This article is culled from http://www.expatforum.com/expats/britain-expat-forum-expats-living-uk/374753-peo-appointment-marriage-immigration-interview-liverpool.html

Here is an account of my husband’s journey to the UK. It all started back in January 2012 when he applied for his fiancé visa, three weeks later he received a refusal, sighting, they did not think our relationship was genuine and subsisting or that we would live together if he came to the UK.

We submitted an oral appeal in February 2012, and provided extra evidence and information to prove our genuine relationship, I also wrote to my MP explaining our circumstances. I received a letter from my MP informing me that a reply had been received from the UK Visa and Immigration office stating that the process could not be expedited unless we had good grounds for it to be so, it would have to go through the process.

The third week in July 2013 we received a letter informing us that the ECM had overturn their original decision but no mention of what we should do next. We did not wait for them to contact us we contacted the embassy and Worldbridge and after a couple of days we were informed to take the passport to Worldbridge and after nearly two weeks my partner was contacted by the embassy to collect his passport. My partner arrived in the UK end of September 2013 we were married at the end of November, we attended a PEO appointment t 08.00 on the 23 Dec 2013 my husband had his biometrics done was told we would have a result by 9.40, at 10.00 my husband was called up and told a decision could not be made, because they needed to do further checks which could not be done at the Croydon office.

We left feeling very sad and out of pocket but hoped we would hear something within a couple of days, but January came nothing was heard, I wrote to our MP at the end of January a few days after writing to our MP a letter was received from the UK Immigration office inviting us to an Immigration marriage interview in Liverpool at 09.00 Friday 21 Feb. We went up the night before to ensure we would be on time for our appointment. We received a letter from our MP a week before the appointment enclosing a copy of the Immigration response to our enquiry which contained the usual stuff we have to investigate further if we are not completely happy with the application etc., etc.
We attended the interview and these are some of the questions we were asked, I went in first it lasted about an hour and my husband was in for around 30-40 minutes. Questions are not in order

What was the date of your wedding, what day was your wedding, what time was it how did you get to the registry office, How did you get from the registry office to the function venue,
Who did your partner travel to the registry office with a friend or by himself?
How did your partner get from the registry office to the function venue? What are the names of the witnesses, after the reception where did you go?

What did your partner bring you when he arrived in the UK?
Did you give him a Christmas present, did he give you one and what were they
Do you have smoke detectors, where and how many?
Do you have gas or electric cooker, where is the hub in your house?
What day does your rubbish get collected, what colour is your wheelie bin?
What colour is the front door does it have any windows?

Where does he pray, does he use a mat, which reglious sector does he belong to, how often does he go to the Mosques which mosques does he go to?
Does he talk to you about his religion, what is my religion?
Have I celebrated Eid with him, will I celebrate Eid with him, does he practice Ramadan?
Do you have any pictures on the wall in your bedroom, what of, and where?
How old is he, how old am I, how old is my son, and how old are my grandchildren, what are their names and age? When was the last time the grandchildren where at the house, Do they stay over, what is the arrangement. What does my son think of my husband being of a similar age to him?

What did we do last weekend (14/15/17 Feb 2004) did we have any visitors, did my son visit? How did my husband travel to the mosques, did he leave with a friend?
What did we do for Valentine’s Day?

How did we meet, when did we meet in person and where, when did we meet before he came to the UK, whom collected him from the airport where did he go once collected from the airport? Where has he stayed since arriving in the UK?
Do I own or rent my property, how much do I pay, when do I pray?

How did we get to Liverpool, What mode of transport did we use, what time did we leave the house, what number bus did we take, did we change, which station did we travel to, what time did we get there, what did we do while we waited for the train, where did we change? Which hotel are we staying at, what time will we be travelling back.

What did we do Christmas day, what did we do New Year’s Eve? Who came to the house
Do I have pictures of me and my husband, on my phone? Checked how often we call each other and text message.

Where did I stay when I visited his country, did I meet is parents, has he met my parents? What is his parent’s name, what is my parent’s name?
Who bought the rings; did he give me an engagement ring? Who proposed to whom, when and where? What resort did we stay at in Tunisia, what did we do once there. Who arrived first, who left first, and did he go to the airport with me?
Do we have any tattoos? When was the last time I went on holiday?

Eight days after the interview I wrote to my MP again complaining about the length of time it was all taking; on the 14 of March we received our documents back with everything we had provided copies as well and a letter informing my husband that this BRP should arrive soon and if it did not arrive by the 10th day from the date of the letter to contact them. The letter is dated 10 March. In all it took around 11 weeks, if you take out one week for Christmas.

We are very happy now we can move on with our lives and have that honeymoon we did not get to have.

Hope this information can help someone in the future.

If you have been arrested or detained, need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 1, 2, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed, Spouse Visa, ILR/Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa or an appeal against a refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email: