Phone interview for UK Visit Visa

[Bardeh]

My wife has just had a phone call regarding her UK visit visa application. This is the second one, and the first one she got fine without any hitches.

 

However, they asked a different question this time, and I'm wondering if circumstances are going to make things more difficult.

 

We have a 5 year old son, and would both like him to start school in the UK - so, for him and me, this will be a permanent move back. The plan is for her to come with us for a few months, then return here until I have enough tax returns to prove income to start the settlement visa process. 

 

The interviewer asked her about our son, and whether or not we planned for him to start school in England - she told him that yes, in the future we would like him to study there. Now I'm wondering if telling the truth was a good idea because they may think she'll overstay if she has to leave him behind. But, by the same token, lying about it may have put a spanner in the works for any future settlement visa application.

 

I'm mostly just posting to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation and how it panned out for you. The uncertainty is horrible, and we won't know the decision for another couple of weeks...

[bobrussell]

Telling the truth is the only thing to do. Being caught out with lies or incomplete truths may cause far more trouble.

Assuming your son is a British citizen then it is appropriate for you to decide where he is brought up. 

The main concern is whether your wife is likely to try to bypass the immigration rules by overstaying. You have made it quite clear that you are aware of the rules and are taking steps to ensure compliance.

Not sure you have much choice here. Being denied a visit visa would not impact on any settlement application as the rules are completely different. 

Stick to the truth but accept there is a chance that lack of reasons to return may lead to rejection. If the whole thing was fully dealt with in the application then hopefully the ECO will accept the situation and allow the visa.

Edited November 23, 2017 by bobrussell

[Bardeh]

Thanks Bob, that's basically what we thought, and I'm glad she decided to tell the truth. It will be extremely unfortunate if she's denied the visa because they think she'll overstay - she's already facing a period of at least months apart from us while I get the necessary stuff together for her settlement visa, and if she can't come with us now it'll be that much longer. Fingers crossed!

[rasg]

10 hours ago, Bardeh said:

We have a 5 year old son, and would both like him to start school in the UK - so, for him and me, this will be a permanent move back. The plan is for her to come with us for a few months, then return here until I have enough tax returns to prove income to start the settlement visa process. 

Did you explain this in your sponsor letter?

[theoldgit]

7 hours ago, rasg said:

Did you explain this in your sponsor letter?

Yes, I think that's the main issue, if your wife had explained in her application that your family is examining the prospect of your child moving to the UK for schooling purposes but that she intends to remain in Thailand for the time being, and gave evidence to back up her plans, she may not have been asked the question in a telephone interview.

I think the decision could go either way, if the ECO was satisfied that your wife was going to return to her home in Thailand then they'll probably issue her with a visa, if they are not convinced that she'll return then they won't - but I suspect you'd already worked that out.  

[Tee2008]

I would be interested to learn the outcome of this. I'm dealing with something very similar at the moment, and there should be an appeal hearing in the UK next month.

[rasg]

An appeal hearing for what? There is no appeal for visit visas. You can complain but there is no appeal.

[Tony M]

1 hour ago, rasg said:

An appeal hearing for what? There is no appeal for visit visas. You can complain but there is no appeal.

 

I posted the above, under an old login name. Sorry.

 

Just because the ECO says there is no right of appeal doesn't actually mean there is no right of appeal.  The case in question was a visit visa application from a wife to visit her British husband and two British children.Her husband is in the UK, having returned there to try to meet the financial requirements of the rules. One of the children had gone to the UK, for schooling, a couple of years previously, and one had gone to the UK with her on her last visit. She had returned to Thailand alone, after putting the second child in school. The application was for her to visit them all. The application we made included the fact that there are human rights considerations when an application affects the dependants of an EU citizen (her British husband and children). The future intention was for the Thai applicant to settle in the UK, but only when her husband could meet the financial requirements of the immigration rules.  She had had several visit visa previously. The ECO refused the visa because he did not believe she would return to Thailand after her visit.

 

The ECO did not consider that there were any Article 8 (the right to family life) rights that needed to be considered, and he was of the opinion that a visa refusal did not infringe the applicant's Article 8 rights. He declined to grant a right of appeal. Our view is that any refusal of a visa, whether it be settlement or visit, must infringe an applicant's Article 8 rights if it infringes their right to family life. There is appeal case law on this.  We therefore went ahead and submitted an appeal, stating our grounds for believing that the applicant's human rights had been interfered with by the ECO's decision. Her husband is self-employed, and cannot take time off from work, or he will be unable to meet the financial threshold required for a settlement visa for his wife. His children can only return to Thailand if there is someone else to bring them, and in their school holidays. The family remain separated. That was over a year ago, and the appeal hearing is due in late December (or maybe later, according to the IAT). The IAT have allowed the appeal to proceed. An Immigration Judge must then decide whether the applicant's Article 8 rights were infringed or not.

Just because the ECO says there is no right of appeal in these applications doesn't mean it is so. In my own opinion (for what it's worth) an ECO is not the right level of decision-maker in human rights applications. How can an ECO be the judge in such applications. What experience and expertise does he have ?  None.

 

ECO's work to a published document (attached). The Home Office doesn't want to grant appeal rights in HR cases, and an ECO works to the published document (although I believe that they don't actually refer these applications to the UK, as the guidance says they should).  I have no idea what the Immigration Judge will say. he may throw it out of court, but I believe that everyone has the right to appeal against human rights refusal decisions, whether the ECO says they can or not.

human rrights_claims_from_visitors_guidance_v1_0_ext.pdf

Edited November 24, 2017 by Tony M

[bobrussell]

All visa applications are eligible for appeal on human rights grounds. It has a place where it is unlikely that a further visa application would lead to a 'change of mind'.

Clearly this does not cover cases where someone believes a simple mistake has been made and is largely restricted to situations where family contact is a key factor.

[Tony M]

1 minute ago, bobrussell said:

All visa applications are eligible for appeal on human rights grounds. It has a place where it is unlikely that a further visa application would lead to a 'change of mind'.

Clearly this does not cover cases where someone believes a simple mistake has been made and is largely restricted to situations where family contact is a key factor.

 

Well said, bobrussell. Slightly more concise than my own comments !

[Bardeh]

22 hours ago, Tee2008 said:

I would be interested to learn the outcome of this. I'm dealing with something very similar at the moment, and there should be an appeal hearing in the UK next month.

 

I will let you know. I'm getting more and more nervous that she'll be denied and our family will be split up, but for now all we can do is hope and wait.

[Bardeh]

Just a quick update - she got the Visa. :)

[brewsterbudgen]

Great news. My wife got her Visitor visa last week too.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[bobrussell]

Then you clearly presented an adequate application and honesty turned out to be the best policy as it almost always does!

Visa applications should not really need to be nerve wracking but they are of course!

Good News!