Uk Visa Appeal Advice

[moodysufc]

Just about got my Appeal sorted out but have a few questions about it

1. Do i hand in the previous folder that i supplied at the beginning of the application process including replacement documents that the ECO has kept or do i just hand in the extra evidence that will address the reasons of refusal.

2. Do i include my girlfriends passport with this

3. Where do i hand it in?? The ECO did not add the local address on the Notice of Immigration Decision so is it the VFS office or the Embassy.

4. On the AIT 2 form it asks for the name of the British mission, i'm guessing this is just "British Embassy Bangkok"?

Thanks for any help on this as hopefully i can get this handed in tomorrow or thursday

[pingit]

Just about got my Appeal sorted out but have a few questions about it

1. Do i hand in the previous folder that i supplied at the beginning of the application process including replacement documents that the ECO has kept or do i just hand in the extra evidence that will address the reasons of refusal.

2. Do i include my girlfriends passport with this

3. Where do i hand it in?? The ECO did not add the local address on the Notice of Immigration Decision so is it the VFS office or the Embassy.

4. On the AIT 2 form it asks for the name of the British mission, i'm guessing this is just "British Embassy Bangkok"?

Thanks for any help on this as hopefully i can get this handed in tomorrow or thursday

HI moodysufc,

just a few answers for you about your appeal. I also had to appeal our settlement visa. First I tried to do it informally appealing directly to the ECM. In the end I needed to forward on the actual appeal form before he changed the decision. Firstly, I only sent in the NEW info as they had all the other stuff on file from the original application. Do you have alot of new info to send in? I faxed it, emailed it and sent hard copies. The second thing, no you dont need to send in your passport. If they change the decision locally in Bangkok then they will ask your girlfriend to come along to the Embassy with her passport, and they stamp it there and then while she waits. Third, you should send everything addressed to the Entry Clearance Manager, ( at the time I did it, it was Mr Gerrard Grant ). I heard he has now left to go to another country, so you might need to ask here on the forum who is the new ECM. I always addressed everything to him personally. Forth, Yeah it is the British Embassy Bangkok for that question asking about " British mission " .

Good luck with it all, and out of curiosity, why was she refused? Was it anything to do with PUBLIC FUNDS by any chance?

Jay

[orchidofsiam]

There is no need to hand in documents you have already supplied to the Embassy and had returned to you.

Any further evidence must be detailed in Section 8 of the AIT 2 form. Note that continuous evidence is different to entirely fresh (new) evidence which may be disregarded.

Her passport is not required.

You are correct British Embassy Bangkok is the mission.

Hand it in to the Visa section of the british Embassy, Wireless Road.

If your grounds for appeal are good enough then the Embassy can decide to overturn the decision and issue the visa without going all the way to the AIT. It can take up to 16 weeks for the Embassy to make a decision, but they are usually faster than this.

If you need any further advice please E-mail me as we would need to discuss your personal circumstances which you probably would not wish to appear on a public forum. I am willing to give you free personal advice if necessary on your grounds for appeal which many people do not fully comprehend.

[moodysufc]

Thanks for the quick replys, in answer to the query i was rejected on

1. Not co-habiting for 2 years together as we are applying for an unmarried/partner visa. I have property in thailand which we have stated before in the original application but didn't provide proof. So i'm including copies of the land deeds/condo deeds and utility bills going back 3 years for proof that we were co-habiting even though i wasn't in the country most of the time due to work commitments.

2. It was they were worried about housing and public funds while my girlfriend was in the UK. She has been twice on 6 month tourist visa's and stayed 11 months total in the past 2 years in the UK at my house with my parents who also live there. They stated that they didn't think there was enough room for her in the house even though it is 3 bedroom plus an extra guest suite, i also have another house which i rent out and an apartment above where i have my business that i rent out so have included all this information in the appeal. The other one was about my bank accounts i run a fish and chip shop so it's all cash no card payments so i only bank what i need to and pay suppliers in cash to save on banking charges, i've got a letter from my bank in the UK stating that i have a good financial record with them and credit score personally and commercially. I was also paying off my credit cards over the past few months and so any spare cash i had went towards these, if i hadn't i'd of had around £5000 in the bank and i've printed out my statements to prove this. I've also included a letter from my parents who would happily support my girlfriend financially and with housing if anything happened to my business and included their bank statements aswell.

Would it be a good idea for me to include an offer of employment from my company to my girlfriend? or would this not help

Thanks again for the help and advice hopefully it will be overturned and life can get back to how it should be.

[7by7]

Thanks for the quick replys, in answer to the query i was rejected on

1. Not co-habiting for 2 years together as we are applying for an unmarried/partner visa. I have property in thailand which we have stated before in the original application but didn't provide proof. So i'm including copies of the land deeds/condo deeds and utility bills going back 3 years for proof that we were co-habiting even though i wasn't in the country most of the time due to work commitments.

