# Just my luck! Someone please give me advice



## KayKay (Oct 2, 2010)

Hello fellow expats.

I applied for my Fiance visa for the Uk on :
Monday, November 15th, 2010.

I completed and paid for the application that same day. Printed it off and signed it, and booked a confirmation appointment for my biometrics to be taken.

Biometrics were taken on Thursday, November 18th, 2010. They also stamped the paper they were supposed to ,signed it and returned it to me after fingerprints and photo were done. 

That very day I went to the Post Office. I paid to have Express overnight delivery with tracking and confirmation. If I could I would have gone to New York City myself to hand in the application because I only live 20 minutes away.

Next day I got the tracking conf. email FROM USPS saying my application and supporting documents were signed for by someone from the consulate..Great news. I didnt have to stress!

Now I wasnt sure if the Consulate was supposed to email me when they got my envelope or when they finally opened it, now since they got it on Fri. morning and theyre off all weekend I figured they didnt open mine..I also put my correct email and phone number-house and cell and Fiance's correct contact details too of course. But I heard no response off them at all. 

Also I wrote on the back of the very large envelope in Permanent marker-Fiance visa Settlement application. So that it would get to the right employees desk. 

Now I know its only just been sent on the 19th...They were off for Thanksgiving ,Black Friday and now all weekend long, but someone said I should have heard from them. 
So I freaked out and emailed World Bridge saying I never received a CP Tracking Number off the VAC. What should I do, they definitely got it..

Also I am just freaking out because I went to the UKBA website and The online system form was changed and the Fee is now higher but the changes were made on Nov. 22! My application was paid for and sent to them on the 19th. Is my application going to be denied and forgotten just because they changed the information days later?

I seriously do not know what to do. As if I was not stressed enought now I am about to give myself an ulcer here. Please any kind advice, would be greatly appreciated. 

Im sorry for this being a long rant, I am so worried. I dont expect them to email me ,I am waiting patiently they can take their time but now that they changed everything sort of, and someone said they should have emailed me I dont know what to do.


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## advice_needed (Nov 27, 2010)

KayKay, 

I wish I could help you and tell you something positive. But, I know what you mean, I have been all over the UK Boarder Website, and I know about that fee change. It is now $1200 for the fiancee visa. Please keep me posted and know how you make out. I am hoping you get it and you should since your application was processed before the 22nd. 

I am also trying to find a way to get back to my boyfriend in the UK. I am just getting home from visiting with him on the 17th this month. He needs my help and we want to get married but, I know that we will be denied the visa because he is unemployed and collecting public funds and lives in a city council house. We have been dating for nearly 2 years and I am going broke visiting him. He is not unemployed because he is lazy but, because he is the legal guardian of his 3 year old daughter and has no one to watch her while he works and cannot afford childcare. I want to go back so that I can care for his daughter while he works. Then, maybe we can start to discuss when we should get married. 

I also have children from a previous relationship. The father of my children and I are friend and he has agreed to continue to pay child support for his children if I move. So, I have an income and I won't be a burden on the government and I can prove that. His mother also, agreed to let me stay with my children in her spare room until he can afford to rent us a proper house (even though the boys and I plan to live with him and his daughter). But, I do not have $1200 just to be denied the visa. 

So, hopefully you will get yours cause their is no refunds. And if you have any advice for me. I would love to hear them. Cause I am desperate. Now, I just want to be with the man I love and his daughter cause I love her to pieces as well. She is the daughter I always wanted but, never got.


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

KayKay said:


> Hello fellow expats.
> 
> I applied for my Fiance visa for the Uk on :
> Monday, November 15th, 2010.
> ...


I'd give them a ring Monday and just ask whether they had received the application. E mail is great, but the old fashioned telephone will be able to put your mind at rest. Good luck!


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## KayKay (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks guys..I have emailed World Bridge last night and they will get back to me..I have a feeling im just over reacting again as usual..I think we'll be okay..I sent in everything they needed..They definitely got my stuff, it's just this stupid holiday everybody has off..Lol I think I applied the wrong time..But it's the right time for me and Im very much looking forward to moving to the Uk. I will keep you all posted and please keep me updated ,and let me know if you hear anything you think I should know..Thanks!


