UK Immigration Story

[carlt99]

I'm a newbie here and just posted my own visa story in response to a thread in the married section. I thought it would also be of interest to this section too:

Seems so long ago now that we did battle with immigration. Sorry if this is a bit long but I like the story and the happy ending!

Getting a visa was tricky but the pessimist in me expected a lot worse. Although I usually visited Irisha (my wife of 4 years), in the Ukraine, her passport is Moldovan. Moldova has no British embassy so we had to travel to Bucharest in Romania. Fortunately Moldovans are allowed free travel to Romania. Unfortunately Romanians and Moldovans dislike each other!

We went for a UK fiancé visa which gave us 6 months to marry or return her home. I DHL’d her a package with printed copies of all our emails, letters, photos from my visits, 6 months of bank statements, mortgage details and sales particulars for my house, 6 months payslips, birth certificates, passport, you name it and I sent it! Didn’t want to give them any excuse to turn her down.

She was apprehensive about travelling as although Moldovans have to go to Romania for a visa, most only speak Russian and no-one in the embassy spoke Russian. I asked Irisha to find a translator to take along but she was still uncomfortable. Impatience kicked in and I booked 2 weeks off work and flew to Odessa aiming to stay as long as it took to bring her home!

From the family home in Tiraspol, we booked return flights from the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, to Bucharest, plus a night in a hotel near the embassy and a translator who was Romanian but spoke English and Russian. First day there we sussed out the location of the embassy as we had to be there for the 7am opening. We arrived at 6.30am next morning to see a queue off into the distance down the street. We joined the end of the queue but by about 8.30am someone passed what was left of the queue saying in English that they weren’t seeing anyone else today, come back tomorrow.

I stopped the guy on the way back and he said they see a maximum of something like 60 cases per day and that people queue through the night to get a good place! We extended the room, changed the return flight and re-booked the interpreter. Next morning we were up at 2am and off to start that queue, or so we thought. There were around 20 or so people and groups already there. Someone who spoke English told us a man had a list of the people and queue places. We went to register our name on the list and then thought about going back to the hotel for a couple of hours of sleep but didn’t wholly trust them not to sell our place to someone else!

I sent Irisha back for a couple of hours and I held our place. It was cold and started to rain a little but it felt great to know we’d be seen that day. Irisha returned, the interpreter arrived and we got into the embassy. The interpreter communicated well with me in English and my wife said her Russian was good too. We got our place number, paid our fees and waited our turn. Irisha was called in for her interview with the interpreter but I was surplus to requirements. They don’t normally see fiancés.

Ten minutes later they were back. Bad news. The interviewer said the interpreters English wasn’t strong enough. I was annoyed at this as she was fine in talking to me and I thought they were looking for excuses. I managed to speak to someone and they said that they had a Romanian-English interpreter on the staff so we could come back for an interview At 2pm, with two translators, and do a three-way Russian-Romanian-English translation! We did that and I was also called in to answer a few quick queries at the end, my boss in the UK was called to verify my role and salary and we were accepted for the visa!

They said they had concerns at Irisha’s lack of English. I asked how that made a difference and didn’t really get a clear reply but I guess they feel that if someone is genuine about starting a new life in England, they would at least learn English to a good level first. Irisha had been studying some time but clearly theEnglish have high standards for spoken English, which is a bit rich given the way we tend to shout broken English at the Spanish each summer and refuse to try a hola!

Anyway, Irisha came home with me to the UK and we married 5 months later. All other consular stuff was done by post, (spouses visa, indefinite leave to remain) until Irisha applied for British Citizenship. She had a test and a little ceremony and came home with her certificate! She now has a full passport so we’re no longer restricted to holidaying in Russia, Turkey and Egypt and no more need for Schengen visas for Europe. We’ve been to Amsterdam and Prague recently and are booked for Thailand in 2 weeks time.

I’m kinda glad I went with Irisha to massage things through, opposed to my original plan of her going alone, as I think she would have gotten at least one refusal on her file and once you have one it’s much more difficult to get a visa after that. Irisha knew of girls with multiple refusals under their belts. We’ve since also had a six month visa for Irisha’s mother to visit us too. A similar process but simpler and we didn’t have to go along. I think we’ve been amazingly lucky. To have found each other, to have our visa at the first attempt and we’ve been lucky in so many other things through the years, big and small. We’d have gotten through one way or another as I can’t imagine I’d ever have given up on being with her.

