Visitor Visa Refusal (UK)

[rcmk]

Hello - my husband’s close friend applied to come to the UK to visit us for a month. My husband is here on a spouse visa and will apply for FLR in August. I’ve attached the refusal letter but basically they refused the application because they said he didn’t have enough savings to cover the trip. However they seem to have looked at the wrong part of his bank statement because they said he only had 12,000 baht but actually he has over 60,000 in his bank account. Also they said that his monthly expenditure is high compared to his earnings, but on the application form we had filled in the ‘other earnings’ section which seems to have been ignored too as in total he earns 20,000 baht not 10,000. Not really sure what to do next as I know there is no right of appeal, I know we should probably just apply again but I feel like they will just find something else to refuse the application on and is it really worth the stress?! It would do my husband the world of good to have a Thai friend visit him though :/ 

 

Any advice would be appreciated. I’ll attach the refusal in a minute as I can’t figure out how on my phone. 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2018 by rcmk
Adding files

[Mattd]

I am not sure where the ECO got the 12,001 THB from, it must be on another page of the bank book, however, to an ECO the page that you scanned and inserted here does look very suspicious, as there were 3 deposits worth 19,500 THB in very quick succession (4 days), plus a carried on balance of 44,501.88 THB, suggesting that the previous page also had recent deposits, seeing as the ECO uses the figure 12,001 THB?

Which I suspect may have been the balance prior to the very recent deposits?

This raises a big flag to the ECO, as it looks like the account has been topped up for the sole purpose of the visit and this doesn't tally with the employment information given to the ECO, if your husband's friend earns a total of 20,000 THB a month and spends 10,000 THB, then it would be reasonable to show steady savings of around 10,000 THB a month being deposited.

The only thing the friend can do is reapply, but before he does this, the grounds for refusal must be addressed properly.

Did you and your husband sponsor him at all?

The most important things that must be proven during an application is that there are sufficient funds to support him whilst in the UK, this can be provided by himself or via a sponsor, if a sponsor, then this must be made clear and not money given to the applicant for the purposes of applying.

Importantly he must prove that he will return back to Thailand, often this is the difficult part.

[rcmk]

Thank you so much for your reply and help!

 

We did say that we would sponsor him in that we would pay for flights and he would be staying with us and all costs would be covered. We included our bank statements, my payslips and my husband’s tax return to evidence that. Also we included our mortgage statement to show we own the flat where he would be staying. 

 

I think the 12,001 baht comes from the English translation he put in of his bank statement - it’s at the top of that as they seem to have put the earliest transaction at the top. I know the statement looks a bit suspicious, I did tell him not to do something like that but it goes in one ear! Unfortunately that is the nature of how Muay Thai trainers get paid in Thailand they get a base pay but also so many other things on top from pts and commission. His employer letter did say that. My husband once made 20,000 baht in a day and other months he would just make 10,000 a month! 

 

For reasons to return we had - marriage certificate, son’s birth certificate, chanote, car finance, employer letter giving date for return 

[bobrussell]

Don't bother fighting this  refusal. Not worth the effort IMO.

Reapply and make it clear that the applicant believes the Entry Clearance officer may have misunderstood the bank statement. It would be wise to explain why these sums of money were put into the account within such a short period.

I don't know how Muay Thai trainers work but a letter from his place of work would make sense suggesting he is expected back by such and such a date. Worth doing even if he is self-employed.

It is likely to be important to explain his finances in detail. 

Confirm (reiterate) that you will be paying for the flight and provide accommodation therefore the XX, 000 baht should be more than sufficient for the stay.

The applicant must show 'on the balance of probability' that he or she is likely to return within the terms of the visa.

A little more work may be all that is needed!

[rcmk]

Thank you Bob that's very helpful!

[trigpoint]

I'm not surprised by your refusal, I have similar one when I sponserd my partner of over 8years for a tourist visa to the UK, and submitted over £80,000 of funds to support her visit and $900 in her bank account, which were completely ignored, I suspect the ECO, did not get this information which was not submitted (lost) by his office staff.

[wgdanson]

On 1/29/2018 at 5:27 AM, trigpoint said:

which was not submitted (lost) by his office staff

Or VFS .

 

[rasg]

Far more likely.