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## Redrose26 (Dec 4, 2010)

*Am in the same position!!*

Hi Kay Kay,

i was reading your forum and I can only imagen how you must be feeling. I am in the same situation as you or so i think...Am an American citizen and my husband is British citizen. We had gotten married in the UK. And since I had to apply for a spouse visa I had to come back to America. 

I sent in my application paper work and all November 10! and still havent heard anything. Our paper work and application had to be sent to the New York Con. I thought it would be straight forward aplication.. Yet we have not received any emails or anything. My husband told me they dontalways send out emails to every one. Only when they have approved it!! Either or I know they have our documents cause I checked the tracking number on the post and saw they sign and received it..

I am still waiting patiently and its driving us crazy!! So much stress and all!! I did hear from someone that said " The fact you havent heard anything is a good sign because if they needed any more info from you they would have asked for it within the first week" Am hopeing this is true. We are on day 15 ... I hope it comes soon!! I will keep you posted 

Best wishes,
Mel


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## KayKay (Oct 2, 2010)

Redrose26 said:


> Hi Kay Kay,
> 
> i was reading your forum and I can only imagen how you must be feeling. I am in the same situation as you or so i think...Am an American citizen and my husband is British citizen. We had gotten married in the UK. And since I had to apply for a spouse visa I had to come back to America.
> 
> ...



Hello ! I have to update you all..I did hear from them through an email on this past Monday! I was so happy. They got it and are looking through it, so next email I get will probably be their decision..Hold on there girl you will hear from them soon enough..It took them a few days to email me because they had off for Thanksgiving and soon they will be off for the christmas holidays and stuff..I guess we just have to wait patiently but it's hard.

When you got married in the Uk did you plan your wedding from over here, or was it small and you just did it all when you were there? This wedding planning from over here is so hard lol. And how come you had to come back to America after getting married? It says on the UKBA home website after marriage in the Uk on a fiance visa, you can immediately extend your fiance visa into a spouse visa from in the Uk.Unless maybe you didnt go get married there on a fiance visa I dont know? Well I will be doing that so I wont have to come home after getting married and well pay for same day processing in person at the Birmingham office for our spouse visa..That will be another headache but I would rather do it in person and get the result that day. Good luck to you please keep me updated!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

KayKay said:


> Well I will be doing that so I wont have to come home after getting married and well pay for same day processing in person at the Birmingham office for our spouse visa..That will be another headache but I would rather do it in person and get the result that day.


While your application will be processed straightaway, you have to wait a few days for your passport with your FLR to be posted to you. You can't get your passport back the same day.


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## Redrose26 (Dec 4, 2010)

KayKay said:


> Hello ! I have to update you all..I did hear from them through an email on this past Monday! I was so happy. They got it and are looking through it, so next email I get will probably be their decision..Hold on there girl you will hear from them soon enough..It took them a few days to email me because they had off for Thanksgiving and soon they will be off for the christmas holidays and stuff..I guess we just have to wait patiently but it's hard.
> 
> When you got married in the Uk did you plan your wedding from over here, or was it small and you just did it all when you were there? This wedding planning from over here is so hard lol. And how come you had to come back to America after getting married? It says on the UKBA home website after marriage in the Uk on a fiance visa, you can immediately extend your fiance visa into a spouse visa from in the Uk.Unless maybe you didnt go get married there on a fiance visa I dont know? Well I will be doing that so I wont have to come home after getting married and well pay for same day processing in person at the Birmingham office for our spouse visa..That will be another headache but I would rather do it in person and get the result that day. Good luck to you please keep me updated!


Am soo happy you that you finally heard from them!! That should give you some sense of peace that their actually looking at it  Wont be long till they say they aprrove it!! I wish you all the best hun. :clap2:

Well mines is somewhat complicated. LoL. My husband and me have been in a long distance relantionship and have been back and forth from England and Florida for about a year and half. Yet, on one of my visit to him he had proposed to me in England of course I said Yes! My family course knew about it from his last visit he had told them about it. I had no idea until I went to visit him in England. We have said good bye too many times and I was ready to just to start my life with him in England. 

