HELP! Visitor Visa additional explanation request by BOSS

Hello everyone, I need some advice for friend on his visitor visa.

March 2019 - He applied for a visitor visa, which was refused stating that he wont go back.

August 2019 - He reapplied as he was attending PLAB 1 exam by Nov 07, 2019. In the application we stated that he will be returning back on 08th, Nov,2019, but we booked the tickets for 1, May 2020 to keep it open as this exam was tough so thought he could rebook again and make another attempt. So we got the visa from 2 Nov 2019 - 1 May 2020


Dec 12, 2019. As expected he didn't clear his exam as the exam was tough, So booked for three different slot in India on June and March,2020. At a later date, they all got cancelled. Since Covid happened, his flights were cancelled as well.

14-05-2020 - We booked for his exam in London on 25-June-2020.
After a couple of automatic covid visa extensions and flight cancellations, he returned back to India on July 2020.

Now he applied for visa again for PLAB 2 exam on August 2021 and he got this response from Visa team. Can any one help how to respond to the team?

This refers to your application for entry clearance to the United Kingdom. In order to process your application further, you are requested to reply with answers to the following question:

You were previously issued a visa in November 2019 to undertake a PLAB test. On that application you stated that you would be in the UK from 3rd to 8th November 2019.

You have stated within this application that you overstayed your previous visa due to Covid. You have also stated that your return flight was initially booked for 01/05/2020. Please could you state why your return flight was booked for 01/05/2020 when you stated you would be in the UK for one week in November to undertake a PLAB test. Could you also state what you were doing in the UK between November 2019 and May 2020 and why you did not declare this on your previous application form.

Can any one suggest how to respond to this email?

pksjkd wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:01 pm

Hello everyone, I need some advice for friend on his visitor visa.

March 2019 - He applied for a visitor visa, which was refused stating that he wont go back.

August 2019 - He reapplied as he was attending PLAB 1 exam by Nov 07, 2019. In the application we stated that he will be returning back on 08th, Nov,2019, but we booked the tickets for 1, May 2020 to keep it open as this exam was tough so thought he could rebook again and make another attempt. So we got the visa from 2 Nov 2019 - 1 May 2020


Dec 12, 2019. As expected he didn't clear his exam as the exam was tough, So booked for three different slot in India on June and March,2020. At a later date, they all got cancelled. Since Covid happened, his flights were cancelled as well.

14-05-2020 - We booked for his exam in London on 25-June-2020.
After a couple of automatic covid visa extensions and flight cancellations, he returned back to India on July 2020.

Now he applied for visa again for PLAB 2 exam on August 2021 and he got this response from Visa team. Can any one help how to respond to the team?

This refers to your application for entry clearance to the United Kingdom. In order to process your application further, you are requested to reply with answers to the following question:

You were previously issued a visa in November 2019 to undertake a PLAB test. On that application you stated that you would be in the UK from 3rd to 8th November 2019.

You have stated within this application that you overstayed your previous visa due to Covid. You have also stated that your return flight was initially booked for 01/05/2020. Please could you state why your return flight was booked for 01/05/2020 when you stated you would be in the UK for one week in November to undertake a PLAB test. Could you also state what you were doing in the UK between November 2019 and May 2020 and why you did not declare this on your previous application form.

Can any one suggest how to respond to this email?

He is in a tricky situation.

Staying significantly longer than stated on the visa application is never a good idea and subsequent visit visas have been refused for that reason, there are examples on the forum.

One huge problem is, that he stated that he would fly out the day after his exam. You say, he booked his ticked for the last day of his visit visa to see whether he had passed or not. I don't remember how long it takes to get PLAB results from when my sister-in-law took the exams but it was several weeks, right?

So, booking the ticket for the very end of validity of the visit visa shows that he never had the intention of flying out right after his test, as he would not have gotten instant results.

It would have been a lot smarter to state that he would fly out x weeks after the exam to wait for results and possibly resit the exam, if needed and book the flight accordingly, then any Covid-related or other delays would have been explainable as just that.

What did he do all these months? How did he sustain himself? HO is probably thinking he might have worked illegally.

Now he has a visit visa refusal and something that could be interpreted as false representation on his record. I think it will be difficult for him to get another visit visa.

It's a real shame. PLAB 1 is available outside the UK. I don't quite understand why anyone would spend all that money to sit the exam abroad. He may or may not have squandered his chance to get to do PLAB 2 now.