Wife's settlement visa

Hello,

I have visited this forum many times before and never though of registering on this forum until today.

I am a british citizen and i got married on 9th september 2004 in Pakistan, i applied for my wife's visa application at Islamabad Fed ex office on 4th March 2005, however today i was told via e mail that my wife's visa application has been refused and i DO have right to appeal, the appeal papers were send out today so i am waiting for appeal papers as i don't yet know the reasons for the refusal.

I have lost faith and trust in those ECO, i don't think they are fair because i send everything which was required as follows:

1) Payslips (last 6 months) i work in a superstore earning £205 after tax 5 days a week and P60

2)Bank statement (last 6 months) i had money going out and money coming in and the last balance i had it was of £3000

3)I have a three bed roomed house which i own , so i send deeds stating that the house is in my name.

4)My mortgage Statement and letter from my Mortgage company stating that my mortgage is up to date.

5)Supporting letter from my local MP

6)A letter confirming that i don't recieve any benefits

7)Photo copies of pages in my passport

8)Proof of contact via International Calling cards

9)Wedding photo

10)Flight Tickets

11)Marriage certicate In urdu and in English

and yet the Visa application was refused, you are honest british citizen and they throw everything back at your face yet i know someone who was in prison most of his time, got married and WOW his wife is here and in my 23 years in this country i have NEVER broken any law yet the application is refused. Those ECO are corrupt!

My question is that shall i appeal? as i said before i am still waiting for the appeal papers so i don't know the reasons for the refusal!

And if i do appeal how long will the process take? i heard it can take upto 1 year? i will be speaking to my MP!I hope through him it will take less than 1 year.

Any advice or sugguestion will be welcome!

Raven, sorry to hear that your wife's application was refused. But if that is the case she will have been handed a notice detailing why the application was refused. What does that say? Without knowing that it is impossible to know what to suggest.

As regards "Those ECO are corrupt!" ... care! They only have a job to do. And it is a difficult job. If they simply nodded through every application, well, they would not be doing their job, would they! Look at the reason(s) for refusal and work on that aspect .... it could be something very simple that they need that will reverse the decision.

Raven,

I suspect ECO refused application based on 'gut - feeling' without analysing the case thoroughly.

It would be best that you let us know what the reasons for refusal are.

but just a few minor questions.

1). Why has it taken you over 6 months before you applied for ypur wife to join you. You got married in September 04!

2). Why was it necessary to involve an MP initially?

3). It is not necessary to include international calling cards

4). When and how did you meet your wife? (arranged marriage)

5). Has your wife been married before

6) any significant age difference between you and wife?

Tagging on to queries by my fellow moderator Chess:

Raven wrote:however today i was told via e mail that my wife's visa application has been refused and i DO have right to appeal, the appeal papers were send out today so i am waiting for appeal papers as i don't yet know the reasons for the refusal.

1. Who sent this e-mail?
2. Why did such have details pertaining to refusal but not the grounds thereof?
3. How many times did you meet prior to the marriage date?
4. When was such(3 if any) in relation to the marriage date i.e. 1 year before, 5 yrs etc.
5. How old is your bride?

Likewise it would be useful to know what questions your spouse was aksed at interview. On speculation it appears that the ECO has concerns over the subsistence of a relationship.

John wrote:Raven, sorry to hear that your wife's application was refused. But if that is the case she will have been handed a notice detailing why the application was refused. What does that say? Without knowing that it is impossible to know what to suggest.

As regards "Those ECO are corrupt!" ... care! They only have a job to do. And it is a difficult job. If they simply nodded through every application, well, they would not be doing their job, would they! Look at the reason(s) for refusal and work on that aspect .... it could be something very simple that they need that will reverse the decision.

Thanks for reply John!

I e mailed someone at the High Commission in Islamabad to find out about my wife's visa status as 3 months were over. Here is the reply i got


Dear Sir

Thanks for your e-mail about visa enquiry .

