NottmTex Posted May 7, 2022 Share Posted May 7, 2022 Hi everyone, Hope you're well! So we are in strife! Backstory is I am a UK citizen, partner is not. We have tickets booked for trhe UK end of this month. My partner is an Aussie, and an oral health therapist (in between dentist and hygienist). She had to send her application to the UK dental board to be accepted, backlog of applications so hasn't been seen for 4 months. We were told she couldn't apply for partner or health & care visa until she had the confirmation from the dental board. It was all fine as we could fast-track the visa by paying for priority or super-priority. That has now been suspended as a service and all visas are delayed we were told, 3/4 months plus it could take. We called UK Immigration and Visas and had to pay 69 pence per minute, we later found that it's a third-party organisation and they don't give you any useful info, we literally just got told there were delays and that's it. We asked if my partner could apply for a partner visa and come into the UK on a visitors visa as she's Aussie and doesn't work until we hear more. They just said she could and some people do but it's a risk and that's it. We have no idea what to do and are so stressed! Anyone in similar situations or could offer any help, would be greatly appreciated! This has so far ruined my return to the UK to see my family as I don't want to leave my partner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 7, 2022 Share Posted May 7, 2022 Lesson learned, never ever book flights until visas are approved, but I know that doesn't help you. Best plan would be to rebook your flights, you can stay in AirBnB until the visa comes through. Check how quick partner visas are currently - ours came through in just a few weeks and caught us on the hop, it was so fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted May 7, 2022 Share Posted May 7, 2022 3 hours ago, NottmTex said: Hi everyone, Hope you're well! So we are in strife! Backstory is I am a UK citizen, partner is not. We have tickets booked for trhe UK end of this month. My partner is an Aussie, and an oral health therapist (in between dentist and hygienist). She had to send her application to the UK dental board to be accepted, backlog of applications so hasn't been seen for 4 months. We were told she couldn't apply for partner or health & care visa until she had the confirmation from the dental board. It was all fine as we could fast-track the visa by paying for priority or super-priority. That has now been suspended as a service and all visas are delayed we were told, 3/4 months plus it could take. We called UK Immigration and Visas and had to pay 69 pence per minute, we later found that it's a third-party organisation and they don't give you any useful info, we literally just got told there were delays and that's it. We asked if my partner could apply for a partner visa and come into the UK on a visitors visa as she's Aussie and doesn't work until we hear more. They just said she could and some people do but it's a risk and that's it. We have no idea what to do and are so stressed! Anyone in similar situations or could offer any help, would be greatly appreciated! This has so far ruined my return to the UK to see my family as I don't want to leave my partner. Don't quite understand why she couldn't apply for the UK Partner visa without having her skill assessed, there is no need to have a skill when entering on a Partner Visa. That would probably be the quickest route. She must be outside the UK when her Partner visa is granted. Phoning immigration helplines is pointless, they are just manned by call centre staff and can't answer specific queries as they are not trained to do so. There are delays at the moment, partly because of the eternal problem of staff off with COVID, but also because the focus is currently on Ukrainians applying to enter the UK. Probably not want you want to hear, but it could be 3-4 months for a grant. Fingers crossed that you booked flexible tickets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NottmTex Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 22 hours ago, Nemesis said: Don't quite understand why she couldn't apply for the UK Partner visa without having her skill assessed, there is no need to have a skill when entering on a Partner Visa. That would probably be the quickest route. She must be outside the UK when her Partner visa is granted. Phoning immigration helplines is pointless, they are just manned by call centre staff and can't answer specific queries as they are not trained to do so. There are delays at the moment, partly because of the eternal problem of staff off with COVID, but also because the focus is currently on Ukrainians applying to enter the UK. Probably not want you want to hear, but it could be 3-4 months for a grant. Fingers crossed that you booked flexible tickets You're correct, we could have applied for a partner visa for her but we were told to apply for a health & care visa, which she couldn't do until hearing back from the general dental council and securing a certificate of sponsorship. We do have flexible flights luckily! In regards to your point about being outside the UK when the partner VISA is granted... is that to have her passport returned? (As we will be doing the all-digital option where you don't have to hand in your passport), or was there another reason you were referring to? Ideally, we would have loved the visa here and ready to go, we were on track from the info we had. We never knew about the delays on visas and suspension on paying for priority until yesterday. We have been told it is possible to apply for the partner visa and come into the UK as an Australian visitor (not work of course) and wait until the partner visa has been processed. However, the woman from the helpline who advised us did not seem 100% sure herself so this is where we need more clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NottmTex Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 On 07/05/2022 at 19:15, Marisawright said: Lesson learned, never ever book flights until visas are approved, but I know that doesn't help you. Best plan would be to rebook your flights, you can stay in AirBnB until the visa comes through. Check how quick partner visas are currently - ours came through in just a few weeks and caught us on the hop, it was so fast. Of course, we would have loved the visa but were told the General Dental Council would process partners' applications within 3 months (been 5 and still not near processing) - after being processed and applying for the health & care visa would have only taken 3 weeks to process. So we thought bugger it's let's get a partner visa and pay for priority, that's when we have been told priorities have been suspended and visa delays overall for obvious reasons with Ukraine. Partner could come to the UK on an Aussie visitors pass for up to 6 months in the hope that priority would be turned back on and could be paid for, she could then leave the country for a week until it's processed. The problem is I think this could go on for many months. So horrible what's happened with the Ukraine people, just wish we had some clarity on what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 On 08/05/2022 at 20:21, NottmTex said: We have been told it is possible to apply for the partner visa and come into the UK as an Australian visitor (not work of course) and wait until the partner visa has been processed. However, the woman from the helpline who advised us did not seem 100% sure herself so this is where we need more clarification. You cannot be granted the visa while you are onshore, so she would have to leave the UK to have the visa granted. Under the old system where you had to hand over your passport, obviously you had to apply in your home country and then stay there until you got your passport back. This is probably part of the reason for the confusion by Immi staff, because I don't know how long the digital version has been available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.