We've all missed the odd deadline here and there, not been able to make it to an appointment or maybe even turned up late, but having an issue which means you might not be able to turn up to your own wedding is probably a bit much.
That's what's happening to James Geale. A native Australian who has lived in Britain for a decade, the 36-year-old had planned to marry fiancée Jenni Sutton in August this year. But things have been thrown into turmoil after he accidentally got his dates wrong when applying for a passport.
As a result, the carpenter has not been allowed to work since December 15 of last year. Not only has the fiasco cost him thousands of pounds, he also faces being potentially deported. That really isn't the kind of wedding present anybody wants.
Talking to The Mirror, Geale admitted that it was his fault for missing the deadline, but he also thinks that he is being unreasonably punished.
"I put my hands up, I made a genuine mistake," he told the paper. "Both me and my partner thought the deadline was in August and if you have to fine me then that's fine but the Home Office have left me in a catch-22 position and I feel they won't let me rectify the mistake.
"We went to the register office so we could bring our wedding forward so I could get a spouse visa but they need at least a copy of my passport, which the Home Office have and I am unable to get it back unless I leave the country.
"I have called them 15 times or more, it's not surprising in such a big organisation but I speak to a different person every time, am just batted away and the different departments don't seem to be talking to each other and no one gets back to me.
"I feel betrayed, I have worked here for 10 years, paid my taxes and got my head down. I love being here, it's my home but they can't make any allowances. It's going to take me away from my home and my family."
To make matters worse, the grace period for late applications was reduced in November 2016 from 28 days to 14 days, so they also missed that.
Originally from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Geale was in the country on a 10-year ancestry visa because his grandfather was from Manchester.
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He'd hoped to become a British citizen before getting married, but his passport application was turned down and he's instead been sent a letter ordering him to leave the country and telling him he's unable to work here in the meantime.
Even trying to get married earlier was a bust, because he needs his passport to do so and the Home Office kept possession of it after Geale applied for his British one.
That was the second time they'd brought the wedding forward. The first time they did so was because his 42-year-old sister has terminal cancer.
They have since tried to get married even sooner to prevent Geale being deported but are unable to do so without his passport, which the Home Office has kept after he made his application for a British equivalent.
The Home Office have told them they need to have been engaged for at least two years in order for him to apply for a fiancé visa, but the couple were only engaged last year. At the moment, his only option seems to be getting married abroad and then for Geale to be out of the country for a year before applying for a spouse visa. Obviously, that isn't ideal.
Unsurprisingly, his fiancée is equally upset.
"He genuinely got the date wrong," she said. "It's quite a daunting letter [he has received], it says you can't work and you've got to leave the country.
"It's almost medieval the attitude they are taking and it's really scary that we might have to move out of the country or be apart.
"It's turned our lives upside down. It ruined Christmas, really, as you can't celebrate when this is hanging over you."
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