Visa Refusal

I received a REFUSAL OF ENTRY CLEARANCE yesterday and would be most appreciative of any help I could get.

Perhaps you did not give sufficient information in the application? I wonder what makes me think this?

I applied for a fiancee visa. In the refusal letter they stated I had applied as a civil partner.
"The Decision
Paragraph 290(i) requires that you are seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom to marry a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement. You have stated that you entered into a relationship with your sponsor in June of 2009 and that you met for the first time on 27/4/10. You have also declared that you have only met your sponsor once and the the last time you saw him was on 11/05/10 in the UK. As evidence of your relationship you have provided 2 photographs , a handwritten letter of support from your sponsor, an email print out (from your sponsor), original phone records and Skype logs dating for June 2011-October 2011. However, the only evidence you have provided of your proposed marriage is a picture of a ring on your finger which does not demonstrate that you have made any arrangements toward your marriage in the UK. In view of this, and based on the evidence available, I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraphs 290 (i) of the immigration rules.

Paragraph 290 (iv) requires that you have adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse of public funds and that it will be available for you until the date of the marriage or civil partnership. In addition, Paragraph 290 (vi) requires that both you and your sponsor will be able after the civil partnership to maintain yourselves adequately without recourse to public funds. You have stated that you will reside with your sponsor at his property in ........ and have provided your sponsor's deed of sale for this property to support this claim. In view of this, I am satisfied that you have provided adequate evidence of your proposed accommodation. In addition, you have declared that your sponsor is currently unemployed and your sponsor has confirmed this fact in his support letter. To demonstrate your sponsor's financial circumstances you have provided his ..... bank statements and a recent ....ATM receipt. However, the latest bank statement is dated from 21/11/11 and is over 4 months old from the date you made your application. I am therfore not satisfied that this document is an accurate depiction of your sponsor's current financial circumstances. I have also considered the ATM receipt from ..... However, this document does not cite an account holder on it and I am therefore not satisfied that these funds belong to your sponsor as claimed. I would also note that had this documention been considered that the remaining balance cited it £936.09 which does not serve as adequate funds to maintain bothe you and your sponor in the UK. In view of this I am not satisfied that you have met the requirements of paragraphs 290 (iv) and (vi) of the immigration rules."

I am curious if anyone knows anything about the oral hearing appeals. I admit that the bank statements were out of date but the ATM receipt could be matched up with the current bank account and to make it sound like the money was not my fiance's was not appropriate.

I am also curious as to how anyone else reads the first paragraph of the decision as my fiance reads it differently than I do. In my opinion, it is not doubting our relationship, just the fact that we haven't made definate plans for the wedding in the UK. Where as, he reads it as that they doubt that our relationship is genuine.

As stated before, any and all help is appreciated.

Atm receipts are not adequate evidence of finances as they only show the balance on a particular day and also do not usually have the account number or name of account holder. Regardless of the assertion t of the eco that the funds may not be your fiances more concerning is the amount of funds in the account which are arguably insufficient given that your fiance is unemployed and you will not be able to work in the UK until after you have married and been granted leave to remain as a spouse. Does your fiance have any other funds other than this £900?

Regarding the relationship on first read the focus appears to be lack of evidence that you plan to marry however in mentioning the fact you have only met once and saw him last almost 2 years ago they also appear to be question whether your relationship is genuine so you have would need to address this in any subsequent application or appeal.

They were given the statements for 3 different accounts - 2 accounts
where the money has sat for years (around £10,000), and 1 current account, that £137.35 is put into each week. Including the ATM receipt was a last minute thought of my fiance's as he thought they would link the last 4 numbers of the account that are printed on the receipt, to the bank statements for his current account.
As for the validity of our relationship, yes we have only physically met once - for 2 weeks. Commitments that we each have have not made it easy to be together in person. We talk on MSN Live Messenger for hours a days (6-8 minimum). For the application I sent a sampling of those conversations - as not to bury the officer with mounds of paper. My fiance does not like having his picture taken so I sent what I could in the form of pictures. I sent numerous phone call billings as well.

So, I guess my questions are thus: how do we insure that we are successful at appeal and what is an oral appeal actually like, as my fiance would be the one attending and is a solicator necessary for an appeal?

So no one has been to an oral appeal? Or has any advice on what to submit other than current bank statements?

womanhandy wrote:So no one has been to an oral appeal? Or has any advice on what to submit other than current bank statements?

You perhaps need to be a little patient.
It would appear from what you have said you submitted and what was considered is a little at odds . Did you really show that amount of savings and still held?
As previously said meeting once for 2 weeks 2 years ago is quite weak in terms of a relationship . Given the funds held why have you not met since this date ? Not liking his picture taken is quite weak too really . You have not said but I assume not an arranged marriage, so you will need to show that there is a genuine ongoing relationship .

