Help Needed

I have been working at a shop / newsagents for 2 years and this is my third application that's been refused. Each time I was told to do a fresh application and in doing so they resulted in refusals.

My wife is India, we have been married since January 2017, I am paid in cash and the first refusal was because I wasn't putting the correct amounts into my bank as I was using my wages (cash) for things like fuel n bills. The solicitor should not have submitted the application if he knew that it would be refused on these grounds.

The second application was refused based also on wages saying that it was £200 short of the 18,600 requirement even though I had £20,000 savings in the same bank account and was working part time. My solicitor did not mention any of this in the application.

In the most recent application, I changed solicitors, firstly I did not even want to use a solicitor because I didn't have faith but being persuaded by family to speak to a local solicitor who has helped many others I decided to use his services.

This application was refused because apparently the immigration officer called to my place of work and the person who answered the phone said I didn't work there. I was only to find out about the phone call once we received the outcome of the application.

I spoke to my employer and he says he did not answer any calls or questions about this. The date the immigration officer said they rang was 2/1/19. I was on annual leave during this time and now he's is saying he went on a cash and carry run for the shop that day and had someone on cover who may have answered the phone.

I told him I don't accept this, it's ruined my plans and put strain on my marriage. An argument escalated in which he said he will write a letter to explain this situation. The next day I went to work to find a poorly written letter and my p45 and him asking me to sign a letter which he had written to say I was leaving. I refused to signed it.

We need to submit an appeal before the 19th April and I have absolutely no clue what to do. The solicitor who submitted the application now is saying lodge the appeal and ask for an oral hearing. I went to see my employer and he is refusing to come to any hearing on my behalf. He has not even paid me my last month's wages.

I am completely lost, I don't want to do another fresh application because this is showing as borderline fraudulent when I was actually working there and I want them to know how this has affected us (my wife and I) both mentally. It's torture.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

An appeal is a complete waste of time, money and effort. For a start you will not get a hearing for at least 10 months, your now ex-employer does not need to support your appeal and can’t be compelled too either, the appeal grounds would be what - the person that was working there didn’t know I worked there... you have zero evidence to support your argument.

Get another job, wait until you qualify on your earnings and apply again. It will be cheaper, easier and a whole lot less stressful than appealing.

Remember solicitors get rich on your appeal while you win it or not. There would be a whole different story if there was no win no fee in the immigration courts.

Don't loose hope i was refused too earlier but won in the end after a long battle. Stay strong my friend.