet in cappuccino laminate.
We did this almost a year ago in July, 2015. Stumbled on it while checking old projects.

I'd been looking for something like this for quite a while. Most of the designs and pictures of builds i've seen on here are just wardrobes installed in one corner of the bedroom. And they just stick out like a sore-thumb, multi-million naira mansions with ugly wardrobes. I guess its a cultural thing - we're not inclined to spend much on closets. Walk in closets aren't that difficult to embrace and i don't even think they are that expensive - except that they take up space. I also saw a Pantry with Shelves that you posted. A very welcome idea. Those are some of the things i'd like to incorporate in my project once it kicks off.

Well done!

[quote author=fullblast post=46895678][/quote]

For how long has this building been in its current state?
How close is this to St Louis Grammar School?
Is the price negotiable?
Do you have better quality pictures you can email to me?
What is the size of the land the house sits on?
What documentation does the property have?
Is there a well or borehole on the property?
Can i see a soft-copy of the floor plan/structural drawings of the property?

nearest:

Where are all the phone engineers asking people to come here for help? please help, provide solution for the above problem please!

What you to do is to do a hard reset on the device ie, remove the battery and put it back in after about 30secs.

If the uncaught exception error does not disappear, then you need to do a software reload on the BB device using the apploader in the Blackberry desktop manager.

Let me know the handheld software version on your device. navigate to

options --- about , and then go to the 3rd row and read out the handheld software. It starts with a V, and post on here for me.

I might start a thread specifically for BB software issues if time permits me,

Imeobong:

Thanks very much guys for your genuine suggestions, I will give it a try and will keep you posted.

Please how long will it take me to get the visa? and is it wise including my wife and children?

If you do qualify under the "list of 38", you will be looking at anything in between 6months to 12months to get your visa. There are a few tips that can help you get your visa in 6 months, if you avoid some common pitfalls folks fall into. But this site isn't the best place to get those. There are specialist immigration forums for those, and it is absolutely free. All the info you need is on the cic.gc.ca site posted above, but there is a whole lot of info on it. You have various resources like the guides, bulletins, manuals, updates etc, and it can be overwhelming if you don't know which info is relevant for your category and could take weeks of reading for you to really understand the whole process. If you have the time to go thru all the details, you can do it yourself; if not, and funding isn't an issue - then you can engage a consultant, but pls make sure its an OISC registered one in good standing.

You will do well not to go by hearsay, but strictly by what you see on the cic site. Each visa office has its specific documentation requirements, which gets updated from time to time. Many have fallen foul by going ahead to do what their friend did 6months earlier only to get their application rejection/delayed.

Oh yes, you need to include your wife and kids on the forms, even if they will not accompany you to canada at this time. You have to disclose the fact that you are married with children, but you may elect on the forms that they would not be travelling with you, however they all need to be examined(whether travelling or not) and any of them found inadmissible automatically disqualifies you the main applicant.

You may check the sites below to see how others in your shoes are faring, and check out the threads of nigerian applicants.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/index.php#2

You can also look at the immigration.ca site someone mentioned earlier.
Any more questions, just post,

bossboss:

Pls,does anyone have an idea if  bank draft issued on U.S dollars is accepted recently along with d application forms on Permanent residence Permit since i can not get canadian bankdraft from our nigerian banks?
your assistance is highly appreaciated.
thks

Bossboss,
USD denominated drafts is not acceptable to the CiC, if the applicant goes ahead with a US Draft, it will be returned by CiC along with the application, and its back to square one. What you can advise the applicant to do is to get someone in the UK or US or Ghana to help out with the Canadian Drafts from their UK bank, and you can then give them the naira equivalent by creditting their naira account at home or whatever you agree on. If your friend applied under the C-50 FSW list of 38, only Canadian drafts is acceptable. It is CAD 550 for the APRF, and CAD 495 for the RPRF. Do not let anyone deceive or mislead you. What i am saying is what obtains as at today under the c-50 rules. Your friend will do well to visit the CiC site, there is a wealth of info on there from manuals to guides, to bulletins etc. See the link for the latest CiC guide for Permanent Residence Applications

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/EG7.pdf

Trackitt and canadavisa forums are also very useful in that there are many applicants you can share from their experiences and timescales. Just a simple google search will bring up forums for you. All the best.

phantom:

Lumidii,hi,sorry i want to find out is it true you can sponsor your relatives on the highly skilled visa cos my sis and her fiancee applied from the uk about 4months ago.hes been asked to bring some other documents within 120days.So wat do u think about the prognosis?