Perhaps you are not aware of the 28 days to file for an appeal. As for the amount of money it is how I said it was - in 3 different bank accounts- 2 have been sitting for years, and the 1 current account that the ATM receipt was for. In fact, 1 of the accounts was a copy of the bankbook is question, that has not been updated since 2006, so there is actually interest due to that account in particular.
As for my relationship, we have met once in person but do communicate daily for hours at a time. Work commitments limit the amount of time that I can take off as do my home commitments to my daughter, who is turning 18 in a few months.
Also considering the fact that both my partner and myself are above the age of 37 - no it is not an arranged marriage.
I stated what the ECO officer wrote in the letter of decision, the officer in question looked at the statements and dismissed them completely regardless of the fact that they were certified copied stamped and signed by a solicator.

Furthermore, the officer stated I had applied for a proposed civil partner visa which was NOT the case as my fiance is male and I am female, as it also stated on the application.

Hi Womenhandy, hope I can help, I am no expert and I cannot answer all of your questions, but from my experience with UKBA for over the past one year and reading alot of forums and applying twice now, Ive picked a few things. Anyway, your ECO wrote this:

However, the only evidence you have provided of your proposed marriage is a picture of a ring on your finger which does not demonstrate that you have made any arrangements toward your marriage in the UK. In view of this, and based on the evidence available, I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraphs 290 (i) of the immigration rules.


When you are applying as a fiancee, it is helpful to submit documents to show you are actually planning a wedding, so perhaps reciept for the engagement ring, proposed venue, wedding dates, things that you have started to discuss with vendors, so emails with vendors as I understand you cant book yet, do you have engagement cards sent to you guys? Basically you have to show that you are actually intended to get married. I hope that helps.

It is a pain as unless you read and speak to people you never what to apply from just going along with their checklist on their website.

Good luck and stay calm!

womanhandy wrote:I applied for a fiancee visa. In the refusal letter they stated I had applied as a civil partner.
"The Decision
Paragraph 290(i) requires that you are seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom to marry a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement. You have stated that you entered into a relationship with your sponsor in June of 2009 and that you met for the first time on 27/4/10. You have also declared that you have only met your sponsor once and the the last time you saw him was on 11/05/10 in the UK. As evidence of your relationship you have provided 2 photographs , a handwritten letter of support from your sponsor, an email print out (from your sponsor), original phone records and Skype logs dating for June 2011-October 2011. However, the only evidence you have provided of your proposed marriage is a picture of a ring on your finger which does not demonstrate that you have made any arrangements toward your marriage in the UK. In view of this, and based on the evidence available, I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraphs 290 (i) of the immigration rules.

Paragraph 290 (iv) requires that you have adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse of public funds and that it will be available for you until the date of the marriage or civil partnership. In addition, Paragraph 290 (vi) requires that both you and your sponsor will be able after the civil partnership to maintain yourselves adequately without recourse to public funds. You have stated that you will reside with your sponsor at his property in ........ and have provided your sponsor's deed of sale for this property to support this claim. In view of this, I am satisfied that you have provided adequate evidence of your proposed accommodation. In addition, you have declared that your sponsor is currently unemployed and your sponsor has confirmed this fact in his support letter. To demonstrate your sponsor's financial circumstances you have provided his ..... bank statements and a recent ....ATM receipt. However, the latest bank statement is dated from 21/11/11 and is over 4 months old from the date you made your application. I am therfore not satisfied that this document is an accurate depiction of your sponsor's current financial circumstances. I have also considered the ATM receipt from ..... However, this document does not cite an account holder on it and I am therefore not satisfied that these funds belong to your sponsor as claimed. I would also note that had this documention been considered that the remaining balance cited it £936.09 which does not serve as adequate funds to maintain bothe you and your sponor in the UK. In view of this I am not satisfied that you have met the requirements of paragraphs 290 (iv) and (vi) of the immigration rules."

I am curious if anyone knows anything about the oral hearing appeals. I admit that the bank statements were out of date but the ATM receipt could be matched up with the current bank account and to make it sound like the money was not my fiance's was not appropriate.

I am also curious as to how anyone else reads the first paragraph of the decision as my fiance reads it differently than I do. In my opinion, it is not doubting our relationship, just the fact that we haven't made definite plans for the wedding in the UK. Where as, he reads it as that they doubt that our relationship is genuine.
As stated before, any and all help is appreciated.

I think it means both. I think they are doubting both your relationship and the fact that you have made no plans to show that you indeed will carry out the marriage in the UK.

You say your relationship began in 2009 but did not meet your fiance till 4/10 for first time and then the last time you saw him was some 2 weeks later and nothing since then.

I don't know what documents you presented to show that your relationship was indeed genuine, but whatever it was it appears its not enough. The fact you have presented little evidence as to the arrangements someone in your situation would make, has probally made the ECO wonder whether this whole thing is indded genuine.According to his decision its obviously not.

You need to do what some of the posters have suggested and provide further evidence in your appeal notice that your relationship is indeed genuine and long lasting

Thanks to those who have offered advice. The finanical part isn't the part concerning me, but I think I may have the other figured out to now. But am willing to listen to other opinions as well.