Impact of COVID-19 on Tier 4 to FLR(M) Switch

I'm honestly frustrated because it seems like the Registry Office doesn't *have* to refer us and are choosing to based on their own internal policy, but maybe that's my mis-reading of the guidance I could find online.

They do have to refer you and they don't have any choice in that, even if they think you will not be investigated.

The council have said that we're going to be able to be married on 18 July assuming the HO don't intervene, so it seems like they're still operating on the 28 day maximum at least, I was just wondering if people usually (in the Before Times) heard before that 28 days was up.

From what i have read, people got a letter to say they are not going to be investigated.

I'm not sure why you think you would be investigated? Your relationship is genuine, you have a long time left on your visa, you haven't used deception in applications etc. You are not the sort of person the HO is after. Just enjoy the wedding preperations.

They do have to refer you and they don't have any choice in that, even if they think you will not be investigated.

From what i have read, people got a letter to say they are not going to be investigated.

I'm not sure why you think you would be investigated? Your relationship is genuine, you have a long time left on your visa, you haven't used deception in applications etc. You are not the sort of person the HO is after. Just enjoy the wedding preperations.

Knowing we'll get a letter is helpful, thanks!

I'm just directing all my COVID stress at this final hurdle, if we're honest! Good to know I'm unlikely to have anything to worry about

I'm also just re-posting our preliminary documents list here, so it doesn't get lost on the previous page:

Accommodation:

Our lease, with both of our names on it

-OR-

If we have not moved yet, we will get a letter from my fiancé's current landlord (who he lives with) that we can stay there until we find a flat. This will be accompanied by the land registry to prove that the landlord owns the flat.

Financial -- Category C

• A letter from my fiancé's university, who pays his bursary, dated within 28 days of the application and outlining:
  a. He is in receipt of a tax-free bursary of more than £15,800* per year, for the next two years. (*It will have the exact amount)
  b. This bursary is distributed quarterly. This will be presented with the dates it was distributed last year, as well as the distribution dates for the next two years.
• Bank statements (delivered by post and saved!) from the months that he was paid this year, to correspond with the letter.
  

Relationship Evidence -- we have been together since September 2016

• Content-obscured text messages from the first two years of our relationship, which were a year of living in the same town and then a year of living apart (1/month)
• Evidence of living together July 2018-August 2019:
  a. Accommodation receipt from the university, where we lived in staff housing connected to my job (dated 21 July 2018)
  b. Bank statements in both our names every 4 months (November 2018, March 2019, July 2019)
• Content-obscured text messages from September 2019-March 2020 (1/month)
• His train ticket from his travel back to Scotland in March, where we have been together
• Our marriage certificate

[/list]

Can’t look at your evidence now but don’t worry about the Home Office referral.  That’s a requirement, even when the Home Office has issued a fiancé visa.  I’m glad you were able to give notice!  You won’t have any issue.  You are a real couple.   

Knowing we'll get a letter is helpful, thanks!

I'm just directing all my COVID stress at this final hurdle, if we're honest! Good to know I'm unlikely to have anything to worry about

Here it is from the Home Office staff guidance.

Under section 48 the decision maker must make the decision whether or not to investigate and give notice of that decision to both parties to the proposed marriage or civil partnership, and to the relevant registration official, within the 28-day notice period.

Page 9
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/marriage-and-civil-partnership-referral-and-investigation-scheme

In that guidance, you can read how they work out who to investigate and that comes under Part A and part B, which then moves on to whether these should be investigated..

Part A is about if both parties are a British citizen or have a valid ILR and I assume Right of Abode too. Also at the moment, if they are an EEA or Swiss citizen, because these are presently covered under the Withdrawal Bill since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.

If one of the couple isn't in these groups, it goes to Part B, (from page 7) mainly about the honesty of that foreign national in their dealings with the UK etc.

Sorry to be a pest about my documents list (above), but if anyone has the time to look at it I'd really appreciate it! Thanks 

Hi (again) -- I'm not sure if I've violated a rule so this isn't being seen or if my documents list is in the wrong format, but I've seen several other people get feedback on theirs in the 11 days since I originally posted mine so I'm starting to worry something is wrong and I've accidentally caused upset. Sorry to continue to bother anyone by bumping my thread again.

Hi (again) -- I'm not sure if I've violated a rule so this isn't being seen or if my documents list is in the wrong format, but I've seen several other people get feedback on theirs in the 11 days since I originally posted mine so I'm starting to worry something is wrong and I've accidentally caused upset. Sorry to continue to bother anyone by bumping my thread again.

No, you haven't done anything. It's just that your post must have accidentally gotten missed.

I haven't had time to check and respond to every post recently, because in the last few days, I've been busy working, packing, then travelling 4,000 miles home from deployment, then seeing my family for the first time in 6 months and having to quarantine for 14 days.

I probably saw your post and assumed someone else would reply, but I guess they didn't.

So, to answer your question:

Your documents look fine to me.

No, you haven't done anything. It's just that your post must have accidentally gotten missed.

I haven't had time to check and respond to every post recently, because in the last few days, I've been busy working, packing, then travelling 4,000 miles home from deployment, then seeing my family for the first time in 6 months and having to quarantine for 14 days.

