Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Marrying an illegal

68 replies

aaca · 01/09/2016 10:55

My partner is here illegally .. We have been together two years living together one . We have one child together who is 9months of age.
We plan to get married soon .

I no we need to go to local registry office to get proceeding to begin but what do we do or say when we go about his legal status?

Any help would be greatful..

Ps.. Not interested in the keyboard warriors and the negative comments about him marrying me for a visa/passport .. Just wants some helpful advice.

Thanks.

OP posts:

bloodyteenagers · 01/09/2016 11:31

Do you have the thousands to pay for legal fees? Once notice has been served, which it will be, even though he will leave voluntary, the appeal will still be required.
Appeals are not cheap.
If everything is refused he can be denied entry for up to 10 years.
The best thing, return to Kosovo and return legally. Then eventually get married.

bloodyteenagers · 01/09/2016 11:33

Aaca, lots of people have a child. They are still deported.. There's been some very high profile cases where the person has overstayed for 20+ years. Had a family and even grand children and still been sent packing..

GiddyOnZackHunt · 01/09/2016 11:35

I agree that you should tell the truth. And him going out of the UK to seek appropriate clearance to come back to marry would be best. If he doesn't want to risk that then you have few other options apart from giving notice to marry and hoping for the best.

KP86 · 01/09/2016 11:38

Even if he leaves to apply for visa from his home country, the forms ask if you've ever been in the UK illegally which, while I don't think automatically makes it impossible to get another visa, makes it more difficult.

I guess you could give notice, go into hiding for the 28 days and then try to get a slightly earlier appt to beat immigration officials.

MrsGuyOfGisbo · 01/09/2016 11:40

Odd that you have sought advice from a lawyer, but are now seeking from MN.

SavoyCabbage · 01/09/2016 11:41

I had been married to my dh for thirteen years and we two British born dc together and a house in the uk and I couldn't get him back in the country under the new rules because I didn't earn over £18600. Dh was a high wage earner.

That is the rule that will apply to you if your dp leaves the uk. It doesn't matter if you have a child, in fact you just have to have more money if you have dc!

curlywillow · 01/09/2016 11:42

OP I'm a solicitor and I do some immigration work (although employment/business immigration, not this sort of stuff generally).

If your solicitor is indeed a highly successful immigration solicitor she will presumably have given you her advice in writing. Has she not set out for you what you should do? If not then I would be going back and requesting clarification since immigration solicitors are not cheap and for a couple of hundred pounds an hour you should have come away with clarity about the steps you should be taking.

greenfolder · 01/09/2016 13:30

I had a colleague who was here illegally. He had been with my employer at least 4 years. He was married and had 2 kids. He was arrested at work and deported. I really don't think having kids makes a difference. How much are you paying this solicitor?

fabulous01 · 01/09/2016 20:52

Just wanted to say my friend married an illegal immigrant. 10 years later 2 kids later and he has set up his own business here. They are still together despite what everyone thought

allegretto · 01/09/2016 20:57

Savoy - that's awful! How did you manage?

DragonRojo · 01/09/2016 21:09

In the recent years, I have known 2 separate cases of men that got arrested and deported the day before the wedding. One of them already had two UK born children with his British fiancee. Did your solicitor give you clear written instructions on how to proceed?

JaniceBattersby · 01/09/2016 22:59

OP I know of a family in a very, very similar situation to you. The husband has been deported to Kosovo despite having a wife and two children back in the UK. They are now also losing their home because they have spent so much in legal fees. It's been no walk in the park.

I'd seek further advice before getting married to this man.

WantToRunAgain · 01/09/2016 23:04

I don't understand why you think MN would know more than your immigration solicitor? If you don't have faith in her then you need a second opinion and not from people on here!

This is too important to trust the advice of strangers on the Internet.

