Spouse visa refused

I applied for my wife to come over from Pakistan in December sent all the paperwork etc.
It was a normal type of visa (not priority). Found out yesterday it had got refused for small minor issues:
TB test certificate photo not looking like the same person (even though same person)
Chats not enough... provided full 2 months of chats, video calls
No greetings cards.. provided them with 5 greetings cards including birthday cards

Now i dont know what to do should i appeal? or re-apply
I know appeal process can take up to a year i want to re-apply but a solicitor was saying if i dont appeal and i re-apply they might question when checking why i didnt appeal and went straight to re-applying fresh.
It this true?
Can someone shed some light onto this and what advice on what i should do.
Thanks

The 'solicitor' is wrong. Your choice whether to appeal or reapply.

2 months of 'subsisting marriage' and communication is likely not sufficient.

What was the exact wording of the refusal, taking out personal details?

Basically what happened is I got married in Feb 2016 and returned to the UK in march 2016. I spent a total of 10 days with my wife and have been in contact with each other on a daily basis.
I send of the visa application in Dec 2016, but not sure why but I attached the most recently whatsapp calls and chats of Nov and Dec assuming they wanted the most recent history. The reason was that they stated there was no evidence of contact between us two between the months of March till November.
The photograph issue was that she normally wears a headscarf and in the wedding pictures and outgoing pictures she had that on, however when she did her TB test the person at the TB test told her to take it off as it will cause problems with her visa. The photograph without her scarf looked different to ones with the scarf and in the report they had written that they did not believe it was the same person.
To overcome the chats I can provide the chats dated from March 2016 till now.
I submitted the application without a solicitor but now that it is refused I feel I need the help of a solicitor to assist.
I spoke to a solicitor and he told me to overcome the photo issue she would have to go to the TB test centre and get them to write a formal letter saying the person in in the photograph is the same person. They will sign it and date it and then we can send that with the appeal. Not sure about this?
If I appeal do I just send the same paperwork that was sent back to me along with the corrections or if I reapply I will have to get her to do a new TB test as that will probably expire lasts 6 months and I have to get a new home inspection done etc etc to avoid that hassle im thinking of appealing.
Solicitor said appeal will cost 1K

Hi

Please can you update your timeline.

When did you apply in December?

It will help us please

Non-priority application
Online application: 09 Dec 2016
Biometrics done: 13 Dec 2016
Paperwork sent: 19 Dec 2016

Emailed to ask status: 01 Feb 2017 was notified there was no track record maybe it was at early stage.
Received paperwork 03 Feb 2017
Passport collected 07 Feb 2017- Visa Refused

Suprised at the speed they notified me at 1 month and 1 week approx even though it was not a priority service, maybe because it was going to be refused thats why

CR001 wrote:The 'solicitor' is wrong. Your choice whether to appeal or reapply.

2 months of 'subsisting marriage' and communication is likely not sufficient.

What was the exact wording of the refusal, taking out personal details?

#

Cultural factors may need to be taken into account. It may well be the case, that in arranged marriage cases, relationship only commences after marriage, and a sponsor may reasonably wish to apply for their sponsor immediately after marriage without the need to wait for several months, after historical evidence of relationship had been compiled.

i know re-applying would be a lot faster... but could they say why didn't you appeal the decision??? because im sure they will be able to see that it was refused before.

01484 wrote:i know re-applying would be a lot faster... but could they say why didn't you appeal the decision??? because im sure they will be able to see that it was refused before.

No, it is not cast in stone that you must appeal. It is your choice and has no effect on a new application if you don't appeal.

Obie wrote:

CR001 wrote:The 'solicitor' is wrong. Your choice whether to appeal or reapply.

2 months of 'subsisting marriage' and communication is likely not sufficient.

What was the exact wording of the refusal, taking out personal details?

#

Cultural factors may need to be taken into account. It may well be the case, that in arranged marriage cases, relationship only commences after marriage, and a sponsor may reasonably wish to apply for their sponsor immediately after marriage without the need to wait for several months, after historical evidence of relationship had been compiled.

Married in Feb 2016, OP should have sent more evidence rather than just Nov/Dec 2016.

if you were married in march 2016 and applied spouse visa on December 2016 then you must have attached a lot of evidences of subsisting relationship relating to almost every month from March till December such as screen shots of whatsapp chat, emails, greeting cards, print out of phone call record, money transfer. Even if the marriage was arranged marriage by partner's families where partners have no interaction before marriage then HO need to consider that factor but still the susbsisting evidences after marriage must be attached covering the whole period till application.

Regarding photo the HO following its standard guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... nce_v7.pdf