This application has recently been concluded and I regret to state that the visa has been refused with right of appeal . Appeal documents already sent to you through Gerry's Fed-ex yesterday . Appeal papers are submitted in 28 days time from date of refusal . Please use the official appeal forms issued by this office and either mark your appeal to "manager appeal section" on his fax number 0092 51 2824728 or 2279355 or forward it to the UK .

Regards .

Correspondence Section .

I then was told that the appeals were send to the applicant (wife)

I suspect ECO refused application based on 'gut - feeling' without analysing the case thoroughly.

It would be best that you let us know what the reasons for refusal are.

but just a few minor questions.

1). Why has it taken you over 6 months before you applied for ypur wife to join you. You got married in September 04!

*i know it will sound stupid but my wife didn't had a national identify card therefore she couldnt apply for a passport. I had to apply for her national identify card and that took a long time and then applied for a passport that took a week. Now you may ask me why didn't she done it sooner, because her name wasn't Registered when her father applied for himself that was many years ago, he didn't register none of his children names.

Then in Novemeber 04 my Grandmother passed away, as i was really close to her it affected me as i couldt bear her loss.


2). Why was it necessary to involve an MP initially?

*Because he is my father's friend and i know him quite well, so at that time i wanted my case to be strong and fair thats why.

3). It is not necessary to include international calling cards

*That is what everyone uses to call internationally, my cousin included international Card and his wife got her visa, many of the people i know did the same thing and their case was successful. And looking at my finance status the best option for me was to use calling cards not my mobile phone.

4). When and how did you meet your wife? (arranged marriage)

*I first saw my wife in 1997 when i made the trip to Pakistan, i also talked with her and i liked her very much, but at that time we were both very young so when i came back to the UK, we didnt make any form of communication.

5). Has your wife been married before

*NO

6) any significant age difference between you and wife?

*i am 23 and she is 20.

Raven,

Let us wait for the formal documentation giving reason for refusal and then take it from there..

Kayalami wrote:Tagging on to queries by my fellow moderator Chess:

Raven wrote:however today i was told via e mail that my wife's visa application has been refused and i DO have right to appeal, the appeal papers were send out today so i am waiting for appeal papers as i don't yet know the reasons for the refusal.

1. Who sent this e-mail?
2. Why did such have details pertaining to refusal but not the grounds thereof?
3. How many times did you meet prior to the marriage date?
4. When was such(3 if any) in relation to the marriage date i.e. 1 year before, 5 yrs etc.
5. How old is your bride?

Likewise it would be useful to know what questions your spouse was aksed at interview. On speculation it appears that the ECO has concerns over the subsistence of a relationship.

1. Someone from the Correspondence Section.

2. i was told that the appeal papers were send to my wife, but my wife is still waiting for appeal papers.

3. I made the trip to Pakistan on 1st september 2004 so i met her then, i did state that on the application form, if they want any sort of proof, well sorry i didnt had my video camara at the time!

4. I didn't quite understand your question

5. she is 20

My wife DID NOT ATTEND any interview! i was told via e mail that visa was refused and i can appeal.

Hey guys.

I am totally confuse here, i went to the website www.visadropbox.com and entered my wife's computer number and it said:

Your Visa Application/Passport has been processed and has arrived at the our Gerrys/Fedex office, please come and collect it. Remember to bring your original receipt and photocopy of NIC.

why did they send the appeal papers when they could have attached them with the passport and i just rang my wife, she told me that she still hasn't recieved any appeal papers. and now they want her to come and collect her passport.

But i could be wrong, i really don't know how the appeal system works????

Raven,

Im sure this must all be very distressing for you, I went through the same procedure of applying in January this year but thank god my wife got her visa after 14 weeks.

Funnily enough, I am helping someone with an appeal at the moment and will give you a few pointers.

