Julie

an underlying rule. I made many mistakes and I don’t mind paying for them but a 10 year ban is brutal for my situation and with no right for appeal gives them too much power. But I also know that’s the way it is and they can do what thanks for all the responses that were on the kind side

I do see how it looked but the officer who did my interview at Heathrow told me point blank that he had no concern that I was there working or using NHS but just that I was there more than 180 days per 12 months and he believed I honestly didn’t know that is an

And covid was rampant in California at that time and I was very safe where I was so that’s why I went for the weekend only to renew my visa not knowing I was doing anything wrong.

Ok guys I get how all this might look to you and I respect that but they woke me up in the middle of the night to interview me while I was sleeping on a nasty mattress on the floor and asked me so many irrelevant questions but not once if I was dating or with someone in England and since we had only seen each other 5 times before covid hit and we locked down and didn’t see each other for months. Once I was refused entry & our relationship grew into a serious one. We are almost 60 years old, not young and reckless. And a marriage visit visa is when you aren’t planning on settling in the uk.

So no it didn’t dawn on me to tell them I had been dating someone as it wasn’t serious at that point. And I was traveling to a few different countries throughout my time in Europe leaving the U.K. for a month most times but yes it did end up being more than 6 months per year on average. I feel they could have gave me a warning not to do it again and I would have went and sorted packing my things spent whatever time with my friends and the man I was seeing and then I would have left the U.K. they treated me like a criminal and it was humiliating.

I had never traveled before so I was naive to how it all works and that is my stupidity for not knowing all I should have. But I was having the time of my life and thought the only thing that mattered was to not go over six months on any one visit and I never did other than when covid hit and they extended everyone until August 31 2020.

Thank you for the contacting an MP idea. That is something I’ve not thought of.

First thank you to all of you. I looked at the site that was posted and it has a lot of good info.

As far as filing a tax return... I saved up for 2 years a more than adequate amount of money to be able to travel for a few years and left my small coffee shop in my daughters hands to run for me so I was still filing my taxes in the US. I am blessed to have some really good friends that live in England that invited me to come stay with them and while I was there we went to a few different countries then came back to England.

I get that that is the way things are but it doesn’t make it right!

It’s frustrating that I’ve spent my almost 60 years living within the law, always doing the right thing, raised 2 well functioning children, which in itself is very hard, and with a flick of a pen I’m tossed into the same place as those who cheat, steal and lie their whole lives.