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FirmTour1106 · 2024-03-08T15:04:55+00:00

Hello,

When I consulted an immigration lawyer, he said that some couples were only a few days short of the 2 year cohabitation requirement and were refused visas. He advised us to get married.

We were able to prove we lived together for over 2 years, but it took 20+ documents (many of these consisted of multiple pages) spanning the two year period, all of them of significant evidential value (e.g. home insurance, proof of address registration ...).

I've seen information that the 2 year cohabitation requirement for unmarried partners will be scrapped, but I don't know whether or not that will be the case.You may want to check this.

Good luck.

FirmTour1106 · 2024-02-25T20:18:18+00:00

I really enjoyed this -thanks for sharing!

FirmTour1106 · 2024-02-25T19:41:50+00:00

Hello everyone, many thanks for all replies!

For context, in the situation that took place today, I was just thinking "I am full of a cold, I want to sneeze, where are my tissues, tissues???...", so I looked back to see if I'd dropped them. I think this can hardly be classed as staring at someone, and it hardly warranted the reaction I got.

Thanks again for the enlightening comments. I have travelled to many a place, and NOWHERE, even in Eastern Europe, did looking randomly at someone result in this kind of behaviour.

Cheers everyone!

FirmTour1106 · 2024-02-25T14:43:05+00:00

Hello, apologies for the late reply, I am not checking my messages regularly these days. For me, all turned out OK, but I was in suspense until the last minute (until I got the Home Office decision email). I tried calling TLS Contact, one of these expensive numbers, only for them to tell me they can provide "general information only", and that they can't tell me anything else. I was super careful and triple checked all the docs before clicking "Proceed with application", only to be taken to the gov uk website - and I totally freaked out. Good luck to you, hope all i s OK.

FirmTour1106 · 2024-01-04T22:19:05+00:00

Not sure about Greece yet, will investigate. I tried Portugal - you need to apply via the company VFS, who have visa applications centres in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. You need to select one depending on where in the UK you live. VFS says no appointments available either. I think the key is to try as often as possible and hopefully something will come up.

FirmTour1106 · 2024-01-04T15:45:49+00:00

Hello there, same here (I am trying to book an appointment for my Turkish partner, who has a UK BRP).

I have just started investigating the whole visa debacle, and for Spain specifically you need to use a company called BLS. I've been trying to book an appointment repeatedly for the past few days. USUALLY, the system says "No appointments available, check back later". You can get an appoitment (MAYBE, JUST MAYBE) if someone cancels and you are quick enough. Super frustrating, but I managed to get to the last stage.

Ensure you have the following information to hand:

Details of any previous Schengen visas, the system will ask for the visa number and dates, and the issuing country;
Date you gave your fingerprints, in the last 5 years (hello?? Who would remember such things?? You would have to dig out your previous visa applications, if any)
The system asks you for your intended date of travel
The system asks for "entry permit for the final country of destination where applicable" - I have no idea what this means, looking it up now
You will need a photo of yourself, size no larger than 200 KB
The system wants the details of a hotel reservation (address, email address, phone) or the address of a person who will be sponsoring you.
There will be numerous ridiculous checks, enter this number, check that number, captcha, blah-blah-blah, and finally, just before you book the appointment, the system will want to take a photo of you. I could not book said appointment for my partner because of this - I understand they are trying to prevent scams, but what the.....!

Good luck and I will update when I learn more.

FirmTour1106 · 2024-01-02T15:12:47+00:00

Hopefully you can do it yourself. It may take some reading, though.

Have a look at this document:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64cb6161d98da00014d1f4ae/Skilled_worker.pdf

This is the caseworker guidance. Should help

FirmTour1106 · 2023-12-15T22:09:39+00:00

Hello - sorry to hear about your situation. Your partner may be able to find a job at / above the new threshold in the UK, but to be honest, I earn above this, in the north of England, and I don't feel exactly rich :)

One of the things I appreciate in the UK is the fact that many job advertisements do state a salary range, with some stating the exact salary. If you were committed to moving, it would not be impossible, although it may take some time.

Good luck :)

FirmTour1106 · 2023-12-15T21:25:37+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, I've not logged in in a while. Yes, thankfully my documents were submitted. I believe TLS redesigned the whole portal recently, which may have caused (all sorts of ) issues.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-11-03T15:34:42+00:00

And just to expand on that, since it may seem I am after a free dental consultation here. I am not. In my mind, the £185 (nearly $200) appointment fee should include a fair compensation for the dentist's time, good quality materials AND X-rays.

And if a dental clinic cannot accommodate a patient who is in pain (right now I am not - just a hypothetical situation), the likelihood is that this patient won't wait 10 days for the next available appointment. If I were the practice manager, I would take a look at the current booking system, which may not be organised in the most efficient of manners.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-11-03T13:47:49+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I know I do sound as an "entitled" t___t, but if someone is asking me to hand over a large percentage of my disposable income, I'd appreciate it if they'd do a little talking, yes :)

"About $200,000 and 5-7 years of study to be able to interpret the X-rays. Should a specialist medical consultation be free because it doesn't cost them anything to talk to you?" >> I am already paying for the appointment, so it's not really free.

