# UK spouse settlement visa refusal and appeal Help



## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Hi 
I am a UK citizen and I married my husband in Florida he is an American national. We married in 2011. Due to my deteriorating health I have been.unable to move.to the USA due to medical treatment. I have now lost vision.in my left eye and I am slowly losing the right. I have poor mobility and require a lot of care. My husband applied for a spouse settlement visa to join me.in the UK.in.June 2014. However a decision was made but our passports and documentation was sent to the wrong address. We finally got it in september after the ukba to liability and tracked it down. He was refused under the immigration.rule: that he had served 366 days in.jail and was not considered rehabilitateed unroll a 10 Yeats had passed. However they got this wrong.court documents show.he was jailed.for 363 days which is less than a year. We have appealed the decision on the basis of article 8 our human rights, right to family life and also my medical grounds. I am very worried as I know the ECM will uphold there decision but st the same time I am hopeful they take compassionate grounds into.consideration. it has almost been 5years since his spent sentence. Please can someone.givee advice . Should we just reapply or wait for the appeal.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Spent conviction for more than 6-month imprisonment up to 30 months is sentence served plus 4 years. So you may have a chance. While compassionate grounds will be looked at, Home Office will use suitability argument to uphold the ban, plus it's in public interest to keep him out. So uncertain outcome I'd say.


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

With whats going on now in the UK regarding foreign criminals being given entry, the cost of policing, jailing and probation and not being removed after serving sentences they will fight tooth and nail to deny entry. 

You must also consider what the crime was and what any previous crimes where and if they will consider it a risk to great on the public purse or safety to even accept compassionate reasons.


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Thankyou so much for your response. He was convicted for possession of cannabis less the 15grams, and whilst he was serving his sentence for that an ex girlfriend filed a tresspass case again him fouronths into.his sentence. 
I guess its a long shot but worth a try... My doctor and therapist said thru will write letters to support me. If the appeal still fails I guess we will have to do new application.once the ban is lifted which will.be Feb 2015....so depressing I got surgery etc feel like I got a million things on my mind to cope with. Hrs been to the UK ans they gave him a visa for 6months, when he had a round ticket for 90 days. I guess if he was that much of a threat why allow him in.the country in.the first place and for longer then he intended he. He left after 4 weeks so we could apply. Please pray for us...


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

I will pray for you.
As a non-visa national visitor, you don't have to disclose criminal convictions so UKVI didn't know if he came before his latest visa setback. But with settlement visa, your husband can be here indefinitely so they need to be much more careful.


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

I understand their situation and that they must think about the best interest of the country. For some reason the border controll staff held my husband.in.immigration.when.he came.to visit they already new of his convictions. He told them the truth about it all and they allowed.him in but made him wait while they asked me loads of questions.to verify lol. I will let you know what happens. So nice to be able to offload and talk to someone...Thankyou. if I wasn't partially blind with ill health I'd just go Florida and love the life.in the sun...but it is what it is and I will continue to fight it toll we get gom here xx


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

Not the biggest crimes so I'll pray they have some compassion and understanding. Might be worth him getting references from any professionals he can to say he is rehabilitated. Teachers, probabtion officer those sort of people. Whilst your letters may help them see why you need him it might not convince them he is now 'clean' but letters of support for him would be more likely to. 

Offload here as much as you want x


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

guys, been having a really crap few weeks. Managed to change my paper hearing to oral , however it now seems my marriage is on its way to a break down...I got my eye surgery next week too. It all seems to come at once. Wanted to ask if I was to have a divorce how would I go about doing it. As I live in the UK and he lives in the US we got married legally in Florida. Would I need to go Florida or can I file from here. Really hope it foesnt come to that but best to find out the options

Thank you xx


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

You can divorce in the UK as a UK resident. Doesn't matter that the marriage was in Florida. 

If distance wasn't a problem I'd suggest counselling to see if you can work round it.


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## chiefteaofficer (May 27, 2014)

_shel said:


> You can divorce in the UK as a UK resident. Doesn't matter that the marriage was in Florida.
> 
> If distance wasn't a problem I'd suggest counselling to see if you can work round it.


Some therapists do counselling via Skype. You can search for that. 

There are also requirements for getting a divorce in the UK - the first being that you have to have been married for one year (I can't remember if you said when you got married).

The NHS offers free counselling to couples if one or both partners have depression. Since he is not eligible for NHS, I suppose he wouldn't be eligible to be treated yet, but if you did a Skype session it probably would work?

You could also try individual counselling to help with marriage problems which may help you both. The NHS would cover that for you for certain. Ask your GP about it.


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Hi guys sorry for the delay in replying
Just been all over the place 

Our marriage problems are because of the distance, we've been fighting immigration for a year now married .3years. My healths being affected by the stress now. 

My husband has slowly started to withdraw himself as he feels he will never get to be with me. As prospects of me going to the US are very slim I need family support which he doesn't have there.

