Immigration Company - Can I claim for lost costs?

paddyrg

Back to the question, yes absolutely you can claim for your costs to be refunded. That would probably be the proportion you paid for 'advice', not the via application fees if appropriate. Consequential losses will be much harder to claim for, I suspect the company's terms will be pretty clear about what is and isn't covered.

Is there a third country you can live together in? Russia is currently very anti-gay (despite Tatu!), UK is getting twitchy about immigration from Eastern Europe right now, but maybe a former soviet state could be a partway ground for you both? Just thinking aloud!

pusched

paddyrg wrote: »

Back to the question, yes absolutely you can claim for your costs to be refunded. That would probably be the proportion you paid for 'advice', not the via application fees if appropriate. Consequential losses will be much harder to claim for, I suspect the company's terms will be pretty clear about what is and isn't covered.

Is there a third country you can live together in? Russia is currently very anti-gay (despite Tatu!), UK is getting twitchy about immigration from Eastern Europe right now, but maybe a former soviet state could be a partway ground for you both? Just thinking aloud!

Thanks for your reply.

I only want the costs - more for the principle than the money - so think I will go for it and finish my letter to them tomorrow.

I did consider go over there before the new anti-gay laws were put in place but with that and the fact that I'm settled and have a good job, we would like to settle here.

We are getting married in my home town before applying for an EEA family permit so our situation of disappointment and frustration is almost over

paddyrg

pusched wrote: »

I only want the costs - more for the principle than the money - so think I will go for it and finish my letter to them tomorrow.

Hiya, it may be tough to hear, but principle can cause you a lot of extra work sometimes. Just bear in mind that if you don't agree a compromise fairly easily this is the kind of thing that can swallow up a lot of time and energy to pursue. It may be that with vias applications and a wedding going on at the same time it becomes time to breathe deeply, and just walk away and focus on your new life. I do understand about principle, but pragmatically sometimes you pick your battles

mr_sharma

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

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

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

"No it's not...can you move and join your partner?"

Pathetic!

Well done OP for not rising to these sad facetious comments.

bluangel1239

Hello,
Not here with advice sadly, but just wanted to say good luck. Having just seen another friend struggle with this in trying to allow her American (now) wife being granted a visa, wanted to pop in a wish all the best :')

SuperHan

Can you not still go through with the civil partnership anyway? It seems a shame to waste the booking fee, and from the point of immigration, it will look more legitimate if you are civil partnered despite citizenship not being on the cards? (I don't know much about this, but it seems logical to me!)

And the flights to Russia, were they solely for the purpose of the documents, or did you spend some time there with your partner? I'm guessing the company will argue you could have posted things? Paying for flights does not mitigate your losses.

Will your certified documents be useful in a further application for citizenship?

I suppose the change in law is outside of the company's control. If they had told you earlier, what difference would it make? Does your contract with them mean they have to inform you of all legislation changes?

earthstorm

civil partnership

SuperHan wrote: »

Can you not still go through with the civil partnership anyway? It seems a shame to waste the booking fee, and from the point of immigration, it will look more legitimate if you are civil partnered despite citizenship not being on the cards?

I think this would make their case worse as it would look like they entered the civil partnership so their partner could stay in the UK

pmduk

I suspect you need help from a specialist immigration forum. I believe the UK Border Agency tend to start from the viewpoint that any new partnership is designed to overcome immigration controls.

Voyager2002

SuperHan wrote: »

Can you not still go through with the civil partnership anyway? It seems a shame to waste the booking fee, and from the point of immigration, it will look more legitimate if you are civil partnered despite citizenship not being on the cards? (I don't know much about this, but it seems logical to me!)

And the flights to Russia, were they solely for the purpose of the documents, or did you spend some time there with your partner? I'm guessing the company will argue you could have posted things? Paying for flights does not mitigate your losses.

Will your certified documents be useful in a further application for citizenship?

I suppose the change in law is outside of the company's control. If they had told you earlier, what difference would it make? Does your contract with them mean they have to inform you of all legislation changes?

A Russian citizen needs a visa to enter the UK, and since the visa was denied she would not be allowed on the 'plane to come to the ceremony. So far as I know, weddings and civil partnerships require the physical presence of both parties to be valid!

While the company cannot control changes in the law, it earns its fees by being aware of forthcoming changes. In this case, while the company updated its website with details of the change two days after it was announced, the adviser neglected to mention the change in several conversations after this date over a period of more than two weeks, thus giving advice that was worse than useless.

A company such as this would have a duty to exercise due care and attention, and informing clients of relevant changes in the law would certainly be covered by this, no matter what the contract with the client states.

mo786uk

The answer to your question is in the supply of goods and services act 1982 - was the service carriedo ut with reasonable care and skill? if they were incompetent then you can claim for costs and forseeable consequential loss

the fact tha this is an immgratio ncase is irrelevant and you dont need a specialist immigration forum to answer your question - but it would be handy to know what common practice in that field is when deciding what actio nto take and what costs you want to claim for.

notifying you of such a critical thing so late when they knew does sound like a !!!! up.