Back in 2012 last October my wife of now and I decided to get Married. I was trawling through the UKBA website, looking back and forth for any information on how to obtain a UK visa for her once married. Days, weeks months went by and I was none the wiser and after eventually loosing my head and getting all of a flurry, I decided to phone the UKBA helpline at National rate. Ring, Ring went the phone on the other end, after about what seemed 2 minutes of Continuous ringing, I heard a click with some busy background noise and a Jamaican lady at the other end saying, "Hello, UKBA help line, how may I help you?". My reply "Hello, My name is David and I am looking to get Married next year to my fiance' in the philippines and I was wondering if you could please help me. I have been looking through your UKBA website for many days now and I am still at a loss with what the actual requirements we will both need for her to obtain a Uk visa. Can you give me some pointers on where I would need to look for the requirements and what they are, please?" I thought the request I asked her was pretty obvious, open and not in a way that could be asking her to fill out an application for me. The response I got was, "Sorry Mr David, but I am unable to help you with that request, thank you for calling!" UKBA Help line my ass!
Exactly. Though I found an email can be of help. I found emailing VFS very helpful. Strangley, our own immigration people here in the Isle of Man are very helpful. They are either a phone call away or we can call in to speak to them face to face.
I just thought it was idiotic to call it a helpline when they were about as useful as a chocolate fire guard! Yes, I eventually went the way of emailing VFS and got the relevant information I needed. It seems to me that mainland UK, such as London (cough, cough) is not as friendly as other places within the UK isles.
They are actively discouraged from giving any sort of advice apart from "refer to the website".......
The Immigration people here say that on the UK mainland they are overwhelmed with work so cant afford the time.
