It’s not nice to not be wanted

I’ve started working on my 81-page visa renewal form. I don’t know how much I wrote about round one in the summer of 2014, which granted me a 2.5-year limited leave to enter visa as a spouse of a U.K. citizen. Let’s just say it cost 1000s of dollars and dozens of hours and 100s of pages of documentation.

And now I’m seeking a renewal of that visa for another 2.5 years. After 5 years, I can apply for indefinite leave to remain. For the record, a British person married to an American citizen could gain a permanent visa in one year, not five years, if the couple were living in the U.S.

So I’m miffed before I even start on the application--did I say it’s 81 pages long? On the first three pages, I am referred to:

1. Another site where I need to pay a 500 pound surcharge to the National Health Service and get a certification number.
2. Another site where I will learn the rules for photographs (photo must be 45X35 millimetres and the image, from the crown of my head to my chin, must be at least 29 millimetres high but not more than 34 millimetres high).
3. Another site where I can learn about the biometric residence permit.
4. A fourth site where I can view the guidance notes for my form.

I see another link to: “Our main website for contacting us.” I go to that site, find an e-mail address for “contacting us” and send a question about eligibility for permanent leave to remain. I get an auto response with FAQs and a message that that is the only response I will receive. As I go through the application, it is clear that it is designed to defeat all but the most stubborn and persistent of applicants. In other words, the UK government just wants me to leave. It hurts. I went to high school here. I have friends here. I bought a house here. My pension plan is funded. I’m looking for no benefits from the government. But still I face three rounds of providing 100s of pages of bank statements, pay stubs, photographs, mail addressed to both of us from three different sources, birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce certificate (David’s), and on and on.

I go to the guidance notes and get tripped up on whether I’m a Part 8 Family Member, or do I come under Appendix FM? The guidance note links to the site that has all the immigration rules--thousands of pages of text. Here’s some of the pertinent info (I think, but who knows?):

"A277 From 9 July 2012 Appendix FM will apply to all applications to which Part 8 of these rules applied on or before 8 July 2012 except where the provisions of Part 8 are preserved and continue to apply, as set out in paragraphs A280 to A280B.

A277A. Where the Secretary of State is considering an application for limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain to which Part 8 of these rules continues to apply (excluding an application from a family member of a Relevant Points Based System Migrant), and where the applicant:

(a) does not meet the requirements of Part 8 for indefinite leave to remain, (where the application is for indefinite leave to remain) and

(b) meets or continues to meet the requirements for limited leave to remain under Part 8 in force at the date of decision,
subject to compliance with any requirement notified under paragraph A277D(b), further limited leave to remain under Part 8 may be granted of such a period and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State deems appropriate. For the purposes of this sub-paragraph an applicant last granted limited leave to enter under Part 8 will be considered as if they had last been granted limited leave to remain under Part 8; or

(c) if the applicant does not meet the requirements of Part 8 for indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner (where the application is for indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner) only because paragraph 322(1C)(iii) or 322(1C)(iv) of these rules applies, the applicant will (subject to compliance with any requirement notified under paragraph A277D(b)) be granted limited leave to remain under Part 8 for a period not exceeding 30 months and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State deems appropriate.”

What happened to that special relationship between the US and the UK? What happened is our now Prime Minister, Theresa May, had a mandate in her former post as secretary of state to reduce immigration, which has been very high into the UK, given a strong economy. EU citizens have rights, so she couldn’t do much to control them. So she brought down the hammer on every one else and the two-year waiting time increased to five.
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