So you applied as unmarried partners but didn't provide any evidence to show that you met the most basic requirement for this type of visa!

With respect, of course it was refused! The ECOs get a lot of flak whenever we read of a refusal, but the vast majority of such cases are like yours; you do qualify but failed to show that you do!

Hopefuly the ECM will accept your explanation and overturn the refusal.

Although if you run a fish and chip shop in the UK, how do you manage to live in Thailand?

Do you live in Thailand with her or in the UK and occassionaly visit?

Edited September 2, 2009 by 7by7

[moodysufc]

It states living in a relationship akin to marriage for 2 years or longer. In the past 2 years she has been in the UK for 11 months total on two visit visa's i've been in thailand for 4 months during those two years that gets to 15 months out of 24, i can prove i've been in Thailand for another 8 months in the 2 years before this. I've actually seen my girlfriend more than my parents have seen each other during the same space of time as my father works 8 on 2 off for an oil company.

They have rejected on "cohabiting" this isn't stated in the 295A (i) paragraph.

Her postal address was also my thai house address which was stated that she lived there when she was not visiting the UK. The best bit is they said they didn't need to interview her to come to the decision they made but they actually called her on the phone asking her questions about whether we had ever thought of getting married and why weren't we applying for a Fiance visa but in the notes they never called her.

I manage to get out to thailand so much as i have good staff who i invest time and money, in training and customers services, it's a shame the British Government don't do the same.

[7by7]

They have rejected on "cohabiting" this isn't stated in the 295A (i) paragraph.

Immigration Rules

295A. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom with a view to settlement as the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or being admitted on the same occasion for settlement, are that:

(i) (a) the applicant is the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement and

the parties have been living together

in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more;

Cohabiting means living together. By your own admission, you have been living in the UK and she in Thailand with visits to each other. Time spent together on visits does count, but you are still 9 months short of the required time.

they said they didn't need to interview her to come to the decision they made but they actually called her on the phone

This is most likely the standard refusal wording; the interview referred to being a formal face to face one, not an informal phone one.

The more details you post, the more it seems that your partner does not qualify for the visa applied for and the refusal is correct.

I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.

You don't qualify for an unmarried partners visa, but provide the required evidence of your finances and accommodation and either marry in Thailand and apply for a spouse visa or apply for a fiance visa to marry in the UK and you will almost certainly be successful. As they tried to tell you before rejecting this doomed application!

They gave you a chance to change it, you chose to ignore their advice. How do you reckon that is poor customer service by them?

[moodysufc]

Well take it back over 3 and half years and i'm over the required limit as you put it.

They never gave advice, they were asking as they thought we had applied for a Fiance visa, just like at the VFS office where they had to get their manager after 5 minutes as they were adament there was no such thing as an Unmarried Partner visa. Glad their manager new about it, pretty easy to read the top line on the VAF4 form where we had written UNMARRIED PARTNER VISA and not Fiance.

They never gave me a chance to change it, and i never ignored anyone's advice from VFS, or the embassy as they never gave any. With regards the poor customer service for over a £600 charge i'd say it was below poor.

Thanks for the optimism, i guess your a half empty glass kind of guy

[7by7]

Well take it back over 3 and half years and i'm over the required limit as you put it.

No, you are not. The 'limit' is clearly stated in the immigration rules, para 295A(i)(a) quoted above:"the parties have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more"

Your relationship may be more than two years old, and you may have lived together for 24 months in total at various times over the last three and a half years; but you do not meet the basic requirement of having lived together in a relationship akin to marriage for at least the last two years.

Maybe this is what whoever phoned your partner was trying to communicate to her?

Yes, the visa fee is way too expensive and far more than the actual cost of processing an application; but do you know who sets the charge? Step forward Gordon Brown, who views settlement applicants as an easy cash cow!.

You asked for advice on your appeal. I gave some advice assuming that you did meet the criteria but had merely failed to show that you did. That assumption was wrong, from what you are now saying you do not meet the criteria for unmarried partners.

My advice now is to forget about any appeal because, IMHO, it is bound to fail.

As I suggested before, if you really want your partner to live with you permanently in the UK then marriage is the best way forward, either marry in Thailand and she applies for a spouse visa or she applies for a fiance visa and you then marry once she is in the UK.

You may be thinking 'Why should we marry just so she can live with me in the UK?' Well, the answer to that is simple; because under current legislation it is the only way you will get her here unless you first spend two years living with her in Thailand!

[steve187]

In my personal experience of being refused a settlement visa for my wife, I would not appeal against the refusal as the appeal takes too long about 6 months or so, I would wait a short while and then apply again, either the same as before,or a fiancee visa or take the plunge if you are both free to marry then get married in thailand, very easy to arrange and bring her here, as your wife. dont forget that some if not all the time she has been here on visit visas will count towards here two years waiting time for ILR. If there is a 6 months gap while waiting for the appeal which may or not be succesful then some of her visit visa time will not count towards her two years ILR waiting time.