The highly skilled migrant fiasco...

Who would deny a visa to this little face?

After Theresa May's changes to the family visa in July 2012 scuppered our plans to return home at the end of 2012, every spare minute of our time has been taken up with trying to find alternative ways back to the UK.

Fortunately, I'm married to a very clever man (n.b. he reads this and I have absolutely no desire to do the cooking tonight!) who is fully bilingual and very good at what he does...whatever that may be! Ok, well I'm not sure exactly what it is that he does but I do know that its something computery. When he started to apply for jobs in the UK last August, the response was fairly overwhelming. But unfortunately, most of the companies that he spoke to, after discovering that he didn't yet hold a UK visa, simply told him to get in touch as soon as his spouse visa had been issued (When will that be, Ms May?). On the plus side, several other companies were so impressed at his computery skills that they went ahead and interviewed him anyway and one even flew him to England and then offered him a job...a good one, with a visa!

That was in October 2012. It is now almost February 2013 and we're still waiting. Mariano's UK company requested that he be issued with a certificate of sponsorship (COS), which is basically a piece of paper that states that he is qualified for the job and that they can't find anyone else to do it (all true), in November. This was denied (erroneously, according to the company's lawyers) in December and we have been waiting six weeks for the UKBA to review the COS application and issue the certificate since then.

Other than the obvious frustration and heart-ache that this is causing my husband and I... (So near and yet so far) I can't help but wonder on the impact that this utter incompetence on the part of UKBA is having on the British economy, especially in times of economic crisis. If the system worked efficiently, my husband and I could've been in the UK, working and contributing vital tax income (in my husband's case to a higher tax bracket) by November 2012. We also would have been paying bills, forking out well over £1,000 to rent a flat in London, and my utter addiction to Pistachio macaroons would likely be generating hundreds of pounds worth of extra revenue to the Paul's bakery chain!

And that's without taking into consideration the impact that this must be having on the company that wants to hire him...which had been looking for a qualified candidate for over six months!

So not only is the UKBA's utter inefficiency infringing on the human rights of UK citizens (to a family life) but it is also doing its part in helping to cripple the local economy.