We had applied for (COA) Certificate of Approval that took about 5 months to be approved. Mind you I was on my visitor visa of 6 months and that was the only option we had that ..thats what his lawyer told him. We have no criminal records and we have over stayed our stay in either country, Either way we had out nice beauitful wedding in the registeration office  Since I was on my visitor visa there is no way to extend that. So therefore I had to return back to America. Now am here waiting patiently. While his England waiting for me. It been so stressful and heartbreaking for us ..but I we wont give up!! I really hope I hear from them soon.

All the best,
Mel


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## KayKay (Oct 2, 2010)

Joppa said:


> While your application will be processed straightaway, you have to wait a few days for your passport with your FLR to be posted to you. You can't get your passport back the same day.




Yep I know . With that I'll wait for my residence permit as well so I can start finding a job, looking forward to it very much!


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## KayKay (Oct 2, 2010)

Redrose26 said:


> Am soo happy you that you finally heard from them!! That should give you some sense of peace that their actually looking at it  Wont be long till they say they aprrove it!! I wish you all the best hun. :clap2:
> 
> Well mines is somewhat complicated. LoL. My husband and me have been in a long distance relationship and have been back and forth from England and Florida for about a year and half. Yet, on one of my visit to him he had proposed to me in England of course I said Yes! My family course knew about it from his last visit he had told them about it. I had no idea until I went to visit him in England. We have said good bye too many times and I was ready to just to start my life with him in England.
> 
> ...




Thanks Mel. I know how you feel! I have been with my fiance for 5 years now back and forth back and forth it's crazy but our love is that strong. So I can't wait to finally be with him on one continent. I chose to move to England because I am looking forward to a change and being over there. We are getting married in his town's registrar office and will have a reception at one of the Inn's in his town. Or one of our favorite hotels, they all have private rooms. So looking forward to that!
I can't imagine being in Florida and travelling to England that is a long flight. I am glad I live in Jersey and it's only 6 1/2 hours , which is still long but a better distance from Florida . I wouldn't trade the long distance relationship though for the world it made us who we are and it made us stronger. I read a quote that said, "I'd rather be in a long distance relationship with him than be without him." It's very true, the things we do for love lol. 

I hope you hear from them soon too! They're off on weekends so that doesn't help but hopefully this week. I know it's heartbreaking, I miss my fiance too. I haven't seem him since August now..It makes me so upset but I keep telling myself not long till we're together, and I know it's true I just have to keep waiting patiently too..I figure I waited 5 years , a few months wont hurt ..Keep your head up ! Let me know when you hear from them, I will let you know about mine too.


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## Redrose26 (Dec 4, 2010)

KayKay said:


> Thanks Mel. I know how you feel! I have been with my fiance for 5 years now back and forth back and forth it's crazy but our love is that strong. So I can't wait to finally be with him on one continent. I chose to move to England because I am looking forward to a change and being over there. We are getting married in his town's registrar office and will have a reception at one of the Inn's in his town. Or one of our favorite hotels, they all have private rooms. So looking forward to that!
> I can't imagine being in Florida and travelling to England that is a long flight. I am glad I live in Jersey and it's only 6 1/2 hours , which is still long but a better distance from Florida . I wouldn't trade the long distance relationship though for the world it made us who we are and it made us stronger. I read a quote that said, "I'd rather be in a long distance relationship with him than be without him." It's very true, the things we do for love lol.
> 
> I hope you hear from them soon too! They're off on weekends so that doesn't help but hopefully this week. I know it's heartbreaking, I miss my fiance too. I haven't seem him since August now..It makes me so upset but I keep telling myself not long till we're together, and I know it's true I just have to keep waiting patiently too..I figure I waited 5 years , a few months wont hurt ..Keep your head up ! Let me know when you hear from them, I will let you know about mine too.



