The Long Wait

UPDATE Jan 30, 2017: I have finally received my visa, so I am one of the lucky ones who can push these issues to the back of my mind for another two and a half years.

Seven weeks have passed and I’m still waiting to hear if I have parted with £1 340 to allow me to stay in the UK for another couple of years, or to add an extra bitter edge to being kicked out.

Every time I check up on the ever-changing visa application process an all-too-familiar anxiety washes over me. Last time the first hit was the new £500 immigration healthcare surcharge, for the NHS I pay for with my taxes like all other UK residents. Then it was the new general form which asks questions that seemed designed to prove that I don’t need to be here, such as where I would go if I had to leave and a list of the family and friends I have in another country.

After that I had a major panic trying to find my biometric residence permit, faced with the threat of fines and deportation, until I finally found a buried press release online announcing the permit’s introduction dated after my last application.

I consciously have not tallied the full expected cost of eventually obtaining British citizenship; it would only cause me angst about how it could have been put towards a home deposit or world travelling. Each charge is just one more financial hurdle international relationships face, alongside the flights just to see each other and really expensive car insurance.

This may all seem like pointless whinging, and it is. Dwelling on the expense and stress of the process won’t change the fact that I have to do it and would do much more to be with my husband.

However, I’m one of the lucky ones. Obtaining visas so far has been painful, but achievable. To obtain a UK family visa your sponsor must earn £18 600 a year, as well as £2 400 more for each child. The required income may not seem very high to those outside of the UK, but there is certainly no guarantee that a full-time worker in England can earn that much. If you are applying from outside the UK, the earnings or potential wage of the applicant are not counted. If Jake had been on his teaching assistant wage at the time, my visa would have been rejected.

Cash savings are allowed to negate some of the amount, but this is hardly helpful for low earners; to reduce the threshold for my visa by £3 600 for instance, you need £25 000 in the bank. This income requirement, as well as the exorbitant cost of regular visa renewals, is a significant barrier to families being together.

The number of family visas being rejected is increasing alongside the ever-expanding financial hurdles of applying for a visa. In the year ending September 2016, 38% of family visas were denied (3 862 applications). The reasons why these families were not allowed to be together is not published, but the inference that some were denied because they did not have enough money horrifies me. These numbers don’t even include the people who didn’t apply because they knew they couldn’t meet the requirements or pay the fees. Does anyone really believe that being with your spouse is a luxury item, only for the well-off?

You may think that I shouldn’t complain because I am here and for that I am blessed… but what would I do if I was not allowed to be? Who would campaign for my human right to be with my life partner at a time when immigrant is such a dirty word?

Although I have no reason to fear my visa will be rejected, I am still nervous while I wait to be told if I can continue my life here. Beyond that I will still be waiting; living with uncertainty until the day finally comes when no-one can tell me I am not allowed to be with the one I love.