The perils of bad immigration advice in Manila - two cautionary tales..

[CBM]

(this may be in the wrong place - perhaps a moderator can advise?)

I have two friends both of whom have fallen foul of immigration laws lately - one Filipino trying to join his wife in the UK, one Brit trying to stay in the Philippines. Both stories have common elements which are the unwisdom of relying on bad advice and the certainty that both the BIR and the Home Office WILL CHECK.

The Filipino is married to a Filipina nurse who has ILR in the UK and who is in the process of becoming a citizen. He was unwise enough to marry, and to apply for entry to the UK, before the final certificate of annulment of his previous came through, which of course meant that his marriage was bigamous. His wife is Moslem and so he he was advised by a Manila immigration adviser to describe himself as Moslem also, in order to deal with the problem of having married again before the final annulment.

Bad idea - the British Embassy asked him a string of questions about the Moslem faith; he got many of them wrong, they concluded that he was not a Moslem and he got a ten year ban for his trouble. Meanwhile, his final certificate of annulment has come through - all he needed to do was to wait for that.

The other case concerns a Brit who had lived in the Philippines for many years, and who loves the country so much that he is in many ways more Filipino than the Filipinos. The problem was that his Filipina wife had moved to the States and divorced him, there, many years ago, and for the past twelve years he has been living with another lady who cannot get an annulment. He was persuaded to buy a fake 13A visa.

Bad idea - the BIR checked this against their own records and gave him seven days to leave the country - which, as the officer concerned pointed out, was actually pretty generous, as they could have detained him.

[lastlid]

Probably best to use a UK Immigration advisor that is OISC approved and will be conversant with UK Immigration law etc etc.

[RickyR]

Unfortunately there are so many assumptions, rumours and misinformation about immigration in all aspects that I can see how easily people will fall foul without doing proper research.

[joebloggs]

if the filipino had not married, and he could get a letter stating from the judge the final certificate of annulment would be issued within a couple of months he probably could have applied for a fiancee visa b4 he had the cert of annulment

old saying ' tell a lie, wave your visa goodbye'

[CBM]

To fill in the background on this one, my Filipino friend, whomI'm going to call Joe, because the initial is right anyway, had done seven years in Saudi, during which time his first marriage had fallen apart, and had met his wife when she was already committed to taking a post in England. Naturally enough, they wanted to get married before she left, but the consequences for them have been disastrous!

At a human level, I can understand both these cases, but they show how careful you have to be.

[joebloggs]

did they live together for a least 2yrs ? , if so he could have applied for a unmarried partner visa.

[RickyR]

I suspect the ban could be overcome under the human rights act,

[CBM]

That's a thought.

[somebody]

The Rules and regs around Visa and legal issues in multiple countries is just overwhelming for so many and I have to say I am never surprised on what can and can't be done and as mentioned so much is down to timing and saying or doing the right things at the right time and in the correct order.

I am almost dreading my Wifes having a close Relative or Friend needing "assistance" to come to the UK as the rules and regs plus the requirements seem to be tightening by the day. The time to actually work on and research a case would be very had to find now and I would feel the need to use up a number of days of annual leave to give it the attention required.

As mentioned even compared to the early noughties a lot of the information is now in shared database among the relevant authorities across the world of which the UK use by far the most i understand. What people got a way with a few years back simply will not be successful now.

Good luck to your friends CBM but from what I have seen couples that really want to make things work will overcome the most amazing barriers so anything possibly.