BKK VFS Removed My Decree Absolute From Visa Application

[vulcan903]

Just getting my papers in order to go to the local registry office here in the UK and went to get my Decree Absolute From my GF's sponsor pack and that section has been removed by VFS in BKK.

I asked my GF and she said yes they took out the first two sections if the sponsor pack, so letter of invitation and planned marriage details here in the UK.

Just sent a complaint off as I have to mess around getting another court stamped Decree Absolute.

Any one else had there's swiped too?

Cheers

Vulc

[Tony M]

I will be very interested to see how you get on with this. I am currently in "dispute" with the UKVI Complaints Unit, as they are refusing to treat a similar complaint as a complaint. The ECO refused a settlement application on the grounds that no bank statements were submitted. That is clearly wrong, as they were submitted. In addition, the supporting letter to the application referred specifically to the attached bank statements.

A request for the VFS document checklist was made, via the International Enquiry Service, for UKVI Bangkok to forward a copy of the VFS document checklist. The IES have refused to pass it on to the British Embassy in Bangkok.

What is a complaint. This is the Home Office definition of a complaint :

"The Home Office defines a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction with the services provided by the Home Office."

A complaint was submitted regarding the "missing" documents, as it was probable that the documents had either gone missing at VFS, or at the Embassy in Bangkok. The UKVI Complaints Unit refuse to treat it as a complaint, and say that it is an "enquiry", and that enquiries should be dealt with by the International Enquiry Service. Contacting the IES resulted in several responses, but they initially refused to deal with the enquiry unless they were given the following information :

Type of escalation:
Brief Reason of escalation:
GWF Reference Number: GWF0000000000
IHS reference:
Passport Number:
Name of the applicant: XXXXX XXXXX
Date of Birth: 2/9/1666
Country where applying:
Location of the VAC:
Type of visa:
Date of biometrics:

After the requested information was sent to IES, they responded with an expanded request for further information :

FULL and DETAILED reason for escalation:
Applicant’s full name:
Application reference number(GWF):
IHS number (if applicable):
Type of Visa:
Passport number:
Nationality:
Date of birth(DD/MM/YYYY):
Location of the visa application centre/Country:
Date and time you submitted the application online:
Date and time you attended the biometrics appointment:
Registered email:
Date of payment(DD/MM/YYYY):
Payment references:

Most of the "required" information is irrelevant. Any visa application, globally, can be traced from the GWF number. it appears to be a "system" that is designed to defeat the complainant. I have seen responses, after the above information has been transmitted to IES, saying that they are unable to deal with the enquiry as it concerns a visa application overseas ! Well, of course it does.

So, if the Complaints Unit refuse to deal with complaints (and insist on calling them enquiries), and the IES refuse to deal with "enquiries" about visa applications overseas, who does deal with problems that applicants may be having ? UKVI ( in this case, the Embassy in Bangkok) are required to give copies of certain documentation when requested, but it seems that no UKVI agency will pass on a reasonable complaint or request.

[theoldgit]

Is there a case for referring it to the Parliamentary Ombudsman Tony, the UKVI seems to be within their remit, if only to let them know that people will not put up with their nonsense?

http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint

[Tony M]

Is there a case for referring it to the Parliamentary Ombudsman Tony, the UKVI seems to be within their remit, if only to let them know that people will not put up with their nonsense?

http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint

There may well be a case. The MP did contact UKVI, but the UKVI response stated that the documents were missing from the application. it did not acknowledge that the documents may have been lost or mislaid by UKVI or by VFS. The response to the MP made no mention at all of the requested document checklist that the applicant is trying to obtain. Obviously, that checklist should show whether the bank statements were submitted or not.

[bobrussell]

This is typical of UKVI in my experience. They never get it wrong but when they do, someone else did it!

I have suggested before that applicants number and index pages. Write the numbers good and large and state in the covering letter that all pages have been submitted to VFS. This should prevent/reduce the risk that anyone interferes or loses pages.

There have been so many instances where VFS staff have returned pages to applicants on the grounds that they are not required.

Sometime since we had to deal with UKVI but I copied everything, stapled them together and sent that with the actual application. Both sets of documents cannot?? go missing.

UKVI are also very accomplished at not quite answering the questions asked!