Lost passport with settlement visa

Hello,

It's an unusual situation but my sister-in-law lost her passport containing her UK settlement visa after she was granted it. My brother had been spending time with her and the extended family prior to traveling back to the UK together. In the interim, her passport was lost. We were advised by UKVI call centre that it was a formality to get the replacement and that the loss needed to be proven with a police report. All this was provided with the original documents given the first time and now they have rejected it because a) my brother is not present in the UK and b) he doesn't intend to settle with his wife permanently in the UK.

Does anyone have any advice on what can be done to address this issue rather than going through the whole appeals process? Especially as the visa was granted anyway and their own guidance (ECB 17.2) also states a fresh application doesn't need to be made.

Help please!!

Inazay wrote:Hello,

It's an unusual situation but my sister-in-law lost her passport containing her UK settlement visa after she was granted it. My brother had been spending time with her and the extended family prior to traveling back to the UK together. In the interim, her passport was lost. We were advised by UKVI call centre that it was a formality to get the replacement and that the loss needed to be proven with a police report. All this was provided with the original documents given the first time and now they have rejected it because a) my brother is not present in the UK and b) he doesn't intend to settle with his wife permanently in the UK.

Does anyone have any advice on what can be done to address this issue rather than going through the whole appeals process? Especially as the visa was granted anyway and their own guidance (ECB 17.2) also states a fresh application doesn't need to be made.

Help please!!

If this is the case (which UKVI wouldn't have known when said loss was reported) then what is there to appeal?

a) my brother is not present in the UK and b) he doesn't intend to settle with his wife permanently in the UK

Everything was explained to them in the application form and a covering letter (which, incidentally wasn't returned alongside all the other documents when refusal notice was given)

Can ECOs ignore their own guidelines?

I have got a feeling that the rejection may be on other grounds.

How long has your sister-in-law had the ILR? How long has she been out of the UK? On what basis did your sister-in-law get her ILR?

ILR can be cancelled by the ECO at the consulate/IO at the airport if it appears to them that the ILR holder is not "settled in the UK", i.e. that the "center of their life" is outside the UK (I am borrowing language from the EEA Regulations and the Surinder Singh Route, but it demonstrates clearly what is expected of an ILR holder). I have a feeling that the ILR got cancelled because your sister-in-law stayed outside the UK for a while.

Inazay wrote:We were advised by UKVI call centre

ECOs can, but rarely do, ignore guidelines (the clue is in the name). But more to the point, experience on these forums has shown that advice from the Home Office/UKBA call centres is not worth "a bucket of warm spit" (a quote attributed to John Nance Garner, US Vice-President).

What's the point in paying £1.37/minute if they don't know what they're talking about?

With regards to the replacement, they have treated it as a brand new application. She got her visa in February and my brother went in March to bring her back. Unfortunately family deaths x2 delayed plans to return and then to top it off her passport was lost en route to the ticket office. It's been a total disaster.

They have refused because they don't believe that the relationship is genuine because my brother was still there when she sent the VAF for replacement. The whole thing is, to me, farcical because if they weren't in a genuine, subsisting relationship, why would he be there? Also, we wrote a covering letter explaining everything and that seems to be totally ignored and then wasn't even returned with the rest of the documents.

What are the chances of getting an ECM to review and overturn the decision if we send documents proving the circumstances?

Inazay wrote:What are the chances of getting an ECM to review and overturn the decision if we send documents proving the circumstances?

This is surely still the sticking point - why is wife going to 'settle' in UK if husband is not

a) my brother is not present in the UK and b) he doesn't intend to settle with his wife permanently in the UK

The ECO made that assumption because my brother ended up delaying his own departure so that he could bring his wife back. It's all conjecture on the part of the ECO. He came back to the UK before the decision was made because of the delays in processing the replacement (which ended up taking as long as a new application)

My brother is absolutely not settled there. He was present there at the time of application for replacement - this is what seems to be the objection from them. From the fact he was present they extrapolated that he is now settled there even though he wasn't.

We are not much closer to understanding the precise details of the status of your brother's family.

You mentioned that your sister-in-law has ILR. What is your brother's current UK visa status?

You mentioned a VAF form. There are quite a few VAF forms. Which form? And where was it submitted?

Inazay wrote:What's the point in paying £1.37/minute if they don't know what they're talking about?

Helping clear the UK budget deficit by part-funding the Home Office, I guess.

My brother is a UK citizen (born here). He got married and his wife was given a settlement visa on a spouse visa. He went there to bring her over and due to deaths his departure from there with his wife was delayed. Her passport was lost, she then had to apply for her replacement vignette in her new passport but rather than treating it as a replacement visa they went through the whole application process and questioned why she hadn't left the country sooner and particularly why she hadn't left on the date mentioned in her initial application form - despite everything being explained in the application form for settlement -> which we were told do to in order to obtain a replacement visa.

I hope that clarifies the situation.

It does.

So, if I may recapitulate, your brother (a UK citizen by birth) applied for and got a visa for his wife (who is currently in Pakistan) in February of this year. He went to fetch her in March this year. Family deaths prevented her from using the visa in the window specified and she also lost her passport. He application for a new vignette was treated as a new application and a VAF form was used.

From what I have summarised and surmised, your sister-in-law does not seem to have ILR but a "family of a settled person" visa, that would lead to settlement in five years time. Completely different kettle of fish and different rules apply.

If I am not mistaken, a spousal visa must be used within a specified time frame or else it expires and an application for a new one must be made. So far, so clear.

So now we only need to understand why her second application for the visa was refused when the first one succeeded.

Inazay wrote: a) my brother is not present in the UK and b) he doesn't intend to settle with his wife permanently in the UK.

Neither of these seem to be grounds for refusing the application. Did your brother provide proof of a subsisting marital relationship with his second application?

Yes, exactly. I'm afraid I don't know all the difference between the different types except she applied for and was given a settlement visa.

With regards to specified window - we were told that there wasn't one. My brother contacted his solicitor in the UK when the 1st death occurred to ask what the timeframe was for her to use the visa to enter the UK and we were told that there isn't one -> is this not correct?

With regards to documents, he submitted exactly what he submitted with the first application -> as per their specific instructions in an email that the UKVI received from the ISB office. He also stated clearly in the application form and the covering letter what had occurred which delayed my sister-in-laws entry into the UK. The whole thing just doesn't make sense to us and we are desperate to get this decision overturned at ECM review but the change in appeals (from arguing immigration rules to Human Rights) is clearly worrying for us because we don't want to have to wait 12-18 months before he get a hearing.

As he is self-employed its not a simple case of submitting a few extra pay slips and we don't want to have apply for a third time when the 1st application was successful and the exact same paperwork was submitted to be rejected on the second run.

Any ideas what the chances are of getting this overturned on ECM review?

Inazay wrote:Any ideas what the chances are of getting this overturned on ECM review?

Hi Inazay,
Did you get the visa for your sister in law at the end?

Thanks,