I probably saw your post and assumed someone else would reply, but I guess they didn't.

So, to answer your question:

Your documents look fine to me.

Thanks, @ksand24 ! I hope your travel back was smooth and that quarantine passes quickly and without incident.

My fiancé's programme director has agreed to write the letter to confirm our financials, and has asked us to draft it on their behalf. Does the following look ok?

I am concerned about explaining that there are three dates attached to each payment -- a date that the pay documents are dated, the date that payment is scheduled (listed on the documents as the 'payment date') and then the date that the money is deposited (also the date the pay documents are sent via email). We've set it up in a table to try to connect the pieces of the puzzle.

We have PDF copies of the emails sent, can we just save these ad PDFs and upload them or should we print them and then scan them?

Here is the heavily-reduced letter draft:

'To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to confirm that [HUSBAND] is in recipient of a tax-free maintenance grant associated with postgraduate study. He has been enrolled since September 2019 in the [PROGRAMME NAME] at [UNIVERSITY], and this maintenance grant is associated with his continued progression in the postgraduate programme. This postgraduate course is three years in duration, and [HUSBAND] is expected to complete his course in August 2022.

In the first year of study, academic year 2019-2020, [HUSBAND]’s total tax-free maintenance grant was [MORE THAN £15,800], paid quarterly. The dates of these payments are reflected below. As you can see from the provided table, pay documents (sent via email) are dated separately from the date of payment, which is also dated separately from the date the payment was received in [HUSBAND]’s bank account – [HUSBAND] was emailed his pay documents on this date to confirm payment.

Document Date            Payment Date           Deposit Date                  Deposit Amount
10 September 2019   11 September 2019   20 September 2019   £x,xxx
28 November 2019   3 December 2019   10 December 2019   £x,xxx
5 March 2020           17 March 2020           19 March 2020           £x,xxx
11 June 2020           19 June 2020           23 June 2020           £x,xxx

I can confirm that the emails [HUSBAND] receives about the quarterly payments at his [UNIVERSITY] email address ([HUSBAND]@uni.ac.uk) from [PAYMENTADDRESS]@uni.ac.uk are genuine reflections of the above.

In academic year 2020-2021, this tax-free maintenance grant will increase to [MORE THAN £15,800], paid again in quarterly instalments. Each of these payments will be [£x,xxx], beginning in September 2020. [HUSBAND] will also be in receipt of a tax-free maintenance grant of similar value in academic year 2021-2022. Though the exact amount has not been confirmed at this time, it will not be below £15,800.

Yours faithfully,'

Hi all,

Just boosting this to see if I can get a check that it looks ok.

Thanks!

My fiancé's programme director has agreed to write the letter to confirm our financials, and has asked us to draft it on their behalf. Does the following look ok?

I am concerned about explaining that there are three dates attached to each payment -- a date that the pay documents are dated, the date that payment is scheduled (listed on the documents as the 'payment date') and then the date that the money is deposited (also the date the pay documents are sent via email). We've set it up in a table to try to connect the pieces of the puzzle.

What are you concerned about in regards to explaining it? The drafted letter looks great - it's clear and concise and the table explicitly outlines the different dates .

We have PDF copies of the emails sent, can we just save these ad PDFs and upload them or should we print them and then scan them?

I'd just save as PDF and upload them - no need to waste paper when they are already digital.

Thanks, @ksand24! We've now paid for the application (gulp!) and are waiting to hear if I am eligible for biometrics re-use or allowed to make an appointment for biometrics (it looks like they are only available to people who applied before 31 July at the moment).

Small snafu came up during the application that I want to make sure I'm addressing correctly.

My American passport expires in 2 weeks. I meant to renew it earlier in the year, and then the shutdown happened, and by the time applications were being accepted we were preparing to move and so I didn't want to apply and have the passport come back somewhere we no longer lived.

We've moved now, and I'll be sending my application off on Monday first thing.

The American Embassy website says applications are being turned around in 3 weeks. Since it is unlikely I'll get a biometrics appointment before then, my plan was to scan both my current (about to expire) passport and the new one, and include a letter in the miscellaneous upload section explain that my passport was renewed after I applied for the visa so I've included scans of both.

Does this make sense/is this likely to cause issues?

Thanks, as always!

Brief update that I scanned my entire passport and then sent the original off to the Embassy to be renewed. We were already going to include a letter to explain our relationship evidence (since we haven't lived together for 2 years) so I'll include in that why they are getting two passport scans. Fingers crossed it all works out!

Another question, alongside the passport issue:

I mistyped one of the dates I left the UK on the application (wrote that I left on the 19th and in fact left on the 18th). Can I also just address this in the letter?

This means the letter will address three things:

1. Relationship evidence is a mix of text messages and bank statements
2. I renewed my passport after submitting my application, since the one listed expired
3. This typo

Is this too much? At this point should I just cancel and redo the application? I'm leaning toward no but I'm also really worried, for obvious reasons.

I intentionally have not started uploading documents so that nothing can lock in and not be changed, since I'll have to add the other passport when it arrives. Is that also a decent strategy?

Sorry for a million flustered questions, any guidance would be very very helpful!