UK spouse visas: 'This admin issue has stopped our lives'

Deon and Heather Barnard had never spent more than two days apart

Couples kept in separate countries by a visa backlog say the Home Office has failed to tell them how long delays might be.

British citizens told BBC News they had not seen their spouses for six months - twice the usual processing time.

Some spouses were told only days before the end of the three months there would be a delay so had already quit their jobs or ended rental contracts.

The Home Office says the delays are due to the war in Ukraine.

"We are prioritising Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine, so applications for study, work and family visas have taken longer to process," an official told BBC News.

"We are working at pace to ensure these are issued as quickly as possible."

But more than 150 people have contacted BBC News to raise the issue of delays.

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And according to a crowdsourced spreadsheet containing the details of more than 200 couples - set up by an applicant in Los Angeles and shared with BBC News - some have been waiting more than double the expected time.

Deon Barnard, 49, and Heather, 54, grew up in South Africa and have been together for 13 years. They got married in a Lord of the Rings-themed ceremony five years ago.

Before applying for the spousal visa, they had only ever spent two days apart.

The couple married five years ago, in a Lord of the Rings-themed ceremony

Deon's mother was British, and he was granted British citizenship three years ago. The couple then decided to relocate to the UK for better work opportunities and quality of life.

They submitted their application on 23 December 2021 and Deon moved to Uxbridge, west London, to start a new job.

"We were expecting, according to our calculations and according to our [immigration] agents as well, about 28 March would've been our date of receiving our [visa]," he told BBC News.

"Heather would've been on a plane the next day.

"On about 26 March, we got a letter from the [Home Office] that, due to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, visa applications were now paused.

"And there was no information, no date, no expectations set, nothing - that was just the end of the story.

"And we've been waiting ever since."

'Stopped life'

For an initial fiance or spousal visa, the non-British partner in a couple has to apply from their home country, while their British partner has to already be living and working in the UK.

Applicants in some countries can usually pay an extra £500 to £800 for priority services, which allow them to receive a decision within a few weeks.

But in March, all priority services were suspended for people applying from abroad.

Once granted their visa, the partners have a limited time - 30 days - to move to the UK.

Many, including Heather, were told of the delays only after they had given notice to their employers and landlords - and they now face an indefinite wait alone, without a job or a home.

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"She's living on beds on the floor at her parents', then she'll go spend two weeks at her sister's, then go spend two weeks at her brother's... in a complete state of limbo," Deon said.

"She can't start anything, she can't get a job.

"It's an admin issue - but that admin issue has now just stopped life."

The couple also had to sell all of their assets in South Africa to pay for their application, which has cost them several thousand pounds.

"It's an enormous amount of money, a spousal visa," Deon says. "If you're wealthy and you own a business or something, then it's a different situation - but we're just regular working people."

They are supportive of Ukrainians coming to the UK, but say more people should be hired to tackle the extra demand, rather than allowing the backlog to grow.

Others who contacted BBC News said the process was "uniquely cruel and unbearable... we are directly being forced to be apart... with no clear end in sight".

One young woman's fiance missed the birth of their first child.

Another, in New York, unable to afford private maternity care in the US, terminated an early pregnancy.

An applicant who paid for priority service at the start of the year said the Home Office "will not allow me any information on ETA [estimated time of arrival] or even confirm I am still in any kind of priority queue".

Mariam Khaliq, immigration head at law firm Bishop and Sewell, was one of several immigration solicitors to tell BBC News the problem was affecting "the majority" of clients.

"Whether applicants are applying inside the UK or outside the UK... there just seem to be delays throughout the Home Office," she said.

Pay fees

Another couple, James and Adriana - who, worried speaking out could jeopardise their application, asked for their names to be changed - also struggled to find the money to apply.

They had to take out a loan to pay the fees, which they say has cost them more than £5,000.

"When we applied, we were told it would be 60 [working] days," James said. "Now here we are, almost 100 working days later."

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The couple married in November 2021, in Gibraltar.

Adriana returned to Brazil to submit her application, while James waited for her at his home in Essex. Both of them moved back in with their parents to save money.

And like Heather, Adriana had to give notice to her employer.

If they had an idea of how long the delays would be, the process would be "way easier", James says.

"We'd be frustrated - but we could deal with it, we could plan."

But because of the stress, James and Adriana, who is having regular anxiety attacks, have both started seeing therapists.

"I honestly feel like I've been punished because I've fallen in love with someone who's not British or European," he said.