Received passport a little while ago. They have refused my visa. While I can allow some points, other reasons are ridiculous. Posting the letter for refusal.
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REFUSAL OF ENTRY CLEARANCE
Your Application
You have applied for an entry clearance as a partner under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. I have considered your application under Paragraph EC-P.1.1 of Appendix FM of the United Kingdom Immigration Rules. You can read these rules at:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... tionrules/
The Decision
EC-P.1.1(d) - Section E-ECP: Eligibility for entry clearance as a partner
Relationship Requirements
ECO Reasons For Refusal
You have stated on the visa application form that your relationship with your sponsor commenced on 19/09/2008 and that you would see each other every six months. In addition you also stated at Q1.19 of appendix 2 of the visa application that you started living with your sponsor in October 2008 in Mumbai. You have not however submitted any evidence that your sponsor was in India at that time and how long he was here. In addition you have not submitted a full copy of his passport(s) to show his visits to India including the actual marriage visit. I note that you have also stated that this is the first marriage for you both but this is not an arranged marriage. There is no evidence that you did live or cohabit together prior to getting married. I have noted the age of the sponsor and it is unusual in Indian culture for him to marry so late and for couples to live together before marriage. I am not satisfied that you are in a genuine and subsisting relationship. I therefore am not satisfied that your relationship with your sponsor is genuine and subsisting or that you intend to live together permanently in the UK. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.2.6 & 2.10)
Financial Requirements
ECO Reasons For Refusal
Your sponsor is not exempt from the financial requirements as defined paragraph E-ECP.3.3. I am not able to take into account any potential employment you have available to you in the UK or any offers of financial support from third parties. In order to meet the financial requirements of the Rules, your sponsor needs a gross income of at least 18,600 per annum.
You stated on your visa application form that your sponsor is a self employed consultant. A letter from ****** Chartered Accountants is dated 24/09/2012 giving details of your sponsor's claimed income for tax year 2011/12 and projected income for tax year 2012/13. You have indicated on the visa application form that your husband has been a sole trader for 18 months. There is no indication of any previous employment or P45 or P60 from previous tax years. There is the self assessment tax return but no indication that this tax has yet been paid or that your sponsor's national insurance contributions are up to date.
I must therefore look at the rules relating to self employed sponsors and in doing so I note the following documents are a requirement to demonstrate the sponsor's income:-
Details of amount of tax payable for the last financial year;
Amount of tax actually paid and corresponding evidence;
Latest annual self assessment tax return to HMRC and statement of account;
Proof of registration with HMRC as self employed;
Monthly corporate or business bank statements;
Evidence of ongoing self employment through class 2NI contributions or current appointment reports.
In your case the sponsor has submitted the accountants reports noted above. There are no other specified documents as noted above. The sponsor's Santander Bank statements show a balance of 1418 on 02/08/2012. This is not sufficient to meet the financial requirements. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules (E-ECP.3.1)
I have therefore refused your application because I am not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that you meet all the requirements of the relevant Paragraph of the United Kingdom Immigration Rules.
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I have to grant the ECO's point in that we failed to submit proof of my husband's visits to India, viz. his Indian visas and entry stamps. However, I did submit screenshots of the inbox of all our emails to each other from the beginning of our relationship (there were a substantial number.) Also there were photos of us from the time we got together till after our wedding. Plus phone bills from both of us showing evidence of daily long phone calls (minimum an hour every day). I don't see how else one can prove a genuine relationship. To say that it is unusual for people to get married at a late age and to live together before doing so, simply because it does not happen in India, is very odd. To imply that we must be lying about the same, and therefore it is not a genuine and subsisting marriage is frankly unbelievable.
My husband showed his gross annual income to be much higher than 18600. The point about his closing balance was odd too, since we had given sufficient evidence that he was supporting me financially in India, and every month would remit large amounts to me via Western Union. Irrespective, he had proved himself financially able to provide for me in the UK.
Also, we had given proof of my husband's employment with a renowned MNC. He had been retained by them as consultant for a period of 2 years which came to an end shortly before we applied. My husband was not a sole trader at the time, nor have we said he was. We have given all evidences of his payments from said company as evidence too. To expect monthly corporate statements from a firm that had barely started up, is naive. They cannot have had a flow of income when they had barely opened shop.
The tax point is a sticky one, granted. My husband hasn't shown previous tax returns and the current one was declared as due in January. So in fact he will be paying his taxes this month. This I cannot argue. However, the accountants had given all proofs of my husband being registered as self employed, so that's odd too. At the time of application, the National Insurance details could not be couriered to me in time. So I wrote in the covering letter that I would be willing to submit the same at any time the ECO wished, since the courier service had failed to deliver until a day after.
I know there are fair arguments that the ECO has made - points we were afraid would come up too. However, for the rest there is little sense. My husband and I have known each other for around 10 years now, and have been in a relationship since 2008. There was enough given to prove both the above. No point flogging a dead horse now.
Now we move swiftly on to Plan B. My husband will move down to India for the duration of the appeals process. As the ECO so astutely observed, we both chose to get married at a later age. So we need to get our family started. I will move back to Bombay from my parents' house and return to full time work, which I had given up to move to the UK. We had already laid our contingency plans in place so there is a well-paying consultancy waiting for my husband as soon as he gets to Bombay. He will have to remain in transit between London and India to take care of his business concerns. Naturally, we have sacked the solicitors we had retained for this purpose and are now retaining new ones.
A couple of questions. We are choosing to go with the oral hearing at the tribunal rather than a paper hearing. Is there a difference in the timeline for the two? If anyone thinks there is anything more we can do to prove this is a genuine relationship, please do tell me. I have no more evidence of any kind to show. Being an intensely private person, I am repulsed by the thought of laying our emails open to some stranger's eyes, even though there is nothing personal there. I should have thought that screenshots of the inbox named for my husband, containing innumerably emails between us dating from November 2008 to 2 days before applying would have been sufficient. It boggles me to think that perhaps I may need to submit screenshots of my Facebook Timeline from 2008 onwards detailing our relationship online, and that this may be enough.
Any help given will be most appreciated. In the meantime, we soldier on.
Thank you.
still waiting 