ADVISORY: Confirmation of Caps to Family Path Settlement Visas

An high ranking senior policy official with UKBA has confirmed that the caps to the Family Path Settlement Visas (Spousal, fiance(e), Unmarried Partner, Civil Partner, Proposed Civil Partner, Child and Dependent Relative)  in correspondence this afternoon are 'in the works'. They have been named as a 'priority' to UKBA and to expect movement on this area in the very near future. Exactly how and when this will happen we don't know, but it's not going to be pretty and it will be soon.


How I read this: Depending on how they implement and what changes they make those that would potentially qualify today may not when they do happen and we will get less than a months notice when the change is set to occur.

Just lettin' y'all know.

What the hell?!!?  Civil liberties much?  Even the Americans don't even do that and lets face it, their settlement paths are pretty damn restrictive.

Call me biased (seeing as im married to an American) but immigration is a fact of life nowadays.  Why not try getting to grips with illegal immigration before punishing the people who (for the most part) try to do things legally and correctly.

My two pennies worth anyway.

Even the Americans don't even do that and lets face it, their settlement paths are pretty damn restrictive.

This is probably how they're going to implement the caps make the requirements and the qualifying factors that much higher it will essentially cap the numbers of people able to successfully obtain the visa. I see the UK system becoming more like the US immgiration system.

I've been granted a fiancee visa before any new caps have been put in place (earlier this month)--so I assume I'll be grandfathered in when it comes time for me to apply for the FLR(M) in the UK, regardless of what the new requirements will be, right?

We met all requirements under the current guidelines, but...for instance, I'm 21.  If the age cap goes up to, say, 24 at some point between now and when I'm married and taking the next step in the visa process...well, it is just a bit worrisome.  Although I just have a hard time believing that they'd allow such a situation where someone would be stuck in a sort of limbo where they were okay'd as a fiancee a few months before, but now have to leave because they no longer meet the demands of the settlement visa.  I know this is probably a case where no one can predict the exact nature of each and every situation in the possible future, but eh...unfortunate all around, I think.

Although I just have a hard time believing that they'd allow such a situation where someone would be stuck in a sort of limbo where they were okay'd as a fiancee a few months before, but now have to leave because they no longer meet the demands of the settlement visa. 

It happened the last time they raised the age limit.

What's the most worrying to me is not necessarily that these changes are happening, because as soon as the Conservatives got in, I knew it was inevitable.  What concerns me is how they are just churning this stuff out.  How much thought are they actually giving any of this?

Lovely.  We're planning our wedding for November, and were going to apply for a spousal visa right after.  Now, between the potential caps/requirements changes and the impending fee increases, I wonder if we should hurry up and apply for a fiancee visa within the next few weeks.  Would that even work? 

This just makes me second-guess everything.  About the process, that is.  Not about wanting to get married.  That, I'm sure about.

I really hate feeling so helpless.  No wonder people have a hard time adjusting and being independent after they move; the whole immigration process gets you used to being entirely at someone else's mercy!

It happened the last time they raised the age limit.

Pretty cruel, then.  Well, I guess that just means I'll have to apply for FLR(M) absolutely as soon as possible...planned to do it soon after my arrival anyway, luckily!

Although no political party is perfect, I hope that everyone on here sees the dangers in voting for Conservatives or Liberal Democrats and remembers it in the future.

We can't move until the end of the airport heat embargo on October 15th.

We can't book flights until we have my wife's ILE visa.

We can't apply for the visa until we have a lease (no family members have room for us and our pets).

We can't get a lease until around Sep 1st for October 1st start date, otherwise we are paying for a place to sit empty. But now we might end up having to do that just so we can apply for the visa. How stupid. There goes another $1k...

Andy

More hoops to jump through no doubt and wooohoooo we get the privilege of paying for that as well :-/

We're getting married in December and Steve got here today. He was given a hard time by the immigration officer and detained even with his fiance visa in his passport.

The immigration officer even called me on my mobile and quizzed me pretty heavily, I am assuming to make sure our answers matched up. I was standing at the arrivals waiting for him and after satisfying his questions they let him through, I am so glad I didn't just say get a taxi home lol

What's the most worrying to me is not necessarily that these changes are happening, because as soon as the Conservatives got in, I knew it was inevitable.  What concerns me is how they are just churning this stuff out.  How much thought are they actually giving any of this?

I think your final point is an excellant reflection of the Con-Dems current government practice

I work in local government (wont bore you with which part) and what we do is heavily influenced by central policy.  The Con-Dems have recently made some shocking policy revisions that have seen 6+ years of work go down the toilet with the new ministers not really seeming like they have a plan to implement replacement policy to bridge the voids.

It really does seem like the new Government has sat around a big table and literally brainstormed without thinking about consequences. 

Very off topic so my apologies for the rant.

I just got off a webcam chat with my fiance...worrying over the latest announcements. *sigh* Poor guy, he's had to put up with so much from me these last few months. This process has pretty much defeated me. He's just such an incredible guy, and my poor brain keeps thinking that it's just going to get to the point that there's so much hoop-jumping and money involved in getting me there that he'll decide he'd have less hassle marrying an actual British woman. Of course, he's always steadfast and assures me that we'll get through this no matter how much it costs and how much hoop-jumping it takes.

The wedding is about 7 weeks away, and I am planning the FLR (M) appointment around Sept. 22. We had a discussion about whether to attempt to move the wedding up or not and decided against it. Now we just have to pray that we'll dodge both the "caps" and "fees" bullets. Silly me, I was so naive about this process and all things immigration. I actually thought that there was no way in heck any government would actually try to keep two people who really love each other apart.

Talk about having the blinders taken off.

I see the UK system becoming more like the US immgiration system.

Is it still a year or two to get a spouse visa to the USA?

The UK government seem quite keen to get to grips with NHS as spending on the NHS has doubled in the last 8 years. They seem to want tier 1s and tier 2s to have health insurance so I wonder if they will follow the US system for that too, in that spouses will have to have health insurance (at least for x number of years)? Or existing conditions not covered for x years? Or as you say, take as long as the US to get a spouse visa.

They are also keen to get people off benefits and back to work, so perhaps increase the maintenance so that those on benefits don't have enough to sponsor?

Any idea when this cap is coming in?

Is it still a year or two to get a spouse visa to the USA?

Any idea when this cap is coming in?

Yeah unless you qualify for the DCF process then it can be as little as 6-8 months. But that is only once the US Citizen has been a resident of the UK, then they can qualify to file directly with the US Embassy in London rather than through their home state in the US. Drastically speeds up the process.

No idea when the changes will happen, but if it's anything like the Tier 1 & 2 changes we'll get less than a months notice for interim changes and then there will probably be a consultation on how to make permanent changes for April 2011...just depends on how they intend to make the changes...but we won't know until they happen.

Yeah unless you qualify for the DCF process then it can be as little as 6-8 months. But that is only once the US Citizen has been a resident of the UK, then they can qualify to file directly with the US Embassy in London rather than through their home state in the US. Drastically speeds up the process.

No idea when the changes will happen, but if it's anything like the Tier 1 & 2 changes we'll get less than a months notice for interim changes and then there will probably be a consultation on how to make permanent changes for April 2011...just depends on how they intend to make the changes...but we won't know until they happen.

what do you specifically mean by interim changes?

is an age limit increase to 24 likely, is there any evidence to back that up?

for couples planning to have the FLR M meeting as soon as possible (i.e. early - mid  september), do you think that we need to worry about this at all?