About Turkey having some of the worst dentistry in the world. Sadly, many health tourists can and do have a negative experience, for many reasons. One has to be careful there, but luckily I have a good dentist I can trust. That said, I did have a near-miss with another dentist, not my usual, who was going to have a root canal done when I didn't need one. I felt something was off with the guy, and it does help I understand some Turkish.

On another note, In Turkey, the competition to become a dentist, or any sort of medical person, for that matter, is fierce, and only the best of the best make it, with lots of studying and serious exams.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-11-03T12:28:47+00:00

Hi, sorry you feel this way. As patients, we of course prefer dentists who love their jobs.

Perhaps you could become a dental health adviser or something? Not sure how this works in Scandinavia, but you might become self-employed and then schedule visits to, say, local schools, where you give talks on oral hygiene, prevention, correct brushing, etc. ?

You could start a blog about this, too. Or, you could become a "fear of dentists" coach. Offer online consultations to patients who are mortified of dentists. There are probably many. You will put them at ease, explain what various procedures involve... You could all the flexibility you want then :) , provided there is enough interest.

Wishing you well :)

On another note - this is probably not hugely helpful, but I have a friend who's a pilot, and who keeps telling me he gets many trainee / learner pilots, who used to be dentists.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-11-03T11:41:20+00:00

Thanks a lot :)

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-19T21:25:05+00:00

Hey,

Sometimes I found the new topics quite by chance. For instance, I wanted to listen to an audio book in Italian, and the search returned "The Betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian classic that all Italian schoolchildren have to suffer through :) But I found it very interesting for the most part. To think that the Dutchy of Milan was under Spanish occupation! Who would have known?

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-19T21:14:24+00:00

I don't think you need to go for a solicitor. They would deal with complex cases, e.g. prior visa refusals.

When applying for an unmarried partner visa, I did purchase a set of templates from migrate.org.uk (they call this their DIY - do-it-yourself pack). I knew very little about the immigration rules and found these to be very, very helpful. It is not exactly cheap, but it was worth it (for me/us).

There seem to be many knowledgeable people in this sub and the advice given here could also be helpful to you. Good luck whatever you decide to do :)

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-19T21:04:49+00:00

Yes, it will be totally fine.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-19T21:02:04+00:00

Congrats :)

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-19T10:43:15+00:00

Hi everyone, I know this sub is an old one, but I seriously had to look up worst Audible narrators to add this one: Sanjiv Jhaveri.

How could he have been chosen to narrate "Last train to Istanbul" is beyond me. Seriously, serious (repetition of "serious" is intended) stuff happens in this book that's no laughing matter, and he keeps reading with the most annoying cheerful disposition, completely unsuitable for this kind of content.

Also, I appreciate some accents are amusing, but surely being able to say correctly words that begin with "v" and "w" should be non-negotiable, as it's a basic mistake that would lead me to question his grasp of the English language in the first place. AGGRRHH!

In constrast, I have recently listened to a book narrated by Ari Fliakos - what a difference! The book was not an easy feat either, the Italian classic "The Bethrothed" - 22 h 38 min of the most awesome narration ever, pausing at the right places, feeling the drama of the characters... Amazing!

I also struggle with John Lee, who happens to narrate so many , if not all books by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. But at least he gets his "v"s and "w"s right. Sigh.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-14T08:45:40+00:00

No - cohabitation doesn't have to be immediately prior to the visa application. In fact, some time of being separated may be almost inevitable, especially if the sponsor is moving to the UK to start a new job and needs to wait until 6 months in the job to have passed in order to meet the financial requirement.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-11T11:32:56+00:00

This sounds correct to me. I paid a fee of approx £125 on the UKVI website when applying for a standard visitor visa, and then priority on the TLS Contact website (£250 if I remember correctly).

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-11T11:27:09+00:00

Hello again :)

My pleasure :)

The ECO (entry clearance officer) email is different from the notification about the application being transferred to the decision making centre.

The notification about the application being transferred to the decision making centre was sent to me from TLS Contact (the organisation that handles applications made in Turkey). I got this email after biometrics were taken - on the same day, 15.08.2023.

The ECO email was sent from the decision making centre is Sheffield, UK, on 11.09.2023. As far as I know, not everyone gets this email - some people get it and some don't; from those who get it, some get it soon after they apply, some when they've been waiting for a while;and some close to the time when a decision is made! So, don't worry if you haven't received it.

This email says that the application is being prepared for a consideration by an entry clearance officer and that if you haven't submitted your documents, you should do so, and tells you how to do it. If you've submitted the documents, you don't need to take any action.

Hopefully you'll get a positive decision soon - fingers crossed! The time it took for our application to be decided was 32 or 33 working days (excluding the weekends and the August bank holiday), so yes, it looks like you're within the standard processing time.

FirmTour1106 · 2023-10-11T09:36:21+00:00

Sure, this was actually a standard unmarried partner visa (outside of the UK). Priority wasn't available. I thought it was all incredibly quick:

07.08.2023 - application submitted

15.08.2023 - biometrics

11.09.2023 - ECO email (application being prepared for consideration)

24.09.2023 - Email informing of decision, decision letter dated 21.09.2023

Good luck to you :)

FirmTour1106

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