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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be furious at British Immigration, though it gets me nowhere and I should just suck it up?

82 replies

IceLollyMolly · 18/05/2023 08:51

My first post ever, though I have been lurking for a while. Please let me vent here; I have no where else to vent.

I am not British and neither is DH. We are both foreigners working in the UK on Tier 2 Skilled Worker visas. Been here for 3 years, and our visas expired in February. We both applied for priority renewals on February 1st, sponsored by our employers ( who also paid for the whopping priority fees). We were told we would get our renewed visas back in a week or 10 days. Our documents were in order. It's now been over 3 months, and we haven't got our visas.

Until we get our new BRPs, we cannot leave the country. In the meantime, DH's dad had a stroke in our home country in March. We could not visit. DH had a lad's holiday planned for May. He cannot go. We have an agent for this ( think Big 4 consultant) and she tried following up with Immigration. Got the response that our documents are in order but their IT systems have not been working. For over 3 months?

I feel terribly sorry for DH's dad and incredibly stuck. We were lucky that DH's sister was able to step in to help him. I also feel completely furious and trapped here. There is no word on when we might get the visas, so our summer travel plans are stymied too. Both our families are in another country and this brings back horrible memories of the pandemic when we could not visit.

I know that I just need to accept that this is how it is and suck it up. I am really tired though of the way things have more or less stopped functioning. I cannot wait until we get ILR ( still 2 years to go).

OP posts:
poetryandwine · 18/05/2023 15:56

It could be indirectly Brexit related, in that Brexit has put greater demands on the whole system. OP is part of the fallout.

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 16:08

Immigration is a joke. When I applied online to renew my passport, (which I had held for over forty years) I received a form asking me to reaffirm my claim to British citizenship. I cited my father and mother both of whom were born in the UK, I was asked for their passport numbers which I could not give as neither of my parents had one. Risibly I then had to fill in a form detailing any period of more than six months that either parent had been out of the country. My father had been out of the country from 1940 until 1947, which according to immigration, debarred him from British citizenship under the Five Year Rule. more worryingly I had to explain what he was doing during this period. I went to an immigration solicitor who sorted it out for me. I did write to my MP but I received to reply, not surprising as it was Boris Johson.

EssexMan55 · 18/05/2023 16:12

Haywirecity · 18/05/2023 10:04

I wouldn't think it's the pandemic fall out. Passport times are back to normal so no reason why the Home Office hasn't got the UKVI under control. Maybe it is computer problems. It wouldn't surprise me after all the nhs hacking hoohaa, but it really isn't good enough. I'm so sorry about your DH's dad. I hope he gets to see him soon.

They are lying about computer problems. Someone close to me got a new BRP a month ago, and application was 2 months ago.

Horizons83 · 18/05/2023 16:17

PLEASE PLEASE stop telling the OP to just leave the UK and try and get in later. Leaving the country is an automatic withdrawal of the leave to remain application and as their current visas have now expired they would not be able to return to the UK until they had obtained new visas.. and would have broken their continuous residency in the UK for ILR purposes.

OP, it's shit, I totally agree. The Home Office have made so many cock-ups recently, but yours is a ridiculously long time to wait and is unacceptable. I would be putting more pressure on your immigration lawyer, as if they are in the Big 4 they should be able to do a bit more behind the scenes.. or come up with an alternative solution e.g. submit a second application to essentially overwrite the first one.

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 16:28

HicLocusEst · 18/05/2023 10:08

Your name would have been cross-referenced from your passport application. Your passport application would, in turn, hold the information that you're British by descent from your father. As you hold the passport, which came from the Home Office, they wouldn't need you to prove it iyswim? Because they issued it (Immigration, Nationality, Passports, all part of the same HO department) Had you not had a BC passport, they'd have asked you to send in evidence (b-cert) of your British Citizenship through your father. @hotpotlover
As you say, sending you the original letter was a mistake though.

Immigration did ask for my birth certificate which they rejected as it was not the original but a copy I had obtained from the Registry Office that had issued the original to my parents in 1950.

PrestonHood121 · 18/05/2023 17:18

Friends and family of mine that had visa issues in the past, reached out to their local MP who enquired about it on their behalf. All was approved quickly after that.

mathanxiety · 18/05/2023 18:11

HicLocusEst · 18/05/2023 11:22

Exactly. Happens every day. But apparently I'm lying.

Show quote history

Why should the intervention of an MP be necessary?

A fair, efficient, and transparent system shouldn't require pull every time it's necessary to get passports returned to facilitate travel.

And yet this happens every day, you say?

Throwncrumbs · 18/05/2023 18:17

You feel trapped here but can’t wait for your IDR in two years…..righty oh!

Moreorlessmentallystable · 18/05/2023 18:48

HicLocusEst · 18/05/2023 08:56

Brexit innit.
Factor in how many people didn't need any permits/visas/paperwork until a couple of years ago and now do. Then see how many more staff the immigration service has employed to cover this increase in that time.
Then you'll see why you're having to wait.
Why can't you travel out of the country? That's not dependent on your visa status? If they still have your travel documents ring and explain the emergency with your husband's father. You can have his passport sent back immediately so he can travel. Happens every day.

Not everything has to do with Brexit. Not all immigrants come from Europe...

poetryandwine · 18/05/2023 18:53

They are trapped because they have a critically ill parent they cannot visit, @Throwncrumbs . Despite what PPs obviously inexpert in immigration law may think. This has nothing to do with ILR.

poetryandwine · 18/05/2023 18:54

@HicLocusEst travelling outside of the country is not dependent on visa status but being readmitted assuredly is.