1. Wait for the appeal papers to come back. It will contain a refusal letter which will list all the points that were objected on. Hopefully when you have this you can work on them one-by-one and then think about further documentation to prove to the ECO that your case is geniune.
2. I dont feel involving the MP at this stage will make a difference. Wait and see what the refusal is about and take the next step from there.
3. The papers should be collected from Gerry's asap, remember they are giving you 28-days to respond and the clock is ticking. Then its up to you how you collect the papers and reply to them. They should either be submitted locally back to fedex (do not, under any circumstance, send the reply paperwork from the UK direct to Fedex, they will refuse to accept, probably because they still ask for more Rs in fees to deliver to the embassy) or Ideally, send them back to the address in the UK for appeals.
4. www.visadropbox.com is a lot of cr**, the database is always out of date and incorrect. The best thing to get correct information is ring the embassy yourself. I know the lines are always busy and the "please ring back in 15 min" message always seems to be on but always persist. One important note to make here is, that get your wife to speak to the embassy if you need to, as they apply the Data protection act there too and wont disclose the details to anyone else over the phone, not even you. Dont worry, they speak urdu!
5. I believe when you go to pick up the passport, it will have the appeal papers. get her to get them, and then courier them to you if you want to appeal in the UK. TCS are good fast couriers and they arent so expensive either. www.tcs.com.pk

let us know how you do.
all the best!

bash_h wrote:Raven,

Im sure this must all be very distressing for you, I went through the same procedure of applying in January this year but thank god my wife got her visa after 14 weeks.

Funnily enough, I am helping someone with an appeal at the moment and will give you a few pointers.

1. Wait for the appeal papers to come back. It will contain a refusal letter which will list all the points that were objected on. Hopefully when you have this you can work on them one-by-one and then think about further documentation to prove to the ECO that your case is geniune.
2. I dont feel involving the MP at this stage will make a difference. Wait and see what the refusal is about and take the next step from there.
3. The papers should be collected from Gerry's asap, remember they are giving you 28-days to respond and the clock is ticking. Then its up to you how you collect the papers and reply to them. They should either be submitted locally back to fedex (do not, under any circumstance, send the reply paperwork from the UK direct to Fedex, they will refuse to accept, probably because they still ask for more Rs in fees to deliver to the embassy) or Ideally, send them back to the address in the UK for appeals.
4. www.visadropbox.com is a lot of cr**, the database is always out of date and incorrect. The best thing to get correct information is ring the embassy yourself. I know the lines are always busy and the "please ring back in 15 min" message always seems to be on but always persist. One important note to make here is, that get your wife to speak to the embassy if you need to, as they apply the Data protection act there too and wont disclose the details to anyone else over the phone, not even you. Dont worry, they speak urdu!
5. I believe when you go to pick up the passport, it will have the appeal papers. get her to get them, and then courier them to you if you want to appeal in the UK. TCS are good fast couriers and they arent so expensive either. www.tcs.com.pk

let us know how you do.
all the best!

Thank you very much bruv.

I have this feeling that the person who is sending me e mails, is playing around with me because there is no way in hell that you can tell the other person the outcome of the visa application, you ONLY tell the applicant, because i could be anyone, there is no proof to say that i am the applicant's husband and why tell me through e mail, ok i e mailed thi guy but don't reply!

This guy named Naseem Ahmed told me that the appeal papers were send on wednesday to my wife and yet she didn't recieve any papers what so ever.

I have this gut feeling that the guy is messing around with me, and i will tell my wife to ring the embassy first thing monday morning.

Actually, Naseem Ahmed is indeed someone associated with the British Embassy in Islamabad as I have had correspondence from him in the past as well (he has a @fco.gov.uk address too) Plus they would've only got your email address from when you filled in the initial application form and written in your email as the form of contact. So sounds like you need to pick up the refusal letter along with your passport from the Fedex people so will need to arrange for your wife or someone with your wife to go to them and pick it up.

(tip: if you're picking up from Fedex in Islamabad, the queue is ridiculously long, but thankfully they have a seperate queue for men & women, so make sure your wife goes along as it will be quicker for her to pick up the paperwork since the queue for women is shorter)

Once you have the refusal paper, let us know what it says and the guru's like John or Chess or Kayalami will be able to help you.

There is one bit of all this I simply do not understand. The application has been rejected without an settlement visa interview taking place.

OK, I know different offices operate a bit differently, but surely they would not reject an application before a settlement visa interview?

