Spouse Visa Refused - Need Advice

Hi, I got married in November 2009 and my gusband applied for a spouse visa on 4th December 09.... 2 weeks ago he got the letter stating the visa had been refused due to our marriage not being valid. The reason they have given is because both our Urdu and translated marriage certificates state 'Nikah Khawan' instead of Nikah Naama. I read an article whereby numerous refusals have happened due to this reason... its a misunderstanding because the Nikah Khawan only recently started to get used even though the law to start using them was passed a long time ago. No other reason has been given for refusal. My husband appealed straight away, he was told he will get an answer within 3 months as the visa has been refused on a misunderstanding. I am really distraught and upset. I have read stories of appeals taking years!!!

sajda wrote:Hi, I got married in November 2009 and my gusband applied for a spouse visa on 4th December 09.... 2 weeks ago he got the letter stating the visa had been refused due to our marriage not being valid. The reason they have given is because both our Urdu and translated marriage certificates state 'Nikah Khawan' instead of Nikah Naama. I read an article whereby numerous refusals have happened due to this reason... its a misunderstanding because the Nikah Khawan only recently started to get used even though the law to start using them was passed a long time ago. No other reason has been given for refusal. My husband appealed straight away, he was told he will get an answer within 3 months as the visa has been refused on a misunderstanding. I am really distraught and upset. I have read stories of appeals taking years!!!

See Article below: This is what has happened in my case, it's just another excuse for refusal, On the day my spouse went to collect his letter, there were 49 other people they were all refused for the same reason. However, I have heard that applications made after 31st December are no longer being refused due to this reason.

British High Commission in Islamabad has recently started refusing applicants with proper marriage certificates issued in the AJK on the basis that these certificates do not prove that a valid marriage has been contracted. He wrote that a proclamation was made in May 1988 to amend the form of marriage certificate issued in the AJK to a ‘Nikah Khawan’ but this change was not actually implemented until recently and our clients and service users though they have contracted a valid marriage could not get visas for their spouses on technical misunderstanding of the law and procedural change at the hands of BHC.
The APL has requested Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson to clear the situation and asked for a legal opinion into the procedural changes taken place in AJK. It suggested that a circular be issued to remove the misunderstanding
The APL has also suggested since there is little information available in this regard, the British High Commission at Islamabad and other missions in the country and abroad must inform the applicants about changes in the application forms so that their visa applications for spouses won’t be refused.