home office made a mistake .......it is now causing problems

mine · Post by **mine** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:41 pm

before she became my wife , my wife applied for an extension to her 2 year visa
home office sent her a letter recipting her money and saying this would take 3 - 13 weeks for a decission to be reached

well we waited 13 weeks before phoning croydon and asking if there was any news.
in fact over the next 5 months we made 27 phone calls to croydon and wrote 5 letters in total .

in all phone calls we were told that the visa application was in a queue , these things take time , low priorities had been put back because of the london bombings etc etc , it was now with a case worker awaiting further consideration. eventually we got our local MP involved and they found out that the visa had been refused 8 months before ,3 weeks after the application had been lodged.. we never recieved this letter and the home office could not tell our MP if it had ever been sent

my wife made imediate arrangements to leave the country . and her passport was handed back to her at immigration control at heathrow airport.

despite numerous letters to the home office regarding this subject , we have yet to recieve a reply.
It has now caused a big problem with my new wifes current visa to come and live here as my wife from turkey...

the ECO is not believing our story , disregarding our letters to home office, and disregarding letters and communication from our MP . what do we do?

Post by **John** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:33 pm

before she became my wife , my wife applied for an extension to her 2 year visa

If that application was made before the marriage, what exactly was she applying for? And the marriage, that was in the UK? If so, she got a CoA? A Certificate of Approval to Marry? If the marriage was not in the UK, where?

The two-year visa you mention ... what sort of visa was that?

She is now back in Turkey .... is she now going to apply for a spouse visa there?

As regards the lack of letter, I think your MP needs to continue to press that this (or a copy of this) is issued as soon as possible. After all any applicant who is refused needs to be given written reasons for that refusal.

mine · Post by **mine** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:54 pm

firstly she was applying for a aupair visa extension ... which was wrong as sthey do not grant extensions.

we got married in turkey .....which does not require certificate of approval.

we did apply for spouse visa ...which has been refused.

Post by **John** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:00 pm

So following the marriage in Turkey she did what, returned to the UK on her au pair visa? Why did she not apply for a spouse visa in Turkey immediately following the marriage? If she had done that I suspect that she would not be facing the problems now.

So I am beginning to understand why the in-UK visa application has been refused ... but that does not excuse IND in not getting the refusal decision to you.

Surely the action now is to apply for a spouse visa in Turkey! Gather the required evidence together and get that application in on form VAF2.

mine · Post by **mine** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:01 pm

you are mistaken . my appologies if i mis led you
we did get married in turkey and applied in turkey straight away for spouse visa.
we got married on 19th november 2005 applied on 22 november 2005
she had interview in Istanbul on 8th febuarur 2006

she has not been back to uk since she left england on 23 october 2005

Post by **John** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:11 pm

Yes, I was confused!

So now we are told :-

she had interview in Istanbul on 8th February 2006

-: and you say that the application has been refused. Can you say the grounds for refusal? What does it actually say?

mine · Post by **mine** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:58 pm

grounds she is not satisfied each of the parties intends to live togethere as husband and wife.

she is saying she abused immigration controls and her visa .
and was 8 months ilegal in uk

she said that she did not believe we lived together ,,,,as we called eachother on the phone when we were living together .

she is also saying that because i am self employed that my accounts that have been submitted to inland revenue from my chartered accountant are not proof of income .

mine · Post by **mine** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:07 pm

all the documents were there
telephone records
pictures
maybe too much ...

even her opening paragraph ..
her statement reads
i am not satisfied that each of the parties intends to live pemantly as husband and wife.

and her last paragraph starts like this
i have considered your natural desire for you to join your husband

contadictory statment dont you think.

what ever happens the eco has refused it .. what do we do now.?

Post by **John** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:02 pm

I think you should ask for a review by the Manager of the Visa Section, pointing out the inconsistencies. And as regards the phone calls between the two of you, explain that .... you at work ... her at home?

As regards the fact that you are self-employed, you included copies of the last two Self Assessment returns as required? Those returns are of course signed by you, or if submitted electronically, authorised by you, prior to submission to the Revenue. The fact that such submission was done by your Accountant is irrelevant.

mine · Post by **mine** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:12 am

if they are saying she abused immigration and uk visa rules ...
if we prove she is not going to abuse them this time ..

do we have any chance of getting a visa

anthony

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:21 am

do we have any chance of getting a visa

Yes that is a possibility.