--kay just reading that put tears in both my husband and mines eyes.. thanks for giving me some sort of encouragement hun I really needed that. Thank you 

Btw when i wrote that we dont have any criminal record and we have stayed honorable with both country laws and have no ever over stayed in either country lol

I will keep you inform about are proccesing kay and please let me knows about yours. I truely am happy for you hun ..its gives us all hope that are in the simliar scanerio. 

Lots of love,
Mel


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## Punktlich2 (Apr 30, 2009)

The anti-immigrant tension in Britain is so strong that the Government continually cuts back -- or makes more difficult so that at least some applicants just go away -- on the few areas that it can: student visas, fiancee visas & family reunification, non-EU/EEA/Swiss workers. (Some of the same influences are at work in the USA.)

I went through the spousal visa process at the British Congen in NYC years ago ... only to find that I was eligible for a Swiss passport, and beginning in 2002 my Swiss passport made my "settlement" status irrelevant.

The escalation of visa fees to astronomic levels has made Northern Ireland-born UK (and by birth Irish dual national) citizens more attractive as fiance(e)s: their third-country national spouses get UK residence visas free and gratis. (See the Good Friday Agreement, "Constitutional Issues", para 1(vi).) Likewise any EU/EEA/Swiss national can bring a spouse or fiance(e) to Britain on a gratis EEA visa. As can any British citizen who has exercised his/her EU freedom of movement/establishment rights in another EU/EEA/Swiss country for six months (the Surinder Singh case principle). In such cases, the British consul has virtually no margin of discretion unless s/he can prove that it is a sham marriage.

What are these countries thinking when they make their visa shops into profit centers?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Punktlich2 said:


> The anti-immigrant tension in Britain is so strong that the Government continually cuts back -- or makes more difficult so that at least some applicants just go away -- on the few areas that it can: student visas, fiancee visas & family reunification, non-EU/EEA/Swiss workers. (Some of the same influences are at work in the USA.)
> 
> I went through the spousal visa process at the British Congen in NYC years ago ... only to find that I was eligible for a Swiss passport, and beginning in 2002 my Swiss passport made my "settlement" status irrelevant.
> 
> ...


This is the same in most other EU countries as well. They can do nothing when EU regulations trump domestic legislation, but on those matters over which they retain total control, such as settlement of family members of their own nationals, they can indeed raise the barrier to discourage all but the genuine and the committed. The barrier includes high visa fees, language test and tough requirement for finance and accommodation.


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## Redrose26 (Dec 4, 2010)

In such cases, the British consul has virtually no margin of discretion unless s/he can prove that it is a sham marriage.

What are these countries thinking when they make their visa shops into profit centers?[/QUOTE]

Hi Punktlich2,

I honestly dont know why they make it almost impossiable for genuine couple to be together. We are newly weds and its has only been stressful, fustrating, heartbreaking and even inhuman honestly for us. Despite the fact of all the time we have spent apart and money we have spent its like none of it matters to them. We are on day 18 since we applied. Not including weekends or holidays. And still havent heard anything. We dont know what else to do. I did email them and they just said that it has been busy etc. I dont know if I should try calling and saying hey we are still waiting? we are still here? But every day that passes is another day we have put our life on hold. And i totally agree with you they are making this visa shops into profit centers unfortunatly.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Redrose26 said:


> I honestly dont know why they make it almost impossiable for genuine couple to be together. We are newly weds and its has only been stressful, fustrating, heartbreaking and even inhuman honestly for us. Despite the fact of all the time we have spent apart and money we have spent its like none of it matters to them. We are on day 18 since we applied. Not including weekends or holidays. And still havent heard anything. We dont know what else to do. I did email them and they just said that it has been busy etc. I dont know if I should try calling and saying hey we are still waiting? we are still here? But every day that passes is another day we have put our life on hold. And i totally agree with you they are making this visa shops into profit centers unfortunatly.


They can make you wait up to 50 business days before replying, unless you have opted and paid for priority service, in which case you hear within 15 days (3 weeks), and usually sooner (a week or two).
I'm afraid there is nothing you can do except wait. You can't make your application priority after you've sent it off.


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