We are just dtifitng apart I try and jeep it together but when I am.unwell its difficult and he's finding it difficult to try.

I suggested counselling but the time difference and his work schedule does not permit it.

So I guess tomorrow we will have the seperation convo, my hearts in pieces n my eyes sore from tears.

I wish he got his visa n maybe we could have been happy

P.s apologies for any spelling errors or gramma my vision is very bad


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Hey guys we have south counselling, everything is going good thanks to god.
The ecm has a deadline to make decision by 19th March hopefully they overturn their decision!! Keep you posted.

Quick question my hubby wants to file for his taxa and because he s married ur needs to give an tax I'd for me...but I am a UK national that lives in the UK.? Should he just claim single or do I need to get a tax is and if so how?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Independent taxation means a couple is taxed separately. So he just completes his own tax return, and you don't need to complete one unless you have to (like self-employed etc).


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## Water Dragon (Jun 28, 2011)

Rhy88 said:


> Hey guys we have south counselling, everything is going good thanks to god.
> The ecm has a deadline to make decision by 19th March hopefully they overturn their decision!! Keep you posted.
> 
> Quick question my hubby wants to file for his taxa and because he s married ur needs to give an tax I'd for me...but I am a UK national that lives in the UK.? Should he just claim single or do I need to get a tax is and if so how?


Your husband just has to list you as a "NRA" - Non-Resident Alien. Then he doesn't have to go through the hassle of trying to get you an ID number, which you really don't need. This is what I did for my taxes last year (I was married in August 2013 and had to file US 2013 taxes by April 15, 2014). I got both a Federal and a State refund so it worked out well. I didn't work at all last year (2014) so don't have to file anything this year.


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## chiefteaofficer (May 27, 2014)

Your husband can choose to file as "Single" status or he can choose to file as "Married filing separately." In some cases you get more money back on your return for married filing separately (I think most cases), but it's more of a hassle because you would need an ITIN, issued by the US gov't. I'm in the process of getting my husband one because it's worth it to me to get the extra money this year (in my case hundreds of dollars). What needs to be done is listed here:

Obtaining an ITIN from Abroad

The first year you get it you can send your tax return off with just the application, so long as the correct steps have been taken. There are people at the embassy in London who can answer questions about this (see that link). It's probably even more difficult when you aren't in the same country.


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## Water Dragon (Jun 28, 2011)

chiefteaofficer said:


> Your husband can choose to file as "Single" status or he can choose to file as "Married filing separately." In some cases you get more money back on your return for married filing separately (I think most cases), but it's more of a hassle because you would need an ITIN, issued by the US gov't. I'm in the process of getting my husband one because it's worth it to me to get the extra money this year (in my case hundreds of dollars). What needs to be done is listed here:
> 
> Obtaining an ITIN from Abroad
> 
> The first year you get it you can send your tax return off with just the application, so long as the correct steps have been taken. There are people at the embassy in London who can answer questions about this (see that link). It's probably even more difficult when you aren't in the same country.


Filing as "married filing separately" and listing the spouse as a NRA eliminates the hassle of getting the ITIN.


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## chiefteaofficer (May 27, 2014)

Water Dragon said:


> Filing as "married filing separately" and listing the spouse as a NRA eliminates the hassle of getting the ITIN.


I didn't realise this was allowed. I looked on a tax advice forum and see that you can do that, however if you do, you won't really get the benefits of filing with your spouse. 

On the 1st of the year I filled out a preliminary tax thing to see how much I could get back (via turbotax) and it told me the best filing status for me was married filing separately. When I did some research, I found that in order for me to get the deduction for the exemption (in this case, my husband is the exemption) he would need an ITIN. I can't find anywhere on the IRS website that says I can claim him as a deduction without him having an ITIN. 

This is from the Non-Resident Alien Page on the IRS website:



> CAUTION: Your spouse and each dependent must have either a Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number in order to be claimed as an exemption or a dependent.


I can claim him as a dependent so long as he didn't make any US-based income in 2014. This is why I am filing with the status "Married Filing Separately" and trying to get back the extra money. If you're not going to bother with the ITIN, I'd think you may as well just file as "Single." Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like there may be little to no financial benefit otherwise.


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Really sorry guys I'm finding it difficult to read with limited vision. I'm still confused been online and it is making me mad lol it hard to understand.

It's telling me.I need to send his tax return to apply? I'm confused.

Anyone know any solicitor that can help me or do it for me.

I have no idea where to get forms or what I need to do.


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Hey guys thanks for the weblink my sister downloaded the w_7 form for me , IRS asking for proof of ID..I can't send my originals, can I just send a photocopy?


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## Rhy88 (Dec 16, 2014)

Hey guys my appeal has gone to a court hearing may 13th....any ideas of what I should expect and prepare??


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