The client was a Pakistani national residing in Pakistan. We took instructions on her behalf from her British citizen husband living in the UK. The couple had married in October 2019, and upon his return to the UK following the wedding, our client immediately began to prepare for the submission of an entry clearance visa application for his wife. The couple satisfied all the requirements, and the application was submitted in March 2020. Unfortunately, this coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, which caused unprecedented delays, cessations, and confusion across the world in the context of immigration. Our client was unable to book an appointment to submit her documents and biometrics in Pakistan for approximately 9 months due to the closure of visa centres in Pakistan. After attending her appointment, there was a further delay of another few months until the Home Office finally notified us that the application had been “purged” from their system due to the time gap between submission of the application and our client attending her appointment (even though it was not her fault).

This undoubtedly caused frustration for us, our client, and her husband, as this was out of their control and through no fault of their own. Nevertheless, we reassured them that we would prepare a fresh application at no additional cost given the exceptional circumstances. Our client and her husband waited for the application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge to be refunded by the Home Office, before instructing us to proceed with the fresh application. The new application was submitted in August 2021, our client attended her visa centre appointment in September 2021, and just under 8 weeks later, she collected her passport containing her entry clearance visa.

Our client and her husband have not seen each other since February 2020, and they have spent most of their marriage thus far on separate continents. The couple are currently planning for her to arrive in the UK before the end of 2021, so that they can begin their lives together as newlyweds. Our client, her husband, and the rest of the husband’s family in the UK were profoundly grateful to Saxon Solicitors for our work and even presented us with a small variety of traditional Pakistani desserts as a thank you. A sweet gift for a sweet ending!