Immigration Company - Can I claim for lost costs?

pusched

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice on whether or not I can claim for compensation of costs from an immigration company.

I have lived in London for the past 12 years and my partner of just over 2 years lives in Russia - we are fully committed to each other and although the distance, manage to meet up every 2 months.

At the start of the year we decided that we wanted to settle down and enter into a civil partnership. Following her refusal for a holiday visa to visit me last year, we decided to use an immigration company to help us - we were badly advised and ended up with another refusal and lost money.

After getting over the disappointment, we decided to re-apply and after hours of research on the best way to do it, I found another immigration company with good online reviews that offered a no visa no fee scheme. I rang them and was told our visa would be not a problem.

After a number of emails and phone calls providing all the documents and arranging for everything we needed for the visa, I got a call from the person dealing with my application to tell me that the UK were changing the law from the 1st July and we would not meet the requirements. I got this call on Wednesday 29th June but I found out that the UK Border announced these changes on 10th June and the company even updated their website on 12th June so I was very angry that it took them that long to inform me of the changes as we could have changed our plans and applied for the visa prior to the 1st July - telling me on the 29th meant we had no option but to sort everything again.

I did get my visa fee refunded however I paid to have our civil partnership booked and £75 is non-refundable, I also paid £50 to get phone call records, £8 ink to print all the documents, £110 flight to take all the documents and just over £20 to get copy of my documents certified.

All of these costs would have been avoided if I had been informed of the changes when they were announced or we could have just changed the flights and flew earlier with everything.

The fact that we weren't informed also means that my partner needs to take a new English test which costs £150 and takes a month to get the results plus there is no guarantee she will pass and she already had the result of the previous test requirements which is now pointless.

We have now been left with little choice but to try and get married abroad and have had to spend more money on flights and documents, again all could have been avoided.

This company is paid to provide a service, a service that plays with people's lives - Part of that service is to keep up to date with immigration laws and to take 19 days to inform me of a change that impacted our case is a clear example of incompetence and there were also a couple of incidents where the immigration advisor didn't provide me with correct information or read my emails properly.

I appreciate that I can't claim for the flights abroad to get married and so on but can I claim for the flight to Russia, cancelled ceremony, certification of documents and phone call records?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Slowhand

So you went down the civil partnership route because you both wanted to commit to each other....or was there some other reason?

mountainofdebt

I doubt it very much ....after all wouldn't it have been prudent to wait to book the ceremony/flights until your partner was actually in the UK/ or had least permission to come here?

There are 100s of reasons why you might not have been informed sooner eg your case worker may have been sick / on holiday

pusched

Slowhand wrote: »

So you went down the civil partnership route because you both wanted to commit to each other....or was there some other reason?

The reason is that we are only allowed civil partnership - same sex partners.

pusched

mountainofdebt wrote: »

I doubt it very much ....after all wouldn't it have been prudent to wait to book the ceremony/flights until your partner was actually in the UK/ or had least permission to come here?

There are 100s of reasons why you might not have been informed sooner eg your case worker may have been sick / on holiday

Have to have ceremony booked before applying for visa. Have to book flights in advance for costs reason and time allowed off from work.

The company announced the changes on their website 2 days after UK Border announced on their website and I had a number of email exchanges with the immigration advisor between those dates.

earthstorm

I paid to have our civil partnership booked and £75 is non-refundable

why book this before you have approval for visa. The way i read this you rushed things before getting approved, maybe just a way to have your Russian Partner granted UK residency.

The fact that we weren't informed also means that my partner needs to take a new English test which costs £150 and takes a month to get the results plus there is no guarantee she will pass and she already had the result of the previous test requirements which is now pointless.

why if she has already taken one, no guarantee she would pass a new test means the same for the original test. if she failed then no visa, sop again why book and pay for civil partnership before everything in place first.

pusched

earthstorm wrote: »

why book this before you have approval for visa. The way i read this you rushed things before getting approved, maybe just a way to have your Russian Partner granted UK residency.




why if she has already taken one, no guarantee she would pass a new test means the same for the original test. if she failed then no visa, sop again why book and pay for civil partnership before everything in place first.

You have to book ceremony before you apply for the visa - it's part of the requirement.

She would need a new test as they changed the english requirements and her previous test was just short of the new requirement.

Of course people are quick to jump into the conclusion that it's about her getting residency - it's about us being together, believe it or not, but love can still be found in this world.

Moving over there was an option but not after the new anti-gay laws have been put into place and people being attacked and killed and me getting a job promotion, we decided that we would like to settle here.

I wanted to go through the UK route and pay the £850 even though we don't have to as I'm a European Union citizen and that visa is actually free but obvs as we are gay, we can't just get married anywhere.

All I wanted to know is if the company was liable for costs I incurred due to a substandard service.

If they had informed us in due time, those costs I mention could have been avoided or things pushed forward.

Slowhand

pusched wrote: »

The reason is that we are only allowed civil partnership - same sex partners.

Why did you arrange the civil partnership? Love or immigration?

pusched

Slowhand wrote: »

Why did you arrange the civil partnership? Love or immigration?

I know it's hard to believe that love can still exist in this day and age but there you go.

Slowhand

pusched wrote: »

I know it's hard to believe that love can still exist in this day and age but there you go.

So immigration then? There is no mention of love in your posts.

earthstorm

pusched wrote: »

I wanted to go through the UK route and pay the £850 even though we don't have to as I'm a European Union citizen and that visa is actually free

Maybe for you, but if your partner is Russian then they are not part of the European Union, so wont be free unless you get married, so then it comes is it an immigration civil partnership or love civil partnership.

The immigration process it tighter for those from Russia, Ukraine