Could it be something as basic as insufficient application fee being paid? Until we know the reason(s) for the rejection we really can't take this any further.

Hi John,

Islamabad currently only conducts a very small number of interviews, most of the assessment is done by paperwork only. possibly due to the security situation. In fact, on another refusal form that I have for someone else, it says

"To xxxxx
You have applied for Entry Clearence to the UK as a spouse ...
However the current situation in Pakistan has led me to consider your application solely on documentation you have submitted..."

I take it this is the bog-standard intro line on every refusal notice.

The Islamabad Embassy is within a small enclaved area and is not open to visitors. You can only go there if you have an invitation/appointment letter from them. Nearly all applications are dealt with by the courier company (Gerrys/Fed-ex) who check all paperwork and then deliver to the Embassy.

On another note, someone actually said to me that he (a british citizen) tried to visit the Embassy in person, but the local police & security at the Embassy gates stopped him and wouldnt let him go as the Embassy was closed for all visitors, including citizens. Surely its a citizens right to visit the Embassy of his country, security situation or no security situation.. hmmm...

Hi raven,

I was in a similar situation and felt much the sameway as you. In my case i had submitted much the same documents as you and my wife was refused from the chennai embassy.

With the appeal papers there is the refusal letter, this letter will state exactly why they refused the visa, in my case although i had sent them evidence of accomodation they want something like a survey of the rooms and their size, I went to the council and got one of thier house inspectors to come and look at the house he will then give a letter saying exactly what rooms and the size, and how many people can live in the house to show that it wont be overcrowded if your wife joins you.

Although i had sent them 6months wageslips they didnt belive i was working so i sent a letter from my employer , you need a letter from your employer stating what exactly you do and your wages and how long you have worked there.

Also i sent the recent bank and wage slips again.

I sent these documents as well as a letter saying why they should not have refused, and once my wife had given them these they phoned her to take back the appeal form and they would process the visa as normal as an appeal will take a long time to process. a few weeks later she was called to take her medical and she passed that and then she got her passport with visa.

So even if they refuse and you appeal, if you give them the info they need on the refusal letter they may not in the end go via the appeal route and will deal with it there. After this happened i felt alot better about the ECO's they are willing to make it easier for us rather go through a long appeal process if we give them all the info they need.

If the ECO's were cruel they would not have bothered to ask to take back the appeal they could have sat back and let the appeal go ahead and i would have had to wait at least a year? The ECO is simply a human too and was just doing his job , some will be good others bad. But it will be ok in the end. Dont worry if you are genuine you have nothing to fear.
God willing everything will go like mine and your wife will be with you soon.

Hi Sreeni,

Thank u v much for sharing with us your interesting story and your valuable information.

You said that after reading the refusal letter+appeal papers,you sent them the documents they required.Then appeal formality was not applied and"a [b]few weeks [/b]later she was called to take medical....and got her visa"

Could you please tell how many weeks you meant in this phrase?

Thanks a lot in advance

Best regards

Hi Guys.. sorry for the late reply.

I was in fact waiting for the appeal forms to arrive, my wife posted them on wednesday and i got them today, i really got no idea why they arrived so late when my wife told me that it should arrive within 40 hrs.

Anyway here is why the visa was refused.

The ECO is having doubts about my employment, that the letter which i got from my employer is of poor quality and he thinks that it can be produced by anyone with access to word processor.

My bank statement does not show my income, how can it show my income when i get my money by hand, my employer clearly stated that on the letter.

The ECO is not satisfied that my wife and i will be able to maintain ourselves and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds.

I really feel insulted, if he is having doubts about my employement then how the hell do i keep up with my mortagage payments, thats plain stupid, as i also gave a letter confirming that i have and has not been reciept of any benefits.

Just becuse i work in an Asian superstore, he is having doubts, if my employer was a Englishmen then it would have been a different story altogether.

i don't understand is why have they have kept my wage slips and my P60 along with my phone cards and letter from jobplus office confirming that i don't recieve any benefits.

