Sick of harping on about this, but I want to offer solace to anyone else who is at the mercy of British bureaucracy right now. I love, love living in England. It’s brilliant. I’d like to stay. But what with the (slim) possibility of a Tory government, the treatment my partner and I have received from the Home Office and now volcanic dust, pretty much anywhere else in the world but here is looking good.

Thank goodness David Cameron froze like a deer in the headlights during last night’s TV debate. He appeared even more smug and, yes, stupid than normal. Hurrah! I don’t normally like to publicly discuss my personal politics: I call them personal for a reason. But if the Tories got in, I really don’t think I could stay here.

Our local MP happens to be Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone and a harder working woman I have yet to come across. One week after receiving our message – in the run up to an election – she had written to the Home Office on our behalf and personally responded to emails and even Tweets. It’s hard not to warm to such hands-on, apparently genuine concern. Plus her boy Nick done well good on the telly. I don’t want to give away the ending, but I hope everyone picks up the phone: I wouldn’t object to his getting a Christmas Number 1, so long as it’s anything by Rage Against the Machine.

Yes, our Home Office saga meanders on. I’d prefer not to make this public, but I’ve reached the stage where I feel people should know what’s going on:

Nearly 2 weeks after our MP’s communiqué, we’ve had no response. Nothing. The Home Office/ UKBA website blatantly lies that “100% of Certificate Of Approval (COA) applications will be ruled on within 8 weeks.” We’re on week 16. They’ve had all our biometric info – passports included – since December. Various forums we’ve seen have shown that we’re not alone: while some people are having their applications processed within a month, others (with no complications in their backgrounds or applications, some of them pregnant) have been waiting for permission to wed in the UK since last August. With no communication or explanation. “Backlog” – for such straightforward paperwork – is simply no excuse.

Here’s the thing; it appears this is against the law. Have a look at this. Marriage is a basic human right: you’re allowed to get married to whoever you want, whenever you want; residency and the right to remain are separate issues from the right to marry. So not only has the Home Office been discourteous and unbusinesslike in handling ours and many others’ applications, those applications seem to be unlawful in the first place. And they cost £295. I am so cross, it’s unbelievable.

But cross isn’t going to get us our application processed and our passports back. Someone has suggested we initiate a judicial review into the process, and we’re seriously considering it. It’s very grown up and terrifying and we feel bullied into it, but we also feel left with no other choice.

We live here, we work here: my “alien” partner has been here and in the system longer than I have, never working without a permit or outstaying a visa. We met, fell in love and decided to get married. If nothing else, the Home Office deserves a stern talking-to for taking the gloss off one of the happiest years of both of our lives. No-one’s got the right to do that.

Mind you, it does mean that I get to live with an alien. Maybe we’ll just go and live on Mars: after all, we’re already acclimatised to the dust.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 10:28 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.