Spouse visa refused, reapplying

My wife is Jamaican, I'm UK citizen, we applied for UK spouse entry visa but were refused for not supplying (a) my divorce decree absolute and (b) letter from employer confirming my salary. Of course I'm very annoyed we missed these, in fact we didn't read appendix FM-SE at all somehow. Took about 7 weeks from appointment date.

Anyway, we had been worried about a refusal because my wife overstayed in UK for 13 years and worked, used NHS (but no deception, claiming benefits etc). My question now is, if we reapply with the two missing documents added, are we likely to get a yes? They wrote on refusal that Suitability requirements were met. And with a priority re-application, how fast might we get a decision?

gpm468 wrote:My wife is Jamaican, I'm UK citizen, we applied for UK spouse entry visa but were refused for not supplying (a) my divorce decree absolute and (b) letter from employer confirming my salary. Of course I'm very annoyed we missed these, in fact we didn't read appendix FM-SE at all somehow. Took about 7 weeks from appointment date.

Anyway, we had been worried about a refusal because my wife overstayed in UK for 13 years and worked, used NHS (but no deception, claiming benefits etc). My question now is, if we reapply with the two missing documents added, are we likely to get a yes? They wrote on refusal that Suitability requirements were met. And with a priority re-application, how fast might we get a decision?

No guarantee you will get visa second time around, but if these were the only two reasons you were refused for and can subsequently provide the correct info/docs in new application , you will stand a good chance of getting the visa. However make sure your employment letter is in te correct format and contain the correct info they require in it.

(b) A letter from the employer(s) who issued the payslips at paragraph 2(a) confirming:

(i) the person's employment and gross annual salary;
(ii) the length of their employment;
(iii) the period over which they have been or were paid the level of salary relied upon in the application;
and (iv) the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency).

An appeal is usually quicker, as those are not valid basis of refusal.

If you do an appeal and notify them of the requirement or ask you for those documents, but their failure to do so, the chances are, the decision will be overturned quicker than if you made a fresh application.

Thanks for the replies. You say it's quicker to appeal - I was advised this would take 6 months minimum? Was told the quick "Administrative review" not available for spouse visa.

I would suggest you to reapply fresh and make sure you have addressed all the issue which were previously been raised by ECO. Appeal will take up to to one year. ECM review takes up to two to three months excluding the time taken by tribunal to arrange all your papers and send to the post where you have been refused. I hope it helps.

If you appeal, they have 28 days to deal with your case, and tell the tribunal whether they wish to proceed or not.

In cases like yours where there are missing documents which they are required in law to request from you, I believe it will be quicker .

I accept that if it went to a Hearing , it could be long, but under the new tribunal rules , most of my cases are been overturned after the 28 deadline , which in my view is quicker than a new application and saves my client money.

Unless the application was wholly deficient in regards to mandatory documents, I think an appeal will be quicker.

Thank you for advice, we're reapplying with priority service as we need decision ASAP. I'll take up the refusal with FCO at a later date, try to claim back fee etc, as it seems they wrongly refused as we got no request for the two documents.

Re: Spouse visa refused, reapplying Postby Obie » Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:19 pm

Hi Obie
Hope you're well...
could provide me with some clarification on the above post. We have recently appealed and received a letter saying that appeal has been registered and they have 15 weeks to respond ? with regards to decisions been overturned, are you referring to 28 days after the 15 weeks or 28 days after the appeal as been registered ?
kind Regards

Hi ,

I did re apply and get my visa successfully. Even I recently had a bit of a dribble with my UK spouse visa application and decided to share my experience to help people who could be applying for it in future.
https://kirtisblogs.wordpress.com/2015/ ... a-refusal/

#UKspousevisa #visarefusal #tipsforvisa #ruleofthumb

my husbands visa was refused because of missing documents but on he visa receipt they gave us at the time of application, it was clearly written there that we had provided it.

we appealed and won but it took them 5 months from refusal to overturn.

Obie - I am going to make a complaint to UKVI about the refused visa a while ago. You wrote before "where there are missing documents which they are required in law to request from you" - can you advise where this is written/stated?

From the Immigration Rules - guidance for Case Workers:
f) Before making a decision under Appendix FM or this Appendix, the decision-maker may
contact the applicant or their representative in writing or otherwise to request further information
or documents. The material requested must be received at the address specified in the request
within a reasonable timescale specified in the request.

Casa I always read this as something done at the ECO's discretion?

SoHopeful wrote:Casa I always read this as something done at the ECO's discretion?

Well you are right in a way.

Paragraph D(b) of Appendix FM-SE, specifies that the circumstances where the decision maker will contact the applicant.

Section D(c) envisages that the Decision maker will not contact an applicant, in circumstances, where getting the missing evidence will not make a difference.

So in a way, there is a discretion, but that discretion has to be exercised consistently with Paragraph D(c) of Appendix FM-SE.

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

Thanks for the advice. I have submitted my letter to UKVI and we'll see what they have to say. Does anyone have an experience of using the county court (small claims) to reclaim costs in the event of a 'wrongful' refusal? Or alternatively claiming through a credit card provider for a service not provided/delivered?