Betrayed, Gulf War hero who is being forced to leave UK

Betrayed, Gulf War hero who is being forced to leave UK

(the gist)

In 2006 he married Shainie, now 36, while deployed at the British Army Training Unit in Alberta, Canada....He was posted back to Britain three years later, and in 2010 Mrs Coulson and their Canadian-born children, Blake, 14, Bailley, 13, and Kallum, 12, joined him near his  barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire....The Home Office granted her three years’ discretionary leave to remain in the UK....In November last year Mrs Coulson’s leave to remain was about to expire so she applied to renew it. But the family were stunned to learn last week that this had been rejected by the UKBA....The family plan to appeal the UKBA decision. Home Office sources said Mrs Coulson might be able to return to Canada to apply for a marriage visa, which would allow her to live in Britain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547043/Betrayed-Gulf-War-hero-forced-leave-UK-Soldiers-Canadian-wife-three-children-told-no-longer-military.html

The thing I don't get is why didn't she apply for a settlement visa as a spouse at the start? She could have ILR and citizenship by now.? What's the point of appealing - I am fairly sure if she went back to Alberta, a settlement visa would be done and dusted fairly quickly and it could just be a holiday to visit the family.

The whole article is pretty emotive, but that is the DM for you, I guess. 

Well perhaps it is good that light is being shown on these sorts of things, at least bringing to public consciousness the kind of situations that can happen with immigration.

The thing I keep seeing with these stories is a sort of idea that somewhere back in there there are these Home Office employees who look at each file and exercise in-depth value judgments about applicants, like, "Oh this guy volunteers at the local soup kitchen and therefore we should give him a break".

Too there's the bit where they say the HO employee is "speaking for Theresa May", which in reality is just the standard closing on these letters. Miss Pickersgill (the HO caseworker) has probably never met Theresa May or even seen her in the hallway. 

 

Sounds to me like they thought getting a visa from within the UK was a done deal, when they could have been more proactive and kept up with the rules.

But who knows when the DM is reporting?

in 2010 Mrs Coulson and their Canadian-born children, Blake, 14, Bailley, 13, and Kallum, 12, joined him near his  barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire....The Home Office granted her three years’ discretionary leave to remain in the UK....

The DL for 3 years, is outside of the UK immigration laws. It sounds like she perhaps arrived on a visitor visa and then instead of going home to get her spouse visa, she overstayed and applied to remain outside of UK immigration rules, as the mother of 3 British children who live in the UK (and the wife of someone in the military?). If the circumstances of that DL have changed, then they wouldn't allow her another 3 years DL, I assume? Daily Fail going for a story, instead of giving the facts???

The thing I don't get is why didn't she apply for a settlement visa as a spouse at the start? She could have ILR and citizenship by now.? What's the point of appealing - I am fairly sure if she went back to Alberta, a settlement visa would be done and dusted fairly quickly and it could just be a holiday to visit the family.

I don't understand that either.

If she has discretionary leave to remain, there is a whole chunk of the story that we are missing.  You don't just get DLR, it is fought for and given in rare circumstances.

As to why she doesn't just go back to Alberta, it's pure conjecture, but seems obvious to me. Do you know any young servicemen who can afford to bring a wife and three children over here on the salary the Army pays? She won't qualify for a visa. She's in a rock and a hard place situation unless they get discretionary leave extended, and she wouldn't be allowed to apply for ILR until she's had that for much longer than other leave situations.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/IDIs/idischapter8/section1/section1.pdf?view=Binary

Page 21.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/IDIs/idischapter8/section1/section1.pdf?view=Binary

Page 21.

But this doesn't seem to apply in this case. It says that spouses of servicepeople can spend all or part of their spousal qualifying period outside of the UK but still get ILR. It seems to be suggested in this case that when the couple were living in Canada the wife didn't have any status in the UK. Plus why then would she be granted DLR when they moved to the UK?

It's possible I'm misunderstanding the document, but I don't see how it's relevant to this case. Also, I agree with Cadenza that it's likely she entered as a visitor initially then applied for leave to remain. It's unfortunate she didn't apply in 2009, when there was no income requirement. As has been pointed out before, she could have citizenship by now if she had.

Plus why then would she be granted DLR when they moved to the UK?

Because she didn't apply for a spouse visa I assume.

It reads like she entered on a visitor visa with her 3 British children. DL was quite easy to get if she then refused to leave the UK at the end of her visitor visa, as she then claims EU laws Human Rights to be able to stay in the UK (as her 3 young British children live in the UK). Back then, she would have had access to Legal Aid to use a solicitor for free. Her children won't be deported (as the Daily Fail claims) as they are British.

Once she got DL for 3 years, it should have just been a case of applying for another DL for 3 years (which she would have got if her circumstances hadn't changed - which they haven't as she is still married and her children live in the UK). Then after 6 years on DL, she could have applied for ILR.

Has she tried to apply for ILR instead of another DL? Or let her DL expire? If it expired then she will have to apply for the new 10 year route (as she has British children) until she has 10 years of unbroken legal stay, to get ILR. She will now have to fund her own legal bill.

DL to stay in the UK, has been removed and the new 10 year rule brought in, to make it fairer to the immigrants who do follow immigration rules to ILR.

It would have all been over by by now if she had just applied for a settlement visa instead of going the DL (outside of UK immigration rules) route.