Spousal Visa?

Bonfire77

I'm new to this website but a good friend recommended it, so I thought I'd try it out. I'm not British but moved to the UK over 4 years ago. My husband and the (father of my 4) has an EU passport, as do all my children. We have been separated for 2 years and are now in a good place friendship wise. We are both parenting the kids and we are putting our past behind us and doing our best to share their care etc. Divorce is the next step, however I have been very careful not to do anything that might jeopardise my spousal visa and my 100% access to my kids. to me it would a be foolish to go ahead and sign something that means I would have a hard time working and residing etc. So I'm very careful in those regards. I know too well from mistakes that my parents have made or even other friends, that the papers we sign (with all good intentions) and the choices we ignorantly make, all have consequences and affect our children. I have been to the Citizens Advice Bureau, but they sent me to various websites where I could hire lawyers etc. Every time I speak about the divorce with officials they look at it like "you must be in trouble, we will protect your rights as a mother" etc. But that's not the case. My ex would never do that to me. But I might stupidly do it to myself by getting a divorce esp these days as they are tightening up on foreigners in the UK. Wow, this is getting long. I'd better stop. ha! Any advice on divorce as a foreigner in the UK would be appreciated. I can take the ILR test... but that is just the beginning of many hoops to jump through.... and expensive ones at that.

adindas

Well I wonder whether the OP was creating a new profile to post this query ...??

If professional like CAB who has seen the case in more detail refused to help, what other credible people here could help ??

I am not referring to any particular person but Sham marriage is well known in the UK. The one who do that deserves to pay the price as it is a crime and depriving the genuine marriage which for many people are sacred ...

Also the fact that some people on low income with children are tying to file a divorce so they could start claiming benefit is well known.

Bonfire77 wrote: »

I'm new to this website but a good friend recommended it, so I thought I'd try it out. I'm not British but moved to the UK over 4 years ago. My husband and the (father of my 4) has an EU passport, as do all my children. We have been separated for 2 years and are now in a good place friendship wise. We are both parenting the kids and we are putting our past behind us and doing our best to share their care etc. Divorce is the next step, however I have been very careful not to do anything that might jeopardise my spousal visa and my 100% access to my kids. to me it would a be foolish to go ahead and sign something that means I would have a hard time working and residing etc. So I'm very careful in those regards. I know too well from mistakes that my parents have made or even other friends, that the papers we sign (with all good intentions) and the choices we ignorantly make, all have consequences and affect our children. I have been to the Citizens Advice Bureau, but they sent me to various websites where I could hire lawyers etc. Every time I speak about the divorce with officials they look at it like "you must be in trouble, we will protect your rights as a mother" etc. But that's not the case. My ex would never do that to me. But I might stupidly do it to myself by getting a divorce esp these days as they are tightening up on foreigners in the UK. Wow, this is getting long. I'd better stop. ha! Any advice on divorce as a foreigner in the UK would be appreciated. I can take the ILR test... but that is just the beginning of many hoops to jump through.... and expensive ones at that.

RAS

Hi

It is illegal in the UK to give any sort of advice on immigration issues unless you are registered with the required body. And you can only give advice at the level for which you are qualified. This was done to remove the sharksters who were ripping off people who had no hope of acceptance but did want to hear that.

Which will explain why you are being referred to specialists.

You may find a law centre that has an occasional immigration specilist working for it but otherwise it will be paid for advice.

susieq87

if you can apply for ILR why dont you do that if your main concern is losing your visa if you get divorced? what will happen if your husband finds someone who he wants to marry, you'll need to sign the papers then. even though the ILR application costs alot but i think it's a good idea in the long run

egoode

If you can get ILR then find the money and get it as it will be worth it in the long run. However I thought the spouse visa was different if it was an EU citizen rather than a British Citizen so I don't know what the rules are there. Also I think you would be better off posting your query on this board: http://www.immigrationboards.com/

Every time I went through a visa application it was a very helpful site and the people on the immigration board will have a much greater knowledge of the options available to you then the people on this board would ever have.

uk_american

Not sure if you've seen this as well, under the UK government site:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/overview

Note under point 2 Eligibility:
you’re the non-EEA parent, or former partner of an EEA national with custody of a child who has a right to reside in the UK

Also worth a read under point 5 Permanent Residence Card, so that you can have an idea of the documentation you should start to gather, if you want to go that route. Having done ILR this year, getting the paperwork together can take some time, so good to understand it before you need to do it.

InsideInsurance

Why do you have a spousal visa if your partner was an EEA citizen?

EU legislation is different and in fact once you've come in on a family permit your right to remain is automatic subject to a number of terms. You can apply for a residency card which recognises this right and makes coming in and out the country etc easier but it is only recognition, it doesnt grant the right. See https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/overview

Once you've been here 5 years you can apply for Permanent Residency and 1 year after that citizenship.

I dont know the rules re kids but with your soon to be Ex the breakdown of the relationship does not automatically end your rights to be here as long as it can be shown it was a genuine relationship, you've been here a while etc as per https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/eligibility

It helps to be on good terms with the Ex as you need to demonstrate that they were exercising their rights until the time of the ending of the relationship (divorce) and then it switches to you showing you've exercised EU rights since then.



My wife came into the UK married to an EEA national and was 4.5 years here when we got together. I completed the EEA4 form to do the request for PR on the grounds of retained rights and even without her ex's cooperation isnt wasnt overly difficult - thankfully she had kept some documents after he left her (P60s etc) and a bit of inventive approaches got some more.

Her PR was granted without any questions being asked on a retained basis. A couple of times she had problems at immigration in the UK with them asking about her Ex and saying the PR was invalid because she'd separated but after 30 minutes or so of them having gone away they came back to say it was all ok and she was free to enter. I have dual nationality and so coming in together I'd use my EEA passport rather than British and they'd make an assumption and waive us through.

She went on to become british afterwards on her own rights; we delayed our marriage slightly as she wanted to have become british independent of me to prove to others that it wasnt for citizenship that she married me