Immigration, Spousal Visa, Pre settled status and DV

[TeaLove12]

Good afternoon,

hope everyone is well. Wasn’t sure where to post this but here goes.

so I got married to a foreign national decided to bring him down on a spousal visa under the EU settlement scheme. I am originally from an EU country but came here when I was very young and am settled under the scheme. He currently has a BRC and is pre settled. He came here in November 2021.

shortly after the abuse started we already had one child and I ended up becoming pregnant shortly after. Throughout his time with me (over 3 years) he refused to work and made my life frankly a living hell. There was physical, emotional and financial abuse and coercive control. I have made a report to the police (3 weeks ago) and am waiting for him to be arrested and charged. I believe my case is strong as I have actual evidence to back up my claims of abuse.

we are now divorced, he’s moved on and has refused to pay child maintenance I have currently made a application through the CMS and am not in contact with him any longer.

The abuse is something I’m trying to navigate through, anxiety and PTSD are currently playing havock. I know there are support services and will reach out to them in the new year.

My reason for this post is if anyone has been in a similar situation with a ex spouse or any immigration lawyers on here what options are there for me to get this idiot out of the country. It has recently come to me that the relationship wasn’t genuine I feel used and abused. He has not been a law abiding citizen and is currently trying to bring his sister in the country under a sham marriage. I have reported this to the HO, (facilitated it, found the people not under his name). I have also reported that the marriage ended this was in June 2023 to the HO under the relationship breakdown.

Throughout his time here he has only started working 3 months ago and as far as I know is still under probabtion with work. He hasn’t really contributed to society, nor is he fulfilling the criteria of the family visa.

His visa is still active and has not been curtailed.

please be kind any advice is appreciated.

It’s unlikely he will be removed from the UK as he has children in the UK.

Thank you for your comment.
The children are not living in the UK at the moment and are with my parents abroad.

If he is pre-settled then there isn’t much that can be done. Settled/ pre-settled status has barely any conditions one needs to fulfil continuously, unlike the regular visa route. Another mitigating factor will be that his children live in this country.

If he would have gone down the ‘standard’ immigration route, ie work visa, as opposed to being a family member, he would have been deported fairly immediately for any wrongdoing, or being without highly skilled, highly paid work for more than a few weeks. I have had people deported for fairly minor criminal offences in the past if on a work visa.

However, again, mitigating factor will be in your case on any visa type that he has children in this country.

Generally any lawyer worth their salt will argue the ‘best interests of the children’ line here as part of the argument.

Also, as a private individual you cannot argue for him to be deported, you can merely report breaches of his visa conditions, it’s up to government bodies to pursue or not pursue a deportation if they have reason to believe someone is in the country illegally.

You’ve reported a criminal offence and also what may or may not be a breach of conditions of stay, so you’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Thank you so much for your advice.

The kids are no longer living in this country nor does he have any contact with them.
in regards to the pre settled route this is as a dependent on a family visa and any rights were directly derived from me. Once I declared the family separation I was informed that he would no longer receive derived rights from my self and this would be at the discretion of the Secretary of State.

I assumed that they would curtail his visa.
as a independent person I know that i can’t deport anyone but due to the demage caused by this individual I don’t want them to still have rights cause of me.

So do you still have contact with him?

I would only assume he was able to get himself a different type of visa, as working illegally is pretty hard in the UK, unless it’s a cash in hand illegal economy sort of job. In which case I’m not sure if they do probation 😇

I’ve not handled settled/pre-settled dependant cases so I’ve not come across anyone with his status, ie non-EU settled/pre-settled spouse, and I don’t do immigration anymore, so I may be out of date with some of my experience. However remember that after a certain number of years temp statuses can be converted to permanent.

On some visa types and if his children no longer live here, once the police pick him up and a criminal prosecution is pursued, he may well lose his right to remain depending on visa type and conditions.

It seems you’ve reported everything so now you’ve got to let the system do its job.

Yes it’s after 5 years that the individual can apply for full settled status under the scheme. Thank you for your advice.
hopefully justice prevails.

How long were you married for OP?, if it was at least 3 years, and 1 of those years were resident in the UK then your ex will / could be be able to apply for status under retained rights.

Is he an EEA Citizen?, if not he cannot sponsor anyone else under the EUSS scheme, and in general the route is closed for new applications anyway.

I wonder if hes applied under the spousal route visa instead, he will most likely be invited to a marriage interview and hopefully the interviewer will pick out his sham marriage.

Without lawful leave he should be eligible for removal from the UK.

Speak to an immigration advisor, if you wish. But as someone who came to the UK on a spousal visa, I don’t think you need to do anything in terms of his immigration status, other than to pursue the divorce and DV charges.

When he gets to settlement stage, the application process is very involved. All of this will be checked and he will need to prove his right to settle. It’s very invasive and detailed. All of this will come up and he will need to prove his right to permanently settle here. Likely this will be tied to his children (I hope you don’t plan to live forever away from them), but criminal charges, immigration fraud, etc will all work against him.

Thank you for your response. Yes I guess retained rights could be an option but we separated when he was in the UK for under two years married longer than 3.
in regards to the sham marriage it isn’t him who is the partner he just facilitated and set it all up.
what do you mean lawful leave?
thank you for all the information x

Thanks dear for your comment.
I never realised how invasive the process was. Were you here on a EU spousal family visa? What evidence did you have to provide?, was there an interview stage involved. I doubt that he would per-sue matters that way, would probably go down the 10 year route.
Of course not, can’t be without them for too long, there coming back soon. He doesn’t have contact with them so hopefully this means he can’t claim to be here because of them.

But their home is UK?

Did dad consent to travelling abroad? Be careful. You can be accused of keeping them from dad or abduction.

And please remember
Children need both parents in childhood. It's not only your children no matter how hard the relationship between you is/has been.

Under EUSS it's the date of divorce, not separation that is counted. So it does sound like he could meet the criteria for retained rights.

You've done all you can though by reporting him, and we'll done for getting out of that awful situation .

Lawful leave - it's basically having any visa type that gives you status to be in the UK. Could be spouse, student, skilled worker etc. Once that visa expires you are here 'without lawful leave' and are liable for removal.

Thank you for clarifying what that meant.
I was going by the date of the divorce. Thank you for your advice and support it’s much appreciated x

I know, thank you for your advice.
he hasn’t got a relationship with them by his own choice, but I know what you mean x

Your children are still resident here though, in terms of legal residence, which is what matters and I agree it's very risky to leave them abroad, if he ever figures out he could take you to court for that.

I don't think going from pre settled to settled is that invasive. They're even talking about automating it, in cases where automated checks can prove you've been here 5 years. It's not like the regular spousal visa.

Their not being left abroad and he is fully aware that they are not here it was done with his consent. I know the system is forever changing. Thank you for your advice.

OK well if they are not staying abroad then they are resident here and he can apply to stay since you are divorced. Even criminals have avoided deportation due to having children here. So I'd build up a really solid base of evidence proving he has no interest in his children, maybe it would help.

Due to the violence I don’t think co parenting is an option as there is always the risk of further abuse. Thank you so much for your advice. I’ll bear that in mind he has no contact with them by choice at the moment. Will try and get something official in place. X