Fiance (China) Visitors Visa Declined

[Tenacious_Lee_]

Hi,

My Fiancé and I have just received notice that her application to enter the country on a 5 month visa to get married has been declined based on issues with the "application, additional relevant information supporting the application and immigration history" which I will detail below. There was no right to appeal or to administrative review granted.

Details of the refusal letter:

" I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of 4.2, of Appendix V: Immigration Rules for visitors because..."

1) The primary issue is that in her previous visa application (2013) she stated she had planned a 10 day trip. But she was granted a 6 month visa and as such decided to stay the 6 months. She did not overstay as the visa was still valid for several days after the date she returned to China. We didn’t explain this in the application, but am I correct in believing she is not at fault here?

2) There was some contradictory information regarding her place of employment in China during for her last application (2013) and where she said she was working in 2013 on this current application. I believe this is just a mistake on her part and can be corrected easily enough.

More of an issue is that we did not give proper evidence of her receiving payment from these employers at that time. She may have some bank statement, pay slips etc. to rectify this, but given this was 2013 and she is not going to be using this money to support herself in the UK for this application I don't really understand the justification of this. I assume in combination with 1) this looks worse than it is and they state "'in light of the discrepancy... I am not convinced you are a genuine visitor and will leave the UK at the end of your visit. Your application for a visit has been refused under paragraph V4.2(a) and (c).

3) They later state that "The submitted bank documents of your circumstance in China and in support of your claim to having funds in place for this visit... do not provide evidence as to original of the funds again... Given that you have stated you intend to stay ibn the UK for 10days I am not satisfied you have sufficient funds in place to cover your cost without working or accessing public funds... refused under paragraph V4.2(e)

Again I believe we just need to provide better supporting documents. But what they have said is contradictory; they have earlier acknowledged we have applied for a 5 month visa but now state she is only visiting for 10 days. I believe she provided all of my bank details along with her own and stated she would be staying with me and my family so effectively has no issue of supporting herself. Besides in anticipation of her applying to settle for 4 years after getting married we already meet the requirements for that visa (18,600 GBP p.a., salary subsidised by savings.) I can only assume the problem must be in the supporting documentation of her employment or that she did not in fact explicitly state she had, and will be using my money to help support herself on the past and present visa.

Based on this information what do you think our chances of success are if we were to reapply? Generally I’ve seen it recommended that a new application is preferable to an appeal, but regardless is there a means of appealing them not allowing you to appeal… Finally any other advice general or specific to our case would be greatly appreciated.

Thank in advance,
Lee

[Casa]

Can you clarify a couple of important points which aren't clear from your post?
1. Did your fiancee apply for a Marriage Visit visa or a ordinary visitor visa?
2. Did she intend to leave the UK after the wedding?

By the way the route to permanent settlement isn't 4 years, it's now 5 with visas issued in two stages of 2.5 + 2.5 years.

[Tenacious_Lee_]

Can you clarify a couple of important points which aren't clear from your post?
1. Did your fiancee apply for a Marriage Visit visa or a ordinary visitor visa?
2. Did she intend to leave the UK after the wedding?

By the way the route to permanent settlement isn't 4 years, it's now 5 with visas issued in two stages of 2.5 + 2.5 years.

1. Pretty sure for marriage visit. I would guess they would have stated if we had applied for the wrong visa. But I better double check that to be sure.

2. Yes, we explicitly specifically stated she would be going back to China as she would need to help arrange our second ceremony in China the following year.

Oh, thanks for that latter point. I wasn't aware.