Ukvac Question

[Deanuk]

Hi Guys

Just a quick question....ive now applied for my wifes visa submitting all the relevant paperwork last week to UKVAC. Ive tracked the application online and now it says that her passpost is ready for collection.....After reading the previous posts about what this im crapping myself incase this means her visa has been turned down without an interview.... or does it mean that because of all the paperwork submitted this time that there is no need for an interview???

Anybody have any thoughts on this??

Were both sitting her staring into space wondering what this means for our future.

BTW

when we went to UKVAC last week thay were very curtious and hepful with our application.

[markr]

You never can tell mate, it could go either way!

I've got my fingers crossed for you though! What type did you apply for this time?

[ChangMaiSausage]

I had the same when the missus applied for her UK visa she rung up and asked about her application she was told that she had to go to the embassy/office and collect they would not say anything over the phone.

On arrival all was fine GO GET IT.

[GU22]

The result of any visa application is confidential, so they will not release the information over the phone or on line. Even the VAC staff don't know the result as passports are returned by the embassy to them in sealed packages.

Dean, I can't recall what type of visa you were applying for, but whilst visit visas are sometimes refused without an interview, as settlement applications have the right of an appeal, it is highly unlikely that a settlement application would be.

[Deanuk]

hi

GU22 its a settlement visa that weve applied for...when i asked at the UKVAC they said that 80% needed an interview and 20% didnt. Im hoping that because of the increased paperwork suppied and the letter from my MP that this may have swung the balance in my favour this time.

Ill be at UKVAC tomorrow at 3.00pm to see what they've come up with this time.

Hopefully its gone our way..just the waiting is making us both crazy!!

[GU22]

If all the paperwork shows that the criteria for the visa have, on the balance of probabilities, been met then no interview will be required; whatever the type of visa. The obverse side to that is if the evidence supplied doesn't show this then they could refuse without an interview.

However, as already said, if they were to refuse a settlement visa without an interview then they would be on very shaky ground were the applicant to appeal.

I honestly think you can relax and expect good news.

[Deanuk]

OK heres the bad news

the visa was refused without an interview....

the grounds are :- i sent a number of emails (although these are not our primary form of communication...why email when were both sat infront of the PC and can chat through skype or yahoo instant messenger?) His reply was that because these have been printed from the internet the dates could have easily been changed!!

I also sent around 100 pages of yahoo instant messenger chats that weve had dating back to 2004

Both my wife and i use pay and go mobile phones..when im in the uk we make 3 calls per day EVERYDAY. Now, she cannot prove how much she tops up her phone, but i thought that showing pages and pages of my top-ups each 1 for 20.00 pounds and also photographs of them on my lounge floor just to show how many there were (these alone are over 1,500 pounds worth)

His reply.... he wont accept that i used all of these to call my wife!!

his reason for not interviewing her was...she was vague in her last interview so he felt there was no need to interview again!!

WHAT TOTAL B@LL@CKS!!!

Were both suicidal and dont know what to do now... as she has 2 failiure stamps in her passport im thinking if we apply again its just going to be soooo difficult!!

[scooty]

Dean , i am absolutely gutted for you, it really sounded like you had got the visa.you must be devastated.

i cant understand the point of us all showing copies of our email contact if the eco can just say, you can easily have changed the date of the emails, whats the point? i dont really know what i can say to help you, i only wish you better luck in the future

scooty

[markr]

What utter <deleted>!!!

Really gutted for you mate, they seem to be coming up with most ridiculous crap at the moment!

I't seems that the reasons they can give for refusal are made up as they go along, nothing seems to be set in stone (as it should be) and they can do as they choose!

Sorry I cant say anything constructive, I am truly sorry for you and your wife.

Whatever you do don't let them get you down or come between you and your wife, stay strong and you WILL succeed eventually!!

Mark

Edited December 20, 2006 by markreed

[GU22]

Really sorry to hear this, Dean. I can only think that the mess made by the so-called visa agent with her previous application (new readers see here put such a large doubt in the ECOs mind that the new evidence has not dealt with that doubt.

What particularly concerns me is

his reason for not interviewing her was...she was vague in her last interview so he felt there was no need to interview again!!

Are you absolutely sure that the 'agent' didn't give her a story to tell at the interview? Many of these agents do, on the grounds that they 'know' what the ECOs want to hear. Unfortunately people believe them and then when faced with the actual ECO they start getting flustered and forget the script!

I'm afraid I see little point in applying for a third time, at least at present, and suggest that you continue with the appeal of the first refusal. If you didn't appeal that one, then you should definitely appeal this one.

I know things seem bleak for you both at the moment, but if you are a genuine couple (which I'm sure you are) and if the financial and accommodation criteria are met then she will eventually get her visa.