Sorry for the late response. I do not frequent N'Land. Your Sister is progressing in the FSW application. Since you say she applied 4months ago, it then implies that her field must be in one of the list of 38 qualifying occupations. The initial stage is processed in Sydney NS Canada, where application forms only are assessed for payments, eligibility and completeness, and invalid ones are returned to the applicant. It appears your sister's aplication has been deemed eligible, so the CiC will send her file electronically to the local visa office responsible for her country of residency or citizenship, and she will be sent a Notice of Assessment, along further instructions to forward a full application consisting of the initial forms along with the NOA, and visa office specific suporting documentation within 120days to the local visa office. I believe this is the stage your sister is at.

Upon submission of the documents, the local visa office(UK or Accra) will then review the application for eligibility under criterias such as education, proof of funds, adaptability, work experience, language proficiency in Eng or french, age etc. At this stage, the applicant may or may not be called for interview, depending on the circumstances of the applicant. They always endeavour to make decisions based on the picture the applicant has painted in the submissions, and in most cases interviews are waived, but they may also ask for more info/docs or even call one up at a later stage. It is always a good idea to apply for what they call a CAIPS notes whenever one is invited for an interview, as that gives one a snapshot of the processes the application has gone thru, and the reasons why the CiC officer has called one up for an interview, and that enables one to be equipped having seen the case thru the eyes of the caseworker.

This is then followed by security checks and medical requests, a majority of those who get medical requests are almost through - once the med results are deemed okay. The next stage is the Passport Request, and the payment of the Right of PR fees by applicant and spouse. All approved applicants have a year from their date of medical exams to land in Canada as the COPR always carry a one year expiry date from the date of the medical examination. In cases where the process is not completed 12months after the medicals, medicals will have to be retaken.

In a nutshell, your sister is doing fine, and she could be a Canadian Permanent resident by December under the the new scheme.

Applicants can include their spouse and dependants in their applications, but only applicants, spouse and legal children will be issued PRs. Other members of the family can only be sponsored under different categories like Family class or Provincial Nominee streams, but it is always imortant to include them in the forms for additional family information.

davidylan:

That's because you didnt properly read the documentation. What you submitted was a preliminary document that places you on a waiting list that can take donkey yrs. The only people allowed to fill the main form and are sure of getting visas (if they pass the 67 point score) are those who are either legal residents in Canada or the US (for at least 1 yr).

You on the other hand start praying they notice your form in the next 5 yrs.

Err, Sir, you are off the mark on this one. Under the new revised system, it is the aim of the cic to ensure new applications are brought to completion within 6-12months regardless of the locality of the visa office involved. The Minister issued a statement late last year, shortly before the FSW revision got publicised, the Govt have been informed by labour leaders that their immigration promotion has to be targeted towards those sectors in which there is a shortage of skilled manpower - hence the list of 38 occupations came about. The canadian job market is very dynamic, hence the reason for there to be a responsive immigraton policy targeting immediate needs, the whole process will be pointless if visa offices take upwards of two yrs to issue PR visas to applicants adjudged to have been eligible, as there might be no need for those skilled workers by the visas are being issued few years down the line.