It the embassies job to refuse as many people entry to the UK as possible. I’d recommend anyone going into the same visa application process to prepare all possible documents, have plenty of cash in the bank, (show you can support her), and in pocket, (lubricate the wheels of the process), be ready to spend as much as it takes, be ready for the first embassy visit to be no more than a trial run, take a good translator and go along yourself for backup. Most of all show that you are loving, open and supportive and I’d be surprised if they refused a visa.

[Ronnie]

Hey Carl,

Welcome and thank you!  You're overriding point is strong and often overlooked by many WM. 

We should always go with her for her interview!

I must say, though, that I'm surprised at the British embassy requiring it own citizens to queue up with everyone else.  The US embassy both in Kyiv and in Warsaw take the USCs without waiting.  Some do wait however, unaware of the policy.

[carlt99]

Hey Carl,

Welcome and thank you!  You're overriding point is strong and often overlooked by many WM. 

We should always go with her for her interview!

I must say, though, that I'm surprised at the British embassy requiring it own citizens to queue up with everyone else.  The US embassy both in Kyiv and in Warsaw take the USCs without waiting.  Some do wait however, unaware of the policy.

TBH that could have been my mistake too.

I did call the embassy from the UK to ask if I should accompany her and was told it wasn't necessary and I wouldn't be seen. As it turned out, I went along and they wanted to see me. Perhaps I should have insisted on going along and asked to be seen.

If I hadn't been there I think we'd have had a refusal. They need to believe in the relationship, which I guess is hard to do without seeing the whole couple.

[Ronnie]

TBH that could have been my mistake too.

I did call the embassy from the UK to ask if I should accompany her and was told it wasn't necessary and I wouldn't be seen. As it turned out, I went along and they wanted to see me. Perhaps I should have insisted on going along and asked to be seen.

If I hadn't been there I think we'd have had a refusal. They need to believe in the relationship, which I guess is hard to do without seeing the whole couple.

I 'spect you're right.  Can't imagine the Queen treaty her loyal subjects in such an uncivilized manner 

I accompanied to both K1 interviews, the fist in 2002 in Warsaw was great!  I was asked to be at the interview and the officer was very kind.

On the second go around, it was in Kyiv in 2004.  I was barred from going up to the window and had to remain behind a lind drawn on the flow (out of earshot).  That officer was anything but kind...even asking my then fiancee now wife, in front of her son, 'How does it make you feel not to have been his first choice?"  It's a good thing I didn't hear or know about that line of questioning while we were at the consulate...don't know if I could have remained behind that stupid line!  Probably would have blown the whole interview right there!

[Ooooops]

I remember my interview in American Embassy - we've just watched Green Card movie, so when officer asked me to show some papers and then just waved me off with "approved" I said: "Aren't you gonna ask me about the color of his toothbrush?"   Officer looked at me like "Huh?" and I decided not to push with it.   

[msmoby_ru]

Hey Carl,

Welcome and thank you!  You're overriding point is strong and often overlooked by many WM. 

We should always go with her for her interview!

I must say, though, that I'm surprised at the British embassy requiring it own citizens to queue up with everyone else.  The US embassy both in Kyiv and in Warsaw take the USCs without waiting.  Some do wait however, unaware of the policy.

Hello again Carl, and thanks for your experience with the British Embassy. It now costs £515( 1000 usd) for the right to remain and I *think * £600+ ( 1200 USD for citizenship ) ... Now they're talking about us needing to stump up £1000 for a deposit if friends / family visit and restricting the visa to weeks / not months !!

Ronnie: When you live in an Country that is part of the British Commonwealth, we don't have Embassies ..They're called High Commissions and UK passport holders join the queue like everyone else - wel at least in Cyprus, they do!!!  This was a bit of a shock to me, at first, but having visted the Russian Consulate in Cyprus - the door opens to allow a few people in and it's like you are in a Rugby Scrum, we'll take the British system anyday

Carl: don't you find it a little annoying to be asked to pay so much..? I hold an Irish passport, too, and, as an EU citizen, my wife can enter and remain in the UK for FREE   :-o 

The only downside is that whether we've lived as man and wife in Cyprus or in the UK -Veta could NEVER be a UK citizen unless we live in Northern Ireland - as the Irish would "claim" she was resident ... !! 

It's all a bit of a farce, huh ?