FLR M refused for a stupid reason i.e. caseworker's misinterpretation

Sorry to ask about this,

I feel quite stupid now for not keeping a good record. So long story short, I have all documents for cohabitation evidence for 1 year and 2 mo. However, we were living a different address 2 years ago (2016-2018), and the landlord is only able to provide us with a written letter to confirm we lived there for 2 years. Our landlord has deleted all of our tenancy stuff from their database...We didn't have much correspondence from that address since our bills were covered and my partner apparently has already threw his correspondence away since they were all spams.

So my question is, would we be alright provide 5 joint evidence for 1 year and only that letter for the other 2 years.

It is our first unmarried partner visa btw and many thanks for the help!

What is your current UK immigration status?

For an unmarried partner visa, the 2 years evidence of 'living in a relationship akin to marriage' is mandatory and there is no discretion on this.

Any bank statements, payslips, P45 or P60, HMRC letters, NHS letters for that period etc etc??

Anything that might have online statements or have been sent by email with the old address on it (bank statements, mobile phone bills, TV licence etc.)? Perhaps it might be possible to request copies of old correspondence from an official source like a GP's office. What you have might be accepted, but 10 months is a big gap, especially for an unmarried partner visa where living together for at least 2 years is a critical requirement to provide evidence for.

Hi CR001 and geoeng,

Thanks for both of your inputs! I completely got it! So my case is I had a a Tier 4 ending this January. Me and my partner were both students and we just graduated. I will give my partner's insurance company and GP a ring tomorrow see if they can do anything.

So today after several talk with my uni landlord and the accommodation department and they gave me a statement showing our accommodation payment history. It does mention that we were both paying for one address every term (every 6 month ish) in the past 2 years. So:
1) would that be something worth including?
2) the uni addressed us in the header with our home country address, but the history showing we been paying to that flat we lived in, so would that be a problem?
3) Their system is very buggy---they put my partner's middle name as "false"

So based on these info, would it count as an evidence, if it would, for how long?

And if it doesn't count, what other options do we have?

Many thanks for your valuable inputs!

With limited evidence available, I imagine anything you can get to show you lived together is worth including. Not much you can do except gather everything you can. There isn't really a set number of things you have to provide for evidence of living together in a relationship akin to marriage, it's left to you to prove meeting the requirement however you can. The evidence of cohabitation (6 pieces of jointly addressed correspondence) is a different requirement for further leave to remain that I believe is intended to apply to those already in the UK on a visa as a partner rather than those applying under this category for the first time (paragraph E-LTRP.1.10. of Appendix FM). In your case any correspondence is quite helpful for meeting the relationship requirement though.

geoeng wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:28 am

With limited evidence available, I imagine anything you can get to show you lived together is worth including. Not much you can do except gather everything you can. There isn't really a set number of things you have to provide for evidence of living together in a relationship akin to marriage, it's left to you to prove meeting the requirement however you can. The evidence of cohabitation (6 pieces of jointly addressed correspondence) is a different requirement for further leave to remain that I believe is intended to apply to those already in the UK on a visa as a partner rather than those applying under this category for the first time (paragraph E-LTRP.1.10. of Appendix FM). In your case any correspondence is quite helpful for meeting the relationship requirement though.

Thanks geoeng for the helpful information!

Sorry guys,

Another silly question. So I have some bank stuff partially in English, I got UKVI in my home country to translate them for me. So when I received the translation, it is only rubber-stamped with "UK Visa Application Centre" . The translator did not even bother leaving his/her real name and full date, and also the translator did not certify the copy.

So can I use this when applying in the UK? Many thanks guys!

Hi there,

I applied a super priority service in a premium centre this week and received a refusal, saying my application and human right claim is refused. I will skip the details.

So in my refusal letter, it said I have a genuine relationship but they refused me on financial ground because of their own fault. I have a deposit account with £62,500 in for more than 1 year. My money is in a bank in my home country. I give them the bank letter, deposit certificate, deposit slip copies and 7 mo statement. However, my country's bank statement is only able to show money converted my home-country currency due to their computerised system. And that's the reason I am refused, as they misinterpreted my bank statement.

In footnotes under the monthly statement, they clearly stated that they have weighted-average system to calculate their own conversion rate, but the caseworker did not even bother to read! It is not rocket science to figure out pound to my currency i.e. RMB rate fluctuates every day and you cannot take today's rate to convert everything. I attached an explanation and my bank confirmed the required amount in my bank has not been touched... they did not even bother to look and verify!

They say I am short of money because they use oanda's rate on the decision date to decide the minimum amount I hold in the past 7 month, rather than the rates given by the bank itself/oanda rate on that month. And as pound has been increasing these days, they say I am short of money. If they use oanda's rate from each of the pass 7 month when the statement was issued, they will realise the money is £62,500. It doesn't take an economist to figure out how ridiculous their argument is! Because it is £62,500 in POUND deposited in the bank in the first place.

Please, experts I need your advice:

----1. So I assume to appeal I just need to send them a new statement in £ and an explanation from my bank about the conversion rate. But as I check the appeal category, there is no category for appeal for refused decision. So what shall I do?

-------2. What are the chances of successful appeal and how long do you need to wait for a decision? I heard people wait for ages and no reply... so would reapply be better decision? I know it is time-wise vs money-wise.

------ 3. The refusal letter did not mention administrative review, so is that a "No" for getting admin review?

-------4. I heard they dealt with paper appeal faster than oral appeal, is it true?

------ 5. I think the misunderstood financial information is the only reason they refused me, I think I can appeal on my own, but would having a legal adviser be better as I am not sure if they will refuse me on further grounds they did not claim in the refusal letter. So how much will it cost to hire one?

-------6. If I reapply and in other further visa applications to other countries, should this refusal be declared? Is there any negative consequences to declare it?


----------some extra rants----------------------------
Sheffield staff only picked up my application slightly before 18:00 after I submitted my fingerprints in the morning, when I received their email for more documents they are already out of office.They made the timing extremely difficult to asking for documents in a different time zone. When I replied their email and tell them I have what they asked for before, they asked for more documents and said it must be submitted before the same deadline or otherwise they cannot process it. Called them again and again, no human answered! and they finally replied me when I have less than 3 hours to chase extra documents from a different timezone where everyone was already asleep. They asked for a lot of unnecessary/inapplicable documents. When they received them, they did not read them in detail and ignored all other documents and explanations we sent.I heard these people are horrible and indeed they are! It is a wonder they can even have a job!

Please give me any advice on how to deal with this? Shall I appeal or reapply? Any chance for admin review? I will keep people updated and wish everyone in the same boat good luck. Many thanks! And please excuse my long rants!

Are you saying the caseworker ignored:

3.5.1. Income or cash savings in a foreign currency will be converted to pounds sterling (£) using the closing spot exchange rate which appears on www.oanda.comon the date of application. Where there is income or cash savings in different foreign currencies, each will be converted into pounds sterling (£) before being added together, and then added to any UK income or savings, to give a total amount. Any fluctuation in the exchange rate prior to the date of application will be disregarded: the decision-maker will base the conversion of the foreign currency income or cash savings into sterling on the exchange rate as at the date of application.

If so, ask for a reconsideration. If not, you will need to apply again when this condition is met.

The thing is, unless held in a sterling account, it was not always the exact same amount when converted into GBP.