MumOnTheRunCatchingUp · 01/09/2016 23:05

he will be deported....but you already know this

rollonthesummer · 01/09/2016 23:06

Have you just had an informal chat with this solicitor or have you appointed them to give you legal advice?

user1471443692 · 02/09/2016 00:02

If you apply to marry it is very likely that immigration officers will turn up at your home to detain your partner. Even if you marry while he is illegal, immigration will not see it as a genuine marriage as it was done without having any status in the country so a spouse visa application is likely to fail. There is a route called FLR-FP which allows a person who is illegal to apply for a visa to remain with family. www.gov.uk/remain-in-uk-family/eligibility
Another option is that your partner could go back to his home country and you could travel over there to marry him and then you could return to the uk and start an application for a spousal visa.
It is very, very difficult I have first hand experience of applying for visas and it took 2 years for my husband to be issued an flr-fp visa and almost £6000.

StopMakingMeLogOn · 02/09/2016 00:20

I know someone in your position and ehat they have learned is that not all immigration solicitors are good. I believe there is some kind of rating they get, which you should look into before you spend thousands.

It might be better for your dp to return to kosovo and then apply for a visa. Once here legitimately, you can marry with no fear that immigration will turn up and deport him. Then application for spousal visa shouldn't be too hard. Overstaying his visa is seriously frowned upon and it will cost an absolute bomb to fight it with no guarantee of success.

IceMaiden73 · 02/09/2016 18:53

I don't understand why you have consulted and lawyer and are then asking advise on here

JenLindleyShitMom · 02/09/2016 18:59

Fucking brass neck on it.

Footle · 02/09/2016 19:02

I think it's an additional £5000 per child.

SavoyCabbage · 02/09/2016 20:40

allegretto we didn't come back to the uk for another two years whilst we jumped through many, many hoops. We looked at living apart for six months while I came back and worked and we looked at moving elsewhere in Europe first which would mean we could have got him in on a loophole known as the Surinder Singh route.

In the meantime we contacted our MP from where we used to live and still had a house and he contacted the Home Office (which was no help as the rules were correctly applied) and wrote us a letter of support. We got letters from dh's former employer, my mums doctor saying she needed our support etc. And we got him in on an appeal after two years.

Cocklodger · 03/09/2016 00:44

I'm sorry OP but I don't think this will work out how you want it to.
its costing us £2000 for our (legal) visas to another country. without flights, moving costs etc. DH has resident status I however will not, and will need to spend out another £4000 or so to get this.
I can't imagine being an illegal is any cheaper.
Your DP is likely to be deported before you are able to marry,and it will again likely be a long hard few years with thousands spent before you are able to be together int he UK.
You may want to look at emigrating to his home country to be honest

Nzou1050 · 03/09/2016 01:18

I would be really careful of making sure you have good solid advice before going to the registry office. You will be bringing him to the attention of the home office and as he is here illegally they could well remove him (I'm not saying they should btw but there is the chance that will happen). They can then tell you he should apply from his country to return to the uk on a fiancé visa or that you should marry him in his country and apply for a spousal visa from there.

I know someone (British) whose partner overstayed his visa, they had a young child (also British). He was removed. She went to his home country and married him there. Still took him TWO YEARS to get a spouses visa to return to the UK.

I don't want to worry you but what I'm essentially trying to say is that the Home Office are absolute bastards and don't really give a shit about the right to family life of anyone, even British citizens. So make sure you know what could happen before you go to the registry office.

Admittedly I haven't been looking at this area that recently but I would think your best bet would be to get married in a Church of England as you didn't used to need a certificate of approval. If that's still the case you only need to convince the priest your relationship is genuine, not the home office who may be more interested in removal. That way you can at least get married if that's what you want. But I would suggest it won't be plain sailing and won't necessarily normalise his immigration status easily. They have recently also changed rules for citizenship so any adverse immigration history in the last 10 years (ie periods of illegal residence) will disqualify him from gaining citizenship. He would have to wait 10 years from when he gains legal residence.

IPityThePontipines · 03/09/2016 01:48

Nzou - You don't need a Certificate of Approval to marry anymore, they were rightly viewed as unlawful (Thank you Human Rights Act).

OP, you've had some good advice. Be careful, as whatever happens, you've got a long road ahead of you and be prepared that you may either have to be separated, or live in Kosovo.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 03/09/2016 02:01

With the lack of embarkation controls he really would be better going back to Kosovo. There won't be a removal record on his document. Go visit him. If he had a job there and you build up a to and fro pattern maybe that would work.

Flip

1 2 3