Visa Warning!

[Deanuk]

Hi Everyone,

Ive been an avid reader of this forum for over 12 months now but just thought id sign up to give all you guys out there a heads up about using 3rd partys to deal with your Wife's/ g/f visa's.

Ive been married to my thai wife now for 5 months and because of business commitments here in the uk i took the big step of employing a 3rd party to deal with her application (mistake #1)

I did quite a lot of research about this company (i dont know if i can name and shame here?) and found them to look on the surface to be reputable.

Everything they asked for i supplied..my whole life past and present in there hands and a deposit paid of 50,000 thb.

My wife went to her interview on 28/11/06... after arranging to meet up with the 3rd party at 8am (they turned up late saying they had mislaid her file) so already she was under pressure to make it to the interview ontime!!

Now heres the interesting bit...the interview went well she answered all of the questions without delay but at the end of the interview the IMO stated that they would refuse her visa on the grounds that we had not had enough contact within a 2 year period.

Now i had supplied EVERYTHING requseted.. but when my wife collected all the paperwork (obviously very distressed at this time) she called me and said teerak why did you only send 1 email and 1 chat conversation that we had? .....now i had sent 25 pages of emails... and 30 pages of msn chat that we had, obviously diluted because it would have run into reams and reams of paper over a 2 year period.

This morning i called the appeals tribunal here in the uk and he has said to me that it seems an unfair decision..but if it went to a tribunal because its a spouse application it could take up to 9 months to process!!!

What a nitemare senario!!

Has anybody else had this happen?

Could anybody offer any advice?

Im thinking that i should just go to Thailand and submit the application myself!! (i know now i should have done this before)

All help and advice is greatly recieved

Dean

[GU22]

This is not the first time I have read that evidence given to a visa 'agent' hasn't made it into the actual application.

All I can suggest at this stage is that you contact the embassy and explain the situation and ask if you can present the extra evidence. Contact details are:-

The Entry Clearance Manager

Visa Section

British Embassy

14 Wireless Road

Lumpini, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Tel: +66 (0) 2 305 8333

Fax: +66 (0) 2 254 9579

E-mail: [email protected]

There is no reason why you should not appeal, but remember she must submit the notice of intended appeal within 28 days of the refusal. She will have been given this notice with the refusal notice. You may also submit a new application at any time with the missing evidence, and if the second application is successful you can then withdraw the appeal.

Best of luck.

Edited November 29, 2006 by GU22

[Deanuk]

Thanks for the fast reply GU22

Do you think in your opinion that they would accept the rest of the evidence?

or wouldit just be quicker for us to re-apply?

Cheers

Dean

[markr]

Sorry to hear your news, I wont go into what happened when my gf and I applied( long story) BUT........ Through no fault of our own some of our docs did not find there way to the ECO!

They would NOT let us supply them after they had refused her visa, we were told to apply again!

Get on to them ASAP!!! I wish you the best of luck

Mark

[Deanuk]

Cheers Mark

Im going through all the relevent info now... so i will be re-applying within the next 2 weeks.

Hope yours goes through ok...keep us informed.

Dean

[GU22]

Do you think in your opinion that they would accept the rest of the evidence?

They are not obliged to do so, and may well say that it is your responsibility to ensure that all the evidence is submitted (and they'd be right). However, I always work on the principle that if you ask, they may say No but if you don't ask they definitely wont say Yes!

If they say Yes then great; if they say No then you haven't really lost anything except a couple of days.

[ling men]

Sounds like a nightmare. I watched the agents in Regent House at work and they looked totally incompetent. There was a Thai guy next to me who was using them and it was his second attempt (when he went to the counter he still had documents missing!).

9 months is a long time to wait. I don’t know if there would be any problems caused by reapplying. GU22, maybe you could let us know what you think are the pluses and minuses of reapplying?

[atlastaname]

The one good thing to come out of this is that you have a refusal notice and according to your post the ONLY reason for refusal was this lack of evidence of contact.

I would have thought that the best thing is to re-apply again as soon as possible , doing the application yourself this time , enclosing all the missing items plus anything else that would prove contact , letters , cards etc.

Do bear in mind they did not say that if the missing items were there they would grant the visa. You may supply all the missing stuff and they could still refuse for the same reason . Depends on if they think that what you have supplied is adequate. Thats why i said above try to find anything else to show contact and put it in.

A quick call to the ECM whilst the application is still fresh may be worth the phone call money , but i suspect you will be told to re-apply like Markreed was in his similar situation last week.

A lot of refusals lately , i think we are due some success stories.

[Pink Mist]

give Scouser a PM, he may be able to help.

[Peterpan]

Hi Board

Deanuk

Get in touch with the home office and explain to them they will help you and explain what to do.

I would never use a visa agent, do it your self mate,you stand a 99% chance of doing it.

British laws says you as a Brit can have your spouse with you in UK. Married

[GU22]

GU22, maybe you could let us know what you think are the pluses and minuses of reapplying?

If the request to have the first application looked at again, with the missing documents, is unsuccessful then I would do both; submit a new application with the missing, and updated, evidence and also submit the notice of appeal.

Dean, if the second application is successful then you can withdraw the appeal. If, unfortunately, the second application is also refused then you will already have the appeal process under way.

[GU22]

British laws says you as a Brit can have your spouse with you in UK.

Not completely true. You have to show that you satisfy the relevent requirements of the Immigration Rules.

[Deanuk]

Hi Guys

thanks for all the helpful advice im going to take GU22's advice and lodge an apeal and also re-apply.

Ive written to my local MP and she has sent me a commons headed letter recieved today saying she will do all within her power to help me.

when i send in my appeal i will forward them this so they know that im serious... I hope this also carries some weight!!

Dean

[ling men]

It amazes me that your wife can go for her interview on 28/11/06 and by 30/11/06 you can have done so much. Your MP sounds very helpful cos she must have hand delivered her letter to get it to you so quickly. Perhaps you should ask her to go to Thailand take care of the new application she might be cheaper than the previous 3rd party

[Deanuk]

I was gobsmacked this morning to say the least when this letter arrived with the house of commons headed paper!! I emailed her at 5pm on the 28th and the letter arrived this morning 30th. Lets just see if she can pull any strings or comes up with the goods before i put my next vote to her!!

And yeah it probably would be cheaper to pay for her to go over there and sort out these imigration muppets!!!