Entry Clearance: No Work or Recourse to Public Funds

I shouldn’t think it would be months. They’re usually pretty speedy when they’ve made an error - especially if your MP gets involved. Hopefully you’ll be able to get it sorted by Christmas.


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Thank you. I'm told on another forum that we wouldn't even qualify as unmarried partners given that I left the UK at the end of July and we applied at the beginning of October, so I may have to leave anyway and reapply after we get married.

Okay, first and foremost - are you 100% sure you applied for the correct visa?

Did you select Settlement Settlment Unmarried Partner?

You’ve thrown me off with the comment of the plan to marry....  unmarried partners show that they are living in a relationship akin to marriage but NOT plans to marry.  Fiancé visas need plans to marry.

But yes, get your MP on this straight away.  And the link you posted before about the incorrect visa vignette.  Hopefully it can be sorted quickly.

What was the circumstance for the separation in living together?  If he returned to the U.K. before you while you were applying for the visa, it’s not usually a problem.  They are usually okay with a short break to sort visa applications.

Okay, first and foremost - are you 100% sure you applied for the correct visa?

Did you select Settlement Settlment Unmarried Partner?

You’ve thrown me off with the comment of the plan to marry....  unmarried partners show that they are living in a relationship akin to marriage but NOT plans to marry.  Fiancé visas need plans to marry.

But yes, get your MP on this straight away.  And the link you posted before about the incorrect visa vignette.  Hopefully it can be sorted quickly.

What was the circumstance for the separation in living together?  If he returned to the U.K. before you while you were applying for the visa, it’s not usually a problem.  They are usually okay with a short break to sort visa applications.

Hey there,

No, we don't have plans to marry. Basically the other person was saying we'd be refused anyway and I got accepted on this weird caveat and we'd have to get married for me to stay. We have no plans to get married, but I guess we would if push came to shove. Though, it's not what we want to do.

Yes, I applied for the correct visa. I went into my Visa4UK account and checked my application. It was 100% unmarried partner, as was my Appendix form. I also paid the IHS with the receipt from WorldPay of $810.

We lived together from January 2016-July 25, 2018 when my visa expired (which we have documents for). My partner came with me to the US until the end of August and he returned to the UK to begin work again and care for his father. I applied October 10, I believe. This person is saying because we had that time apart, the UKVI would have told me I'm not eligible anyway.

Here's an IMGR photo of it: https://imgur.com/a/jRdvFYc

Oh. Nevermind. The person said he thinks gaps are okay as long as it doesn't mean you don't meet the 2 years. Like...1 year 10 months and then we went away because my visa expired. As long as we did cohabitant for 2 years straight.

Ah, okay.

Yeah, while they are VERY strict on the two years living together - we've seen some flex with application dates and time apart before the application.  But no hard and fast rule for consistency.  I wouldn't be too worried about that.

I'd contact your MP first thing tomorrow.  Call, schedule a time to meet with them in person if possible.  Do NOT email (except to follow up the phone conversation).  Emails are easy for them to shove to the side.  You need immediate action.  Glad you definitely applied for the correct visa.   

Is your employer USA based or UK based?  I'd specifically ask your MP what you should do in this circumstance.  The above-board-safe-way-no-concern-no-questions-asked way would be to NOT work.  You could look at getting a short term loan or using credit cards if needed to bridge the gap. 

Big hugs.  No fun. 

Oh. Nevermind. The person said he thinks gaps are okay as long as it doesn't mean you don't meet the 2 years. Like...1 year 10 months and then we went away because my visa expired. As long as we did cohabitant for 2 years straight.

To be honest, it's a little bit of a grey area, because I think technically, you should have been living together for the 24 consecutive months immediately before applying. However, I think there may be some leeway if you had lived together for at least 2 years before you had to return to the US.

As you said, if you had only been living together for 1 year and 10 months and needed those last 2 months (August and September) to meet the 2-year requirement, the visa would likely be refused, because you were not living together in those 2 months and therefore would not have lived together for 2 years in total.

But as you lived together for more than 2 years before you left the UK, and the only reason for living apart was your visa expiring and not meeting the financial requirements right away, then you may be okay.

Ultimately, though, your main concern at the moment is getting the incorrect visa and 'no work' issue sorted out... it may be as simple as just sending your passport back to them and them sending a correction and issuing a BRP.  Right now, UKVI are the ones who have make the mistake, not you, so it's their error to sort out.

Ah, okay.

Yeah, while they are VERY strict on the two years living together - we've seen some flex with application dates and time apart before the application.  But no hard and fast rule for consistency.  I wouldn't be too worried about that.