Admittedly, it remains to be seen if visa offices around the world are complying with the ministerial instructions, as it is only a few months yet, but from what i havee seen so far - Accra visa office is doing very well in this regard. I've seen a few people make considerable progress within January and now, and the visa office responsible for their application is accra. CPC Sydney, in cases i've seen, takes less than a month to acnowledge applications, and forward the files to visa offices around the world. Some have gotten to the medicals stage just between january and now, and that is as fast you would experience anywhere in the world.

cnonyechi:

no i posted it myself thru dhl

cnonyechi: Sorry to hear that your application got returned. Please familiarise yourself with cic canada site, before despatching your package to Sydney NS, there is comprehensive guide without which you cannot fill-in the forms without making errors. I shall send the links to you for you to see, and the latest forms too, chances are if you sent your package to Ghana then its also likely that you were also using outdated forms. One of the reasons the accra visa office is so slow is because of the sheer amount of invalid/incorrect applications it has to deal with due to applicants not having access to information.

Another error so many people make is not ensuring they get a draft denominated in CAD, some just settle for USD once their bank says no, and send the USD equivalent in bankers draft to Sydney - and then the application gets returned which then sets them back by two-three months. The links are below, so that anybody else interested can benefit from it, and if the moderator yanks it off - i shall send it your e-mail.

The forms are below

And here are the forms for you to fill out, they are four different forms in all.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm0008egen.pdf

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm0008_1e.pdf


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5406E.PDF


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm0008_3e.pdf

funso77:

Hotstepper, good afternoon. I am really interested in immigrating to Canada before the year runs out and all my hands has been on deck ever since. I came across a website: www.immigrationexpert.com, who helps with immigration matters but i do not know how authentic they, i mean legitimate. Can you also further shed more light on the Canadian Skilled immigration Visa Process. I have the form but according to details from the www.cic.gc.ca (another site) proposes that i have to be employed by a canadian firm or individual before i can process the visa. Basically, i can finance my travelling but i do not want to come over and be redundant there thereby settling for a lot less than what i have already envisioned. Or can you help me out if i can forward my c.v to you for applications. i have even been on recruitment agencies in canada's database, but nothing come up yet. my name's ayo and you can reach me on my addy: ayoosuntokun@yahoo.com. All information is welcomed. appreciate ur help.

Funso77: Someone tried to point you in the right direction by suggesting you visit the cic canada website, there is a wealth of info on that site, and you'll be amazed at what you will discover. There is now a list of 38 occupations which are eligible for the Federal skilled worker scheme, and the prescribed timeframe for completion of the whole process is under a year. You only need a year's work experience on any of the list of 38 to be eligible, so have a look on the site. Its really sad that our folks are so lazy in researching, that they'd just go act on what anyone tells them. The FSW scheme was revamped late last year, and yet some people are still forwarding applications to Accra instead of Sydney NS! You also have the Provincial Nominee programmes to look into, and then there's Quebec Selection Stream, and other temporary migrant schemes like student, live-in-caregiver, temporary worker etc. You have so many options, do not despair.

@ Promise2, Regular education is free in Finland, but not all MBAs are. It appears some MBA programs are run privately on a business model and being offered under a different set-up entirely. The same applies to Sweden. However, please be mindful that Sweden is thinking of following the footsteps of Denmark, 2009 will be the last time that Non-EU/EEA national will be allowed to study tuition free in Sweden. They are thinking of tapping into the huge market of charging International Students from outside the EU. No fees have been set at mo, but it is being deliberated upon, and they do feel that they would still remain a choice destination for International students.

brownbonno:

Lumidii,

Thanks for the contribution,but if you read Judgments - R (On The Application of Baiai and Others) V Secretary of State For The Home Department(House of Lord opinion),it is clear that the HO cannot assume a sham marriage from the face of document provided.In any case i am on the poitive side.

I am familiar with the general gist of that case, was that not to do with the right to marry within the UK? CoA, CoE etc. I'll read up on the facts of the case just to be sure.

Sweeping changes are on the way, there are proposals for UK citizens to obtain a permit before proceeding abroad to engage in marriages; the qualifying age was also raised recently, if i'm right. It ain't getting any easier for migrants with irregularities in their status, and the government of the day is fighting the battle of its life, the tougher they get on immigration-the better their chances of survival at the next elections.

