Hello everyone,
I have been following this forum for a couple of months now, but this is my first post (sorry it's a bit long)... I wish I found the forum long time ago, before submitting both my applications (one successful, one not), but better later than never. Learning something every day from questions/answers posted by others... will be happy if our questions/story help someone else as well.
When I was a student in the UK in 2015-16, I applied for FLR(M) at the end of my student visa but application was refused since my partner and I did not live together for 2 years prior to application. I returned to US voluntarily and applied for entry clearance which was approved.
Looking forward I am not sure how to ‘disclose’ the first refusal in the FLR(M) application in 2 years from now. The confusion comes from the following:
The entry clearance application submitted in the US specifically asks (with my answers):
HAVE YOU BEEN REFUSED ENTRY TO THE UK IN THE LAST 10 YEARS
(FOR EXAMPLE AT A UK AIRPORT OR SEAPORT)? - no
HAVE YOU BEEN REFUSED A VISA FOR ANY COUNTRY INCLUDING THE UK IN THE LAST 10 YEARS? - no
HAVE YOU BEEN DEPORTED, REMOVED OR OTHERWISE REQUIRED TO LEAVE ANY COUNTRY INCLUDING THE UK IN THE LAST 10 YEARS? - no
HAVE YOU EVER VOLUNTARILY ELECTED TO DEPART THE UK? – yes
So I provided details of my voluntary departure date/ticket, together with the HO refusal letter and a letter from the HO Voluntary return service. I answered ‘no’ to the second question thinking it was NOT technically a visa but extension/ change of status that I was refused, since visas are issued outside of the country etc…Plus there was a separate question on voluntary return which directly applied to me… was I wrong?
FLR (M) however has only the following questions:
5.5 Have you ever been refused a visa for any country, including the UK?
5.6 Have you ever been deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country, including the UK in the past 10 years?
My question is: Should I answer ‘yes’ to question 5.5, referring to the first FLR(M) refusal?
What about 5.6? Does 'voluntary return' in this case fall under 'otherwise required to leave'?
The thing is I already answered ‘no’ to the same questions in the entry clearance application. So I am confused now... Sure it’s another 2+ years before I need to worry about it, but just wanted to clarify as much as possible when everything is still fresh in memory.
Could you please let me know what you think… maybe I am making too much of it, but it's better to worry now than after application has been submitted.
Many thanks for your help!! Hope it all makes sense. Thanks you.
