ADVISORY: Confirmation of Caps to Family Path Settlement Visas

As of now we haven't booked any solid appointment date for the FLR, sometime in September is just the plan.  I'm hoping that an appointment counts as 'in process', and I'm thinking it might--for instance, I'm pretty sure that when you book an appointment to see the Consulate here in the US, like what they offer for priority-processed non-settlement visas now, they consider your application as being 'in process', even though you can cancel it and all that.  I could be totally wrong, I just hope I'm not.

I hate the idea that those of us with fiance(e) visas might have to just suck up whatever happens in between now and our anticipated wedding dates.  Hopefully that won't be the case, and I think it just might not be.  If it is just numerical caps, only taking ____ applications per month, no added restrictions, and they give priority to people applying from within the UK... I think we should be totally fine.  Really, these changes might not even occur until much later, they might not even apply to our applications for FLR(M).  

I hate the idea that those of us with fiance(e) visas might have to just suck up whatever happens in between now and our anticipated wedding dates.  Hopefully that won't be the case, and I think it just might not be.  If it is just numerical caps, only taking ____ applications per month, no added restrictions, and they give priority to people applying from within the UK... I think we should be totally fine.  Really, these changes might not even occur until much later, they might not even apply to our applications for FLR(M). 

I'm hoping for the best, but I'm preparing for the worst. After being forced to send in my application unexpedited, only to watch them allow expediting again after it was too late to retrieve my application, I've come to expect the worst from all of this. And I've learned a valuable lesson: As much as the goal of the immigration system is to be "fair," it's often not. I gotta jet but good luck in your process. You're not alone.

I might just do cartwheels all the way around town once I have that red passport in my hands.

I'm so confused!

I've been following this thread and it has thrown me for a loop! I understand that no one knows what this is going to entail, but the speculation is making me worried. This is compounded by the fact that COAs are taking about two months to process. So I don't think it will be even possible for me to get under the wire anyway (a trip out of the country is just not possible for us right now!)

I wish we knew what was going on so I could decide what to do. Part of me just wants to move everything forward and try to get in before the April cap. While part of me wants to just wait it out and see what happens. Why can't this be easy?

The 'right to family life' can take place in either country.

And what if the other country currently has stricter immigration controls than the UK?  In that case the new UK legislation would be effecting the couples right to a family life.

Basically no country wants us, and by us I mean interesting, loving, international families.  Unless both partners are European of course.  That a couple consisting of say a German and a French person could settle here with little or no problems but a couple which is half British and half non-European, which includes the whole of the old settler communities, has less right to settle in the UK?

M wife is a US citizen, I used to be proud that Britain was easier for her to settle in than the US, now I fear we will be worse.  At the time there is no way I could have gone to the US I was a mature student and she didn't earn anywhere near enough to even afford her own health insurance let alone mine.

Like I said, they don't want us, who they are I'm not sure of, probably the ignorant masses we seem to think are capable of picking wise, benevolent and inteligent leaders.

Also does anyone think it seems to be going the wrong way?  Barriers are being re-erected?  I don't think western civilisation should move one step back toward stronger individual nationstates; I'd have thought the two bloodiest wars in history would have taught us something.

And what if the other country currently has stricter immigration controls than the UK?  In that case the new UK legislation would be effecting the couples right to a family life.

Then the  other country is affecting the right to family life too. From what I am learning, the USC has little human rights in their own country if they want to marry someone who has had problems with the US ie a minor criminal record many years ago, entry problems etc.

At the time there is no way I could have gone to the US I was a mature student and she didn't earn anywhere near enough to even afford her own health insurance let alone mine.

I should imagine that governments of countries with free healthcare, are well aware of healthcare problems for citizens whose countries don't give them free healthcare.

I guess this could mean more US / UK couples moving to a third (likely EU) country as an interim measure?

Like I said, they don't want us, who they are I'm not sure of, probably the ignorant masses we seem to think are capable of picking wise, benevolent and inteligent leaders.

I wouldn't take it that personally. I've never felt unwelcome since moving here. Of course, that could be because I'm English-speaking and not one of "those" immigrants. I honestly think the average person isn't aware of the steps involved in immigrating here because they don't need to know about it until it actually affects them and it usually doesn't. Most people are shocked that I had to fill in a form and pay a small fortune and send in tons of documentation to move here. They must think most immigrants just waltz in with their passport and immediately go on benefits. Let's face it. The only immigrants who can literally just waltz in with their passport will not be affected by any of these changes. I can understand the frustration, though. I feel as if I'm being punished for doing things the right way. I blame the government more for using people like us as pawns in political games, to make it look like they're totally cracking down on immigration.

I guess this could mean more US / UK couples moving to a third (likely EU) country as an interim measure?

Probably.  And probably more EEA people bringing their non-EEA spouses here as regulations tighten in other EU countries.

The US doesn't have a human rights act and even if it were repealed here, the UK is still bound by The European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights:

http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html#C.Art12
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/04473_en.pdf  Article 7 is what you're looking for.   The US, of course, isn't a co-signer of EU treaties.

Of course there's a long way to go in US immigration before the laws catch up with the world we live in and that the US begins to respect in practice their citizens rights to marry and live with whom they please.  But the UK already has these laws.  As Garry pointed out, these caps won't deny anyone a visa due to caps.  It will just delay things.  Perhaps some day we'll get to the point where the numbers and waiting lists result in a constructive refusal, and maybe then people will have a case.  I don't know if it would count or not.

Kind of ironic, as the supposed aim is to limit immigration. 

Kind of ironic, as the supposed aim is to limit immigration. 

I think it would have to be a wait and see.  It might not happen, but then again no one seems to agree on the levels of EU migration as it is. 

Surely when they come to look at these caps they will look to see how many people are currently in the UK on fiance/spouse visas at this present time and then take the limit from there, or is that just wishful thinking as well  

Kind of ironic, as the supposed aim is to limit immigration. 

I was thinking the same thing.  What is really being achieved here?  Just making the process take longer, apparently.

Despite the fact that I don't like it, by the looks of it the Tier 1 & 2 stuff will limit migration.  For spouses, it seems like they'll just delaying the inevitable for the sake of looking like they're doing something. 

I guess this could mean more US / UK couples moving to a third (likely EU) country as an interim measure?

I should imagine they are on to that one.

A high skilled spouse will be able to get to the UK as a tier 1 or 2. The UK government has already said that research shows that high skilled tend to have high skilled partners. If that means that low skilled have low skilled partners, then another EU country may be more attractive once the welfare system gets cut back to what it was a few years ago. A safety net for basics and not a way of life. 

The good thing about the EU is that people will at least be able to move about to find work.

This is pretty much what I meant by ignorant, however in a criminal court ignorance is not an excuse so why should the electorate be forgivien for voting for a policy they don't understand?

I didn't mean to sound like I'd taken the rule personally, it isn't a personal issue for me, My wife is right I should consider polictics as a career, I do seem to care that what was once a relatively liberal and humane country is regressing, and the immigrant is being held up, once more, as the scapegoat.

Our economy and health system, depend on a healthy stream of economic migrants, whether they permanately settle or not.

And why cap them?  They pay thier taxes, they have to prove they have work that pays well enough, they have 'no recourse to public funds' surely capping them just reduces the tax base the goverment can draw revenue from.

And as for the 'taking our jobs' argument, dont' employer's have to shwo they failed to fill the job nationally before they can obtain a work permit?

And the student applications, I'd have thought there was something worth while in wanting to be an international centre for learning, and foreign students have to pay three times the fees of home students; they help keep our universities afloat...

Sorry...

Rant over.... perhaps I should go into politics...