The Daily Mail article about on a South African spouse of a UK citizen, who was ordered to leave within 28 days – our analysis.

By 1st 4Immigration - #1 UK Immigration Experts -
This was a recent article on The Daily Mail website, dated 1 February 2017: South African wife is ordered to leave UK in 28 days because Home Office say she isn't earning enough as she ploughs everything into her business, the full article can be found here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4175862/South-African-wife-ordered-leave-UK-28-days.html
It is a continuation to the subject of minimum income threshold (£18,600) for spouses and partners of British citizens, applying for a Spouse/Partner visa. In this case, as we understand, it was a visa extension, ie the next visa after the initial 2.5 years of residency in the UK.
The article headline sounds very dramatic (probably has to be for the newspaper), but here is our analysis, based on the limited information provided in the article.
The South African spouse was most likely given the right of appeal against the decision of the UK Visas and Immigration (The Home Office). If she appeals on time, within 14 days, her status will remain legal for as long as it takes for her appeal. The foreign spouse won’t be deported, won’t be arrested, won’t be evicted and generally, won’t be treated as an illegal migrant. In this case, the status remains as the “previous Spouse visa” for the duration of appeal, which may take as long as a year, and it is the so called “Section 3C leave”.
It may sound like a long time for appeal (can be as long as 1 year) but in practice, it would buy this couple time to meet the Rules, whichever Rules they were unable to meet during the said application (the one that was refused). If they couple did not meet the “technical” side of the Rules, they would “but time” to correct that while having a pending appeal. They might be able to add this during the appeal hearing or they might decide to submit a fresh application before that, as it may be quicker.  
The “technical” side is, for example, calculation of the £18,600 income threshold. very often the couple can meet it, in principle, but can’t meet it under the extensive “technical” rules of how it is calculated. For example, your pay may be £25,000 per year but you started working only 2 months ago. On one hand, you meet the threshold but on the other hand, you won’t meet the Rules because you haven’t worked for 6 months. “A technicality”!
It is possible that the couple’s visa refusal was based on a technicality. It is not that the UK government is trying to make it difficult for this particular couple, it is not personal! Of course, we don’t have the full details of this case, so it is our analysis based on the article and our extensive experience with visa application for spouses and partners of UK citizens.
We are particularly experienced in visa applications for self-employed people, and this where the “technicalities” are most likely to cause a problem!
For a professional advice or a UK visa application please visit 1st 4Immigration website www.1st4immigration.com or email info@1st4immigration.com or visit our Blog: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.co.uk/
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