For more on appeals see The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal

[Deanuk]

hi all

when we arrived back to our appartment we again opened the large brown envelope containing all of our documents to find that only the photographs were remaining inside. All of my paperwork had gone and most importantly my bank statements!!!

I yesterday emailed UKVAC and here is there reply :-

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The British Embassy might want to keep your original documents for reference. Because the embassy see that you can ask for new bank statement at the bank.

ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THIS ??

Dean

[Mahout Angrit]

The British Embassy might want to keep your original documents for reference. Because the embassy see that you can ask for new bank statement at the bank.

Doesn't sound right to me, I would ask the Embassy directly as UKVAC may have intervened. Maybe the embassy never received them and hence your refusal.

If the embassy had wanted to keep a record my gut feeling is they would have done a photo copy themselves.

You wont get a copy of bank statements free from the bank.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Mahout Angrit

[GU22]

The documents belong to you and the embassy have no right to keep them.

However, it is possible that they expect you to appeal and so are holding onto them pending the receipt of your notice of appeal. The first action when a notice of appeal is received is to review the decision locally, and they may be holding onto the documents in order to do this.

Whatever the reason, if you contact them and ask for their return then they must do so.

For more on the appeals procedure see DSPs CHAPTER 27 - APPEALS

[Martin]

My 'take' on all dealings with officialdom is that, having a good case, I want to get it heard as high up the 'chain of command' as possible.

The first time that we applied for a visa for my wife to visit England, I was totally 'green' about UK Visa procedures and we only put in the application three weeks before we wanted to go. The English desk-wallah (actually a wallahess, with a Brummy accent) put us down for interview, when the first interview dates available were 35 days in the future.

I (politely but firmly) told the Thai lady who gave the news to Thong that this was unacceptable and I was asking her to tell me the procedure by which we could appeal. She got flustered at this, looked over her shoulder, and the desk-wallahess came to the window.

To cut a long story short, she gave me just enough grounds that I could maintain that there was "apparently Maladministration" (of the sort that goes ultimately, if not reconciled, to the Parliamentary Ombudsman).

It got my papers before the eyes of the Head Of the Visa Section.

He had us in the office, started by saying he could see no reason to refuse the application, had a pleasant chat with us about being in Thailand and the difficulties of me following my interest in the ownership of classic cars and him following his hobby of carpentry, and when the paperwork was brought back to his office, the visa was in the passport exactly forty-eight hours from us putting in the application.

I knew, and he knew that I knew, that I was 'swinging an over-big gate on a too-flimsy hinge' in claiming that his wallahess's words revealed Maladministration.

But he also knew that I was capable, (and, behind all the polite chichat, umbraged enough) to use up a hheell of a lot of his and his superiors' time, if my holiday trip back to the UK was frustrated.

It has always rankled with me that we only got that visa because Buddha smiled on me by getting that wallahess to use a form of words that gave me that tiny little hinge (and again smiled on me, in that the wallahess was off next day and they couldn't find what she had done with the paperwork and had to phone me to bring a photocopy, which wouldn't have looked very efficient to anybody 'higher up the chain') and because I am a 'competent complainant', having been educated and experienced up to the level of that Head of Section. Had I not been 'middle-class', I couldn't have done it.

But, what else can they do? If they were to staff all the desk-wallah positions with people of the calibre to decide the cases, and the time to read all the paperwork there and then, it would all cost a fortune.

So the application cost would have to rise enormously, as it isn't right that the taxpayers should foot the bill created by other nationals wanting to visit the UK.

In the case of this OP, it is unfortunate that his application didn't get passed at that first level of scrutiny, but he should just hang in there and go through the Appeal procedure.

Putting myself in the position of that Head of Section, I think he would have been justified in saying "Tough luck on you that you didn't know how long the system takes, but my officer's decision is the right one".

But I 'blackmailed' him, by using the (unspoken and empty) threat of using the Maladministration Investigation machinery to twist his arm, and so overcame that tough luck.

And, also putting myself in his position, I think I would be telling my desk-wallahs to be ultra-cautious about applications where the applicant has been helped by an agent, and to err on the side of caution, so that any about which they have the slightest unease come up to the next level of scrutiny via the Appeal procedure.

Things are never black and/or white.

[teacher]

Sorry to hear the bad news. But the thing i dont understand is why did you get a letter from your MP? Because of this you have got their backs up for sure. Your MP can not help as the decision is left with the Officer in charge of your case. It can be challanged by appealing you have 28 days to appeal, when you do appeal it must be sent to The British Embassy first they will then look at the case and then decide if it's strong enough may call you in and ask you to come and pick up your visa. If your appeal is not so strong then they will process it through to the uk and it can take up to one year.

I have been through this for some friends who i have helped and i would suggest you prove where they are wrong within your application. Do NOT complain about an interview or not as it is up to them to say if an interview is relevent.

I can help you but would need to see both refusal letters first.