ASimpleLampoon · 18/05/2023 18:57

Write to your MP and consider going to the media. Cases were there is no breach of rules have a tendency to suddenly be resolved when there's bad press for HO

Wakeywake · 18/05/2023 19:08

Yep, they are useless. And no, it's not the fallout from Brexit or the pandemic. They were equally useless 20 years ago when I had to deal with them. And no, getting the ILR won't stop the hassle, wait and see what happens when you've got to change your passport...

saraclara · 18/05/2023 19:17

Throwncrumbs · 18/05/2023 18:17

You feel trapped here but can’t wait for your IDR in two years…..righty oh!

They won't be trapped here when they get ILR (or indeed their renewal comes through). They're trapped temporarily, unable to leave the country to visit a sick parent, because the renewal of their present visa hasn't come through.

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 19:18

Moreorlessmentallystable · 18/05/2023 18:48

Not everything has to do with Brexit. Not all immigrants come from Europe...

Show quote history

You did not need a passport to go to northern Ireland before Brexit

Grumpy67i8 · 18/05/2023 19:26

British citizen living abroad here. My husband's passport took EIGHT MONTHS to get renewed last year. 8 months in which he couldn't go anywhere as he had no passport. Mine is up for renewal and I'm lucky I have another citizenship, I'll just deal with my British passport at some point when the Home Office isn't a bag of shit or we're living in the UK again.

I have a friend whose British citizenship application took 15 months to be processed (and then another 5 months until she could get the ceremony booked after that)! Should have been max 3-6 months!

AnneElliott · 18/05/2023 19:26

Raise it with your Mp. I used to work for immigration and when an Mp writes in those cases are pulled from the queue and sorted.

DownNative · 18/05/2023 19:28

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 19:18

You did not need a passport to go to northern Ireland before Brexit

Show quote history

Capital N.

I'm assuming you're referring to EU citizens there. They have to do what they've always had to do for entry to the Republic of Ireland:

"Travelling in the European Union. As Ireland is not a party to the Schengen Agreement, Irish citizens must present a passport when entering other EU Member States. Similarly, all EU citizens entering Ireland will be required to present a passport or a valid national identity card."

Like the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom was NOT party to the Schengen Agreement at any time. So, EU citizens have always been required to present a passport when entering other EU member states.

For this purpose, the UK, ROI and a few other EU members were treated as external flight destinations/arrivals.

British citizens don't require a passport for Northern Ireland. It's always been advisable to carry one in case you need to prove identity. Ditto ROI vis a vis the Common Travel Area.

DownNative · 18/05/2023 19:30

My post should have said "EU citizens have always been required to present a passport when entering the UK."

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 19:32

Grumpy67i8 · 18/05/2023 19:26

British citizen living abroad here. My husband's passport took EIGHT MONTHS to get renewed last year. 8 months in which he couldn't go anywhere as he had no passport. Mine is up for renewal and I'm lucky I have another citizenship, I'll just deal with my British passport at some point when the Home Office isn't a bag of shit or we're living in the UK again.

I have a friend whose British citizenship application took 15 months to be processed (and then another 5 months until she could get the ceremony booked after that)! Should have been max 3-6 months!

As I said, I wrote to my MP, who was Boris Johnson. a minion wrote back after several weeks to tell me that he had no influence over government departments. MY solicitor sorted out the matter, reassuring me that men of army service oversees did not lose their citizenship. It too over a year to renew my passport.

Witsend101 · 18/05/2023 19:43

There is absolutely nothing stopping the OP from visiting sick relatives other than own choice not to do so. Nothing to stop them leaving the country. The application would automatically end but they can apply for a visa to come back in, which is inconvenient yes but not the end of world when faced with prospect of not seeing sick relative. If its really true that OP applied by priority service then her application can't be straight forward otherwise it would have been done already I would have thought.

postwarbulge · 18/05/2023 19:49

DownNative · 18/05/2023 19:28

Capital N.

I'm assuming you're referring to EU citizens there. They have to do what they've always had to do for entry to the Republic of Ireland:

"Travelling in the European Union. As Ireland is not a party to the Schengen Agreement, Irish citizens must present a passport when entering other EU Member States. Similarly, all EU citizens entering Ireland will be required to present a passport or a valid national identity card."

Like the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom was NOT party to the Schengen Agreement at any time. So, EU citizens have always been required to present a passport when entering other EU member states.

For this purpose, the UK, ROI and a few other EU members were treated as external flight destinations/arrivals.

British citizens don't require a passport for Northern Ireland. It's always been advisable to carry one in case you need to prove identity. Ditto ROI vis a vis the Common Travel Area.

Show quote history

NOt my experience. I was turned back at Aldergrove as I did not have a passport. MY driving license was not enough

Caterina99 · 18/05/2023 19:57

I had a similar experience with US immigration, so I feel you OP

Hopefully it comes through soon!

poetryandwine · 18/05/2023 20:02

@Witsend101 have you thought that if OP and her DH cannot return to the UK they may not be much use to their employers? Eg in the tech sector there are security restrictions preventing WFH from many countries in many jobs. If OP and her DH lose their jobs they lose their right to a visa.

You definitely can make a priority application with a straightforward case. I did.

poetryandwine · 18/05/2023 20:09

Also as I lived in America for a while I know a lot of expats who, like PPs here, can sadly confirm that her situation is not unusual.

It is irritating to read so many posts from PPs with no knowledge of how visas work, or of how slow the border authorities can be, who do not appreciate the complexities of OP’s situation.