UK Visas and British Citizenship

In the previous post here in this Blog we covered one of the most common questions we are asked about UK Spouse / Partner visa. Now this is THE most common question: how much time can a spouse / partner spend outside the UK (or stay inside the UK) while on a Spouse / Partner visa here?  The purpose of a Spouse/Partner visa is for the foreign partner to reside in the UK with their British/settled spouse/partner. So, are there limits on how many days you (or your British spouse) can spend outside the UK while on this visa? Some think it is 90 days, others – 180 days per year. Both are wrong. The former is the old limit for work visas and the latter is the current limit for the visas under the Points-Based System. Neither applies to spouses and partners.  The answer is: there is no specified limit on absences. In other words, there is no minimum number of days, such as “180 per year”. The only rule is that the UK remains your main home and each case has to be assessed ...

UK Spouse/Partner/Fiancée visa is one of our most common visa categories (with the 100% success rate so far!), we are often asked this question.   Under the current rules, once your application has been approved, you are issued a 30-day visa stamp. It allows to come to the UK and collect a “proper” Spouse / Partner visa, which would be a biometric card and valid for 33 months. Collection is at a designated post-office, which you would choose when submitting your visa form online on visa4uk website. What if you can’t arrive within 30 days? In this case you would need to make another application and pay another fee – to have a new visa stamp, for further 30 days. This sounds inconvenient, and it often is!   One thing you can do is to specify your date of arrival in the UK (on the application form) as accurately and realistically as possible, so your 30-day stamp starts from the specified ate of your planned arrival in the UK and not from the date of when your visa ...

Join us for this very informative and practical 2-day course at our office in the City of London!   UK Immigration Rules, visas, switching, visas for spouses and partners, what a great idea! O r perhaps you would enjoy learning about British Citizenship or Points-Based System, EU/EEA applications and European law?   1st 4Immigration Ltd is a practicing OISC-accredited immigration company, OISC ref F200800152, accredited at the highest Level 3. After many years of experience – and hundreds of successful cases – we are sharing our experience to help you to prepare for your OISC Level 1 assessment and accreditation or, if you are already practicing, to increase your knowledge.   TRAINING DATES:    24th - 25th June 2017 (10am - 4pm). To book please visit this page:  http://www.1st4immigration.com/training/classroom-oisc-level-1-course.php Unlike most traditional courses, ours is conducted using plain lang...

“I am happy about the service, the response via email is very quick and the visa was ready in 3 days time. Even though the cost is quite expensive, but it’s all worth it. After I sent out all the documents, I just had to take photo and fingerprints and treated as Premium visa applicant.”     These nice – and fair – words came from Yuyun, an Indonesian national who successfully secured a French Schengen visa through us. The immigration advice can indeed be expensive these days, particularly from a reputable and experienced immigration firm. The reasons are expertise as well as having to work with the ever-changing rules and regulations, which in turn requires more of our time spent on each application, making sure every single aspect and document is correct. On the other hand, submitting an application which gets refused means losing even more money and time. Our result is close to 100% success rate!  We also provide immigration services for UK visas a...

“The process is very efficient and they are a big help in getting my application done. A trustworthy company. Big thanks!” Camille, Filipino national It is possible to obtain a French Schengen visa within 3-4 working days from the date of appointment for most nationals, such as South African, Thai, Filipino, Russian, Indian, Chinese and most others. We can also assist with the German and Portuguese Schengen visas. The good thing about applying through French Embassy is that they tend to issuer longer, multiple-entry, visas. Although you have to go through a very stringent process of application, you may have a visa lasting for several years.  Contact us at Multi Travel Visas: French Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-france.php German Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-germany.php Portuguese Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-portugal.php Fast UK passp...

A business plan was made compulsory for initial applications from 6 April 2015.   Over the past several years we’ve been dealing with the Entrepreneur visa applications for our clients. As a part of each application, we have to read client’s business plan, ask to make changes and generally, to include the information relevant to the Entrepreneur visa rules as well as based on the questions a client may be asked at a interview (from our experience of clients’ visa interviews). Our experience allowed us to develop an approach to creating the business plans from a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa point of view. Instead of using standard templates, we focus on what the visa officers want to see, ie on what a migrant will be required to do while holding this visa: investment of £50,000 or £200,000 and what your client is going to spend it on. For example, paying yourself a salary is not counted, yet it is very common for clients to do this.    Another example will be in...