I'd contact your MP first thing tomorrow.  Call, schedule a time to meet with them in person if possible.  Do NOT email (except to follow up the phone conversation).  Emails are easy for them to shove to the side.  You need immediate action.  Glad you definitely applied for the correct visa.   

Is your employer USA based or UK based?  I'd specifically ask your MP what you should do in this circumstance.  The above-board-safe-way-no-concern-no-questions-asked way would be to NOT work.  You could look at getting a short term loan or using credit cards if needed to bridge the gap. 

Big hugs.  No fun.

Ugh, I'm spelling things all wrong because I'm so flustered. It's shitty because I am in a lot of debt and didn't have a job for quite a long time. Now that I do have a job and am getting out of debt, it's like...nope, no you're not. (Sorry to be so personal!)

The job is in the USA. It's a remote position I started while in the US. Thankfully, they were super understanding, but they're not going to pay be for not working, of course. I could, of course, just work under the table, but the concern is that if I want to use this income to prove an income requirement at a later date, you don't want them to be like, "If you got issued the wrong visa, why did you get paid x amount of money that month?"

Now I'm getting worried about the living together requirement. I was previously told it would be okay (we hadn't applied right as my visa expired because he didn't get hired in time for the six months as previously he was caring for his dad). But we do have 2 years and 7 months of solid documentation, and documentation of us speaking to each other whilst I was away. We explained this in the letter. I didn't think it would be a problem, as I was advised it wouldn't be by some of the people here...if it was a problem, we wouldn't have taken the risk.

I also have a job here that isn't sponsoring me, but that doesn't start til February. It was accepted under the condition that this rigamarole would be completed. They're understanding though, so I think they'd wait. Hopefully it's just a matter of the passport change and BRP.

I'll call my MP in the morning...it'll be a good lesson for everyone here if anyone gets in this mess again. You can be like, "Ask Alice!" hahaha

Did you make any progress today?

Did you make any progress today?

Thanks for checking in! I spoke to my MP who was shocked that this happened and his secretary reached out to the Home Office. I also sent scans and proof that I didn’t apply for that visa to the link above. I haven’t heard anything else today. It’s quite stressful. As they haven’t refunded my IHS fee I imagine they just put the wrong visa in my passport, but who knows.

Thanks for checking in! I spoke to my MP who was shocked that this happened and his secretary reached out to the Home Office. I also sent scans and proof that I didn’t apply for that visa to the link above. I haven’t heard anything else today. It’s quite stressful. As they haven’t refunded my IHS fee I imagine they just put the wrong visa in my passport, but who knows.

Keep checking in with your MP's secretary, asking for her/his help because of your finances.

Would your partner take a second job to help with the money until you can work?

Is she really not able to continue working her remote job from the States? I always assume No Work meant no UK-based work. I mean, I know plenty of people who traveled around the world and stayed here in the UK on our visitor allowance and continued working their American based online jobs that paid into American bank accounts. I even know someone who worked a side job online based in America while she was on a spousal visa here (to an EU citizen living in UK) that paid directly into her American account to help pay her student loans without having to constantly transfer money home. Is the bank account the important thing?

It's highly illegal to work remotely while on a visitor visa.  Getting caught could jeopardise any future visa.  We've had people refused citizenship by failing the Good Character requirement for working on a visitor visa before.

Absolutely no issue working for a USA company while on a spouse visa though.

Keep checking in with your MP's secretary, asking for her/his help because of your finances.

Would your partner take a second job to help with the money until you can work?

He’s basically his father’s full time carer and works full time, so that’s not possible. 

I just can’t believe that they would make me lose a month’s salary over their error. It makes me so mad. Good thing I caught it or I would have been working...but where do they expect the money to come from to cover expenses for their error?

Also I did get a prescription filled by the NHS when I first got here. Will I need to pay for it outright?

It's highly illegal to work remotely while on a visitor visa.  Getting caught could jeopardise any future visa.  We've had people refused citizenship by failing the Good Character requirement for working on a visitor visa before.

Absolutely no issue working for a USA company while on a spouse visa though.

Really? That is so strange. I mean, none of the people I know who worked remotely while traveling ever applied for a visa here so I suppose it never became an issue because they never had to disclose it. How would that get flagged up? (I am no where near applying for citizenship so I know nothing about it.) And does it include all income? What about those silly websites that let you take surveys and things like that for crumbs? How come there are so many articles about people traveling the world while working from their laptops? I know an American couple who did this as a year-long honeymoon and went all over, including here for 3 months. Hearing this makes me relieved I waited till I was back in the States to teach English online....was considering it while I was on a tourist visa here but we were living with my husband's family and there just wasn't any quiet space lol.