Hi guys thanks for all your replies after a few days really feel let down by our government and can't quite believe the lack of communication and support. We are a genuine early 30s well educated professional couple who have put in an honest application to unite ourselves in the Uk and start a family. So much has gone into getting where we are today such as buying and renovation our first home on my side and my partner has ended her teaching job and done all her tests and preparation ready to start life in the UK.

I earn ok money with good future potential and work very hard for it and my partner will no doubt become a teacher in the UK at some sort of level with the added bonus of speaking Chinese. It's just so frustrating that all our plans have been stopped and the financial and emotional stress we have been put under is the result of a few missing documents which could have been requested in a 2min text email or phone call. Really stinks!

We have been up and down the last few days but are determined to be together and looks like we will have to find the money to reapply but are very worried about another refusal though and can't really afford to pay the prices the agents are charging, I am going to do my best to supply all the evidence and more to make our case along with a letter from all involved to say we have addressed the refusal issues. If there is anyone here who can offer any advice or contacts for us to get some guidance with our second application we would be very grateful Has anyone got a number to call or email for us to try get some sort of communication going with the powers that be?

Are people still leaning towards the idea that an appeal is a waste of time and money and the second application is the right thing to do?

Thanks again for any replies and advice.

I would be happy to do a complaint for you. I would have to do it officially, through our business, and I would need written authority to act on behalf of the applicant and yourself (that can be done by emails and scanned letters of authority). You might have seen, in other posts, that it is currently very difficult to get complaints through to UKVI, but that shouldn't stop you trying.

I would be happy to do the complaint, at no charge, as I would like to get UKVI to give a definitive response as to whether the Court of Appeal determination (details in my earlier posts) is relevant to Family Migration applications as well as PBS applications, and whether ECOs now have a duty to request missing documentation. So, I would be helping you, and you would be helping me.

A complaint is supposed to be answered in "up to 20 working days", so it will probably be at least a month until you get a response (if the complaint actually gets through to Bangkok). That doesn't stop you making a new application, as an application and complaint can be happening at the same time.

If time is pressing then my advice would be to do both! Reapply with the missing documents but emphasise that there is a complaint/appeal running.

My experience of the complaints side of UKVI, is you will be fobbed off. Last year I just had a round of responses that were irrelevant to my complaint and then fudged the issue when it was handled by someone senior enough (after the MP was involved).

Unfortunately you have a moral case for reconsideration but a legally grey one. ECO's seem to be distanced from these issues by the UKVI.

My aim in your situation would be to try to get the first application fee refunded and a visa granted at second application!

Take up Tony M's offer for the sake of others as much as your own. What is wrong with ECO's? What or who is stopping them making these phone calls?