This UK visa category is becoming ever so popular, yet the refusal rate is growing just as fast. We are making these few posts to provide some practical advice based on our vast – and successful - experience with Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visas. Just what you would expect from our firm of Immigration Entrepreneurs, based in the City of London! TIP #1: Be a genuine applicant. May sound obvious but this is the most important thing in the whole application! You have to be a genuine entrepreneur and genuinely intending to come to the UK to run your own business or to join an existing one. Do not use this category “just to come to the UK”, it is fairly obvious to professionals like us (and the Government officers!) when a migrant is trying to do so. When we work on an Entrepreneur visa application, we look at least at one of the following (better both): 1)      Does the migrant have past experience of running his/her own business? If the answer is No, maybe at le...

A recent Daily Mail article caught our eye: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4410894/EU-couple-devastated-children-denied-UK-residency.html   A European (Dutch-Spanish) family made an application to the UK Home Office to confirm their status of permanent residents in the UK. This application, EEA(PR), has been one of the most common application since the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016 Referendum. Many EU/EEA citizens and their family members panicked and wanted some peace of mind, hence getting this official document confirming their permanent status in the UK.   In this case both parents were granted a PR document. Their children (12 and 15 yo), however, were refused on the basis that they didn’t send enough evidence of children’s residency in the UK. Although this makes another dramatic   “good” news story headline We at 1 st 4Immigration believe it was probably the case of the Home Office just not ticking a couple of boxes. In other words, th...

With our vast successful UK immigration experience, 1 st 4Immigration is offering an individual advice session to discuss your situation and visa options, whether to come to the UK or to extend your stay here in various categories, from spouses of UK citizens, EEA nationals and family members to Entrepreneurs and Investors.   For example, we have a 100% success rate on applications for spouses and partners of British citizens covering a period of almost 10 years.   Our advisers are OISC - accredited at the highest Level 3 ! A consultation one-to-one with an experienced adviser can be held at our office in the City of London, near Monument/Bank stations. An email consultation can be done anytime, and we provide the required information by the end of the next working day after receiving advice fee. Our advice fee is £150 (including VAT) and is counted towards our UK visa application fee if you proceed with an application through us after that.   For ind...

When you are applying for your 1 st Spouse visa, you need the most basic A1 level. This is true whether you are applying outside the UK or switching from another category inside the UK. After the 1 st Spouse visa you will need an extension. At the moment at that stage you would still need the same A1 level, so at the moment you wouldn’t need to worry about this rule at all. From May 2017, however, you need to demonstrate a higher A2 level when applying for extension . This new rule, having to prove A2 level, applies to those whose current Spouse / Partner visa expires from 1 May 2017 onwards – even if applying for extension before that!   You can read more on this here in the earlier post: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/new-a2-english-language-requirement.html After that you could normally apply for a permanent visa. This is where an even higher B1 level would be needed.   For individual advice or to make an application please contact...

The new requirement for spouses and partners of British citizens to prove the higher, A2, level of English when applying for a visa extension in this category has been known for a while. What makes it interesting is the way it is being implemented from May 2017. Unusually, the Rules were changed in the way to prevent the migrants rushing to extend their Spouse/Partner visas before the changes have been implemented. Traditionally, the new Rules affect those who make an application after the changes. Just as traditionally, people usually rush to make an application before the changes – to benefit from the old Rules. In this case, however, the changes affect those spouses / partners, whose initial Spouse/Partner visas expire from 1 May 2017 onwards – even if they were making an application before 1 May 2017! We also have a post, describing all levels of English exams and when each level is needed for a Spouse / Partner visa: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.co.uk/2017/0...

“Great service, posted my passport from Dubai on Monday night and was renewed and back in my hand the following Sunday - 6 days total including postage from the UAE.” Oliver, British national Multi Travel Visas can assist with getting passports renewed using premium/fast track service. We are able to get it done within 3-4 working days (premium service) or 7-8 working days (fast track service) provided there are appointments available at the passport office in London.  Contact us:   http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/same-day-british-passport-renewal.php Phone 0871 472 1468 or 07795471483  Email:   info@multitravelvisas.co.uk    Or come to our office from 9am to 5pm (you don’t need an appointment): 68 King William Street, City of London, London, EC4N 7DZ. We’re near Monument tube station, close to  Bank and Liverpool Street, over the bridge from London Bridge station and within easy reach by DLR from Canary Wharf.

"Fast and reliable service, and get my visa without hassle, only need to have a trip to post office, must be recommended!! :)" Leo, Chinese national It is possible to obtain a French Schengen visa within 3-4 working days from the date of appointment for most nationals, such as South African, Thai, Filipino, Russian, Indian, Chinese and most others. We can also assist with the German and Portuguese Schengen visas. The good thing about applying through French Embassy is that they tend to issuer longer, multiple-entry, visas. Although you have to go through a very stringent process of application, you may have a visa lasting for several years.  Contact us at Multi Travel Visas: French Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-france.php German Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-germany.php Portuguese Schengen visa:  http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-portugal.php Fast UK passp...