Any help?

how does the appeal system work? do i have to submit all my documents with the appeal papar or only those which addresses the reason for refusal.

Hi Raven,

you need this website.It answers many questions.It is Specialised in appeals.

www.ait.gov.uk

Good luck

Raven, based upon the reasons for the rejection, I think you should request that the decision to refuse the application be reviewed by the Manager of the Visa Section at that location. Emphasise that you are genuinely employed by ... name of employer .... as shown by the form P60 ... and that the reason for your pay not going direct into your bank account is fully explained by your employer's letter.

You may well find that when that review is conducted that the decision will be reversed, or at least the needed documentation to prove your case will be detailed to you.

It is far quicker and cheaper (cost = NIL) to get the Manager to review the decision .... before you start considering going for a formal appeal.

Hope it all works out.

hi raven, i think was about 2 weeks from getting the application re-admitted and getting a call to do the medical, but this delay was more due to my wife living in an remote area, where the telephones are bad too.

you can track my story on this forum titled "Wifes visa rejected due to ECO's mistakeshttp://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 76703aa72f

Hi Guys..

Sorry for the late reply... been very busy with work and staff.

Well Basically i have send my appeal papers and other supporting documents on 4th July at Islamabad.

My MP suggested that my case a very simple one and that the ECO was very wrong in his approach, however he urged me to lodge an appeal and he will also write a letter to UK visas in london with my supporting documents urging them to grant my wife a visa as i have got more documents instead of going to appeal.

The supporting documents were:

1)A letter from the Tax office confirming that i am currently employed.

2)Another letter from my employer and this time stamped as well as signed.

3)Current Bank statement

4)Payslips

Even thought if my wife did get her Visa, i still wouldnt have any faith in those ECO, my case was straightforward as i had everything and still the ECO picked up stupid and silly mistakes, he wasted my time and i bet you he loved every min of it. I love to give him piece of my mind in front of his face!

Anyway.. my question is that its been just about over a month and my wife havent heard anything from the Embassy, i think due to London bomb blasts it has affected the applications.

I have also heard that they don't take any new applications now until further notice? is this true?

I think it's too late to write on this topic, but don't you think that you should have submitted these earlier with the apllication?

If your wages are not going in to your bank account then always provides following:
1. Employment contract letter
2. Inland Revenue letter
3. Letter from an Acountant confirming your employment

Hope for the best ... every thing will be sorted out soon...

journey wrote:I think it's too late to write on this topic, but don't you think that you should have submitted these earlier with the apllication?

If your wages are not going in to your bank account then always provides following:
1. Employment contract letter
2. Inland Revenue letter
3. Letter from an Acountant confirming your employment

Hope for the best ... every thing will be sorted out soon...

I had all of this when i applied for the first time, but i was still refused... the ECO did not believe that i was employed just because i worked in a Asian Superstore, if i was working in a English store then the visa would have been granted first time and i am 100% certain of this even if i didnt have all of the documents to prove i was working.

Sometimes i feel soo angry and depressed at wat happened i got nothing to hide, i been in this country for over 18 years who has never claimed any benefit or broke any law but still i think that ECO was dearly beloved! i wish i could say it to his face.

Hi Guys

My wife got a letter from the British Embassy telling her to bring her Passport, they havent given her a specific day to come but it stated that come anyday except sunday.

Can this mean a good news? Plz pray for me!

InshaAllah she will get her visa.

Raven, obviously no guarantee but I would say that you do indeed have grounds for being extremely hopeful that the visa will be granted.

Clearly different British Missions have slightly different operating procedures. In Bangkok where my wife's visa was issued, after an application has been submitted they either write back with the date and time of an interview (a 40 minute time slot will be allocated) many weeks in the future, or alternatively they write back and saying, effectively .... come to the Embassy any Monday to Thursday between 1.00pm and 2.00.pm .... and that so-called Short Interview treatment means that the embassy is indeed "minded to grant" the visa application. When the person turns up they tend to have a very brief interview at the counter, rather than in an interview room, followed by the issuing of the visa.

I suspect that is what will happen when your wife turns up at the British Mission.