Hello there. So, a bit of background information. I am British citizen (born in England) and met my Canadian wife in England, who was already living here on a Tier 2 work visa. She is no longer sponsored as we both took a short break from employment to marry. We then applied for a spouse visa and here is what has happened so far;
06/09/2019 - We applied for a spouse/family visa for my wife (from within UK) and paid an additional £800 for next day priority service.
11/09/2019 - The visa was refused. We were going by cash savings and had failed to show we had £62,500 in savings for over the period of the last 6 months prior to application (Our mistake as we did not realise that this was the required figure). I had only shown £59000. Therefore under paragraph R-LTRP.1.1.(d)(ii) we did not meet eligibility immigration status requirement paragraphs E-LTRP.4.1. to 4.2.
We accept we did not show that we meet the financial criteria. However, I do have savings which meet the required financial criteria of £62,500 over a period of 6 months.
15/09/2019 - We appeal to the first-tier tribunal online (Papers only, no oral hearing). We submit 14 bank statements, 8 statements for 3 bank accounts belonging to myself (with the required funds totalling over £62,500 for over 6 months prior) and 6 of my wife’s bank account (with £4000+, as additional support). I clearly state in the appeal that we do meet the required financial criteria. This is all the information we submit to the first-tier tribunal; it was done online and supporting documents sent in via email.
The appeal hearing date is given, 30/10/19 which is 6 weeks from the date we appealed. The first-tier tribunal request the visa application documents from the home office, as well as all supporting evidence from ourselves (which we had already submitted).
30/10/19 - The appeal date arrives. However, the judge has not received sufficient documents from the home office and cannot come to a decision. The first-tier tribunal request the documents from the home office again. We are told by the tribunal that the home office is given two weeks to supply this information, then the judge will look at the information at some point after that, no time frame given for this.
25/11/19 - Almost 4 weeks after the initial scheduled appeal date, the case is considered and dismissed.
We appealed on the grounds that we do meet the financial saving requirement, with proof of funds totalling over £67,500 across 4 bank accounts. The judge only acknowledged one of my bank accounts, specifying one account name with a balance of £50,000. The judge does acknowledge my wife’s account but does not comment on the figure.
This figure is almost £9000 less than what the home office recognised on the initial application.
The judge then proceeds “I find that neither the sponsors bank statements nor the HSBC bank statement of the appellant, show the required amount”.
The judge refers to the sponsor's statements (my statements) here as plural, more than one. The statement for the account they mentioned is an annual statement, there is only one. Evidently the judge is aware of more than one statement for the sponsor for this case. If the judge had opened one other statement from the sponsor, any one of the 8 supplied, the judge would have seen that we do meet the financial criteria.
The judge continued -“The appellant acknowledges in the grounds of the appeal that when she submitted the application, both she and her spouse misunderstood the documents required to support the application and the amount of funds required”. This is true. We also stated we do have the required funds and that we have attached correct documentation. The judge did not acknowledge this simple fact that we stated we had the funds in their response.
Bearing in mind the appeal was a short paragraph of text, and 14 bank statements sent as PDF files. It would take less then 5 minutes to go through all this information (after considering the initial refusal document).
I find the response to be absurd. At first, I was convinced this must have been done intentionally as I could not comprehend one could come to this conclusion. On closer inspection when I went back through the documents we sent in; I noticed the first attachment was the only statement the judge considered. Which leads me to believe the judge has simply glanced at the balance of one account and assumed all the statements are for the same account (even though as previously mentioned, this was an annual statement).
To recap, the judge;
- Ignored the fact I stated I had the funds.
- Didn’t look at all the evidence / bank statements submitted.
- Recognised a figure £9000 less than the home office did in the initial refusal.
Is this complete incompetence or is there something more to it?
I have appealed to the upper tribunal on 27/11/19 to review this decision. However, they will not give any sort of indication of a time frame. Each time we call, an advisor will tell us something different. The first advisor told me to write up an email to customer services explaining in detail what had happened and said that it would go back to the judge for them to reconsider (which turned out to be false).
The advisor we spoke with most recently said there was an average of 18 weeks waiting time for a judge to look at the case and decide whether the appeal will be accepted. The case then has to go to another judge to review and make a decision.
We have waited over 3 months now. My wife’s tier 2 visa expired on 7/11/19 and we are dependent on this spouse visa so that she can return to work. We have lost 4 months of earnings already and cannot wait about another potential 4 months to find out whether the appeal is accepted. We need to consider all options.
Can anyone advise on this situation? Is there anything more we can do? I returned to full time studying at a university in London in September due to a back injury. We are always together and we are trying to avoid having to re-apply from Canada as this would mean a long period apart due to my university commitment.
Secondly how would we go about making a complaint about the judge / tribunal service? And will complaining even get us anywhere?
The gov website complaints page states that “The Judicial Conduct Investigation Office do not accept complaints about a judge’s decision or the way a judge has managed a case.” Which I find confusing as I would essentially be complaining about the judge’s decision. Have I no right to complain about this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
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