But would you like to answer the question about Tax Returns? Were copies of two returns included in the evidence?

mine · Post by **mine** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:45 am

mu accountant supplied 2 references stating he had known me for 16 years and the other stating that if my wife worked in the business with me
we could reduce the wages on our casual staff delivery drivers etc etc by aprox £8000 pa

we also supplied the last 2 years accounts ......

mine · Post by **mine** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:49 am

forgot to mention that the eco said my bank statements show regular overdrawn accounts

what small business does not operate on overdraft.

but she is wrong..........
i have 2 nat west accounts... both are credit only accounts and will not allow to go overdrawn .

i run a fruit and vegatable shop with some deliveries undertaken
the very nature of the business is cash business...we take cash, of which the vast majority of is spent in coventgarden fruit market, in cash

this is the way the trade has worked for years and years.. they do not take cheques in most of the market wholsalers.

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:52 am

So it looks like the answer to my specific question about Tax Returns being submitted with the evidence is ... no!

If so, why was that? Such an omission would not help.

mine · Post by **mine** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:18 am

i understand what you are saying john.
but this is a side issue
of them not believing that we intended to live together ..

in fact it is contradictory to what they are saying.

that she abused uk immigration , therefore they are not believing she does not intend to abuse immigration again...

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:34 am

i understand what you are saying john.
but this is a side issue

But it is an issue! They mentioned, you said, that the accounts were not approved by you .... they were merely submitted by the accountant.

Whereas tax returns are signed or authorised by you, and the SA103 Self Employment pages therein no doubt match the accounts. So lack of tax returns has caused you a problem.

No doubt you will ensure that you deal with that ASAP.

As already said, you should contact the Manager at the Visa Section. If the Manager will not budge, an appeal will be needed.

mine · Post by **mine** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:18 pm

latest tax returns are on the way..
now should i wait for all information and documents to come that i need before asking the eco to re look at this application , or should i send information as i get it

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:00 pm

Given the limited time you have available I would say ... try to contact the Manager now ... and then you can say that the Tax Returns are on their way.

It seems to me that the main point is that the ECO clearly did not look at the evidence from the MP's office etc etc before determining the application. Actually getting that evidence looked at can only help your situation.

mine · Post by **mine** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:33 pm

can you please give me some advice on how to write a decent sensible letter to the ECo

Jeff Albright · Post by **Jeff Albright** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:15 am

mine wrote:can you please give me some advice on how to write a decent sensible letter to the ECo

It is rather unlikely that someone will be able to help you on this... This is your own job and you have to think of how to get it done in the best way yourself.
I have a feeling that if you are unable to present your comments in the concise and persuasive way in writing you will have the difficulty of presenting yourselves confidently to the ECO/ECM at the interview. If you do not have enough confidence in what you are doing the ECO will pick on that immediately and will believe that you are trying to lie to them. If that was the case, it could well have been one of the reasons for the refusal of your previous application.

mine · Post by **mine** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:01 pm

my wifes credibility has been damaged at the interview in istanbul ..
i was not present , so i am not 100 per cent sure what was or was not said.

both our mp and an immigration lawyer feel that this is going to be our major obstical in restoring her credibility with the eco or at appeal ....

any bright suggestions?

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:33 am

my wife's credibility has been damaged at the interview in Istanbul

Do you know how it was damaged? Damaged in what way? What do you suspect happened at the interview?

mine · Post by **mine** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:42 pm

got the interview notes back today........
actually the damages is not as bad as we first feared.

but the fact is she was here in the uk on au pair visa , and working in a restaurant.

she applied for extension to her au pair visa.
so she could continue to work in the restauarant.

she did tell the ECO in istanbul this
basically she did everything wrong that she could do ..
she worked for a turkish family
she did not study english
she was over the age of 27

she maintains she did not know they were not giving extension to aupair visa , but she does admit and did tell the eco she knew she should not have been working in the restauarant.

the eco still did not look at the evidence to show we had been living together

came up with her interpretation of the facts (i can understand where she got them from )

Immigrationboards.com: Immigration, work visa and work permit discussion board

home office made a mistake .......it is now causing problems

home office made a mistake .......it is now causing problems