The concessions apply to JohnThomas, but then again, he could also be caught by the exceptions to those concessions. His case is not straight forward. I'm not trying to be a spoilsport here, but its beneficial for him to be aware of traps that could jeopardise his applications. His marriage was after the ban, and the subsequent concessions. The ECO has to be convinced that it is indeed a genuine one.

These old discretionary rules for refusing leave to enter are of course replaced by the new rules 320 (7A) and 320 (7B). The potentially drastic effect of rule 320 (7B) upon people’s human rights is what the concessions are trying to address. But there is an exception to the concessions. When Lord Bassam announced the concession whereby the rule changes wouldn’t apply to anyone who left the UK before 1 October 2008 could not be relied on by people he also said:

“I emphasise that that does not mean that those people will automatically be allowed to come back. They will need to meet all the other requirements of the Immigration Rules. The BIA will also, as now, have the discretion to refuse them if they contrive in a significant way to frustrate the Immigration Rules; for example, by contracting a bogus marriage, which we know happens”.

Liam Byrne repeated this exception when he announced the second concession on 13 May.

This exception – “contriving in a significant way to frustrate the immigration rules” is the booby trap here.

The new paragraph 26.17.5 reads:

“
'Contrived in a significant way to undermine the intentions of the immigration rules' test

'Contrived in a significant way to undermine the intentions of the immigration rules' is where an applicant has previously been an illegal entrant, overstayed, breached a condition attached to his leave or used deception in a previous entry clearance, leave to enter or remain application, but only where there are aggravating circumstances. Aggravating factors include offences such as not complying with reporting restrictions, using multiple identities, a sham marriage, harbouring an immigration offender and facilitating/people smuggling. This is not an exhaustive list and all cases must be considered on their merits taking into account family life in the UK and the level of responsibility for the breach in the case of children. ECOs will need to obtain ECM authorisation for all refusals under Paragraphs 320(7A) and 320(7B) of the immigration rules.”

For him to stand a chance, his application has to be watertight. He has to prove that the relationship is genuine, it would help if he has evidence to show that his relationship had been in existence prior to the commencement of the ban. The UK government knows there's a loophole that could be exploited, and hence they've attempted to put a plug on it.
Just my own view, and i'm not even an immigration solicitor.

johnthomas:

Hi bro, am very happy for you,your case is a big testimony, i have likewise issue here, i was removed to nigeria from the uk about 2 years ago and i just got married to my old british/white girlfriend some weeks ago,is there a possibility that i can get a visa back to the uk under this new rules even though i am married to a british but wont they take my removal from the uk as a clause.please i need advise on that,secondly as a nigerian married toan EU/BRITISH citizen,i and my wife would like to visit france for our honeymoon, i went through the schengen visa form and less questions were needed fom spouses and dependants of EU/EEA citizens,please can anybody advise me on what we will need to present at the french embassy.thanks

JT,

I would advice you take the pains to go to the BIA website, UK Immigration rules have gone thru a massive overhaul in the past few months. You would have been subjected to a ten year ban, under the rules that came into force on 1 April; but the ILPA forced the home-office to grant some exemptions to those who otherwise would have been subjected to the ban, sometime in may, and then the home office later made some exceptions sometime in June to those exempted from the initial ban. All a bit confusing really, but there are still going to be further changes in the rules.

As it stands, you need to seek legal advice, some may say you've been exempted from the 10-year ban, but the ECO has to refer to the circumstances that led to your earlier removal. The critical clause in the exceptions to the exemptions is as follows "Even if someone is exempted from a re-entry ban because of a concession, he or she may be refused an application to return to the UK if: * he or she does not satisfy other requirements of the Immigration Rules * if he or she has "contrived in a significant way to frustrate those rules"

Now, you have gone ahead to contract marriage to a 'UK citizen' after the ban, the onus is on you to prove that the marriage is indeed genuine, and not in-order to circumvent the rules, and get an exemption from the ban. Parigi's case above is slightly different from yours, he'd not been removed, and more importantly the marriage was an existing, and subsisting one with kids; so the facts are different. Please seek legal advise from a reputable solicitor, and be honest with your application. All the best.