Fiancee visa appeal process

[julnya]

Dear friends,

My Fiancée from Zimbabwe was yesterday refused her uk visa on the grounds that
1. Our relationship was not valid or proven
and
2. That i did not meet the financial requirements.

With regards to the first point, i have known my Fiancée since last June when she was in the UK for 5-6mths to visit her sister who was getting married. She was due to go back after 3mths, but i extended her flights to go back when her visa run out. I got to know her from my friends wedding and continued our relationship over the summer and was seeing her on a regular basis about 3 times per week until she had to go back last October. I have continued to communicate with her almost every day and thought that her visa application would go through.
In support of her application, we both included letters of how we got to know each other and why we loved each others company, also we had supporting letters from both sides of our family, one from my brother and on my fiancee side, from her sister and her husband. We also included photographs from the day that we met till the time that she departed at Heathrow airport and included dates with the photos which correlated to our letters that we had included in the visa application. I had thought that our application was pretty solid, but was devastated to find out that we had failed her visa application...We now only have 3 weeks in which to appeal and im wondering what the best course of action is for the appeal process.
Firstly we are going to now include all our facebook messages which started last june and that shows that we have had almost daily correspondance. Also, im seeking to get more supporting letters from my friends and family to back up our relationship.

With regards to point 2 and the financial requirements, i'm earning around £20k per year and to me it would seem that this is enough income to support my spouse. Whether immigration has just over looked this i dont know.

Now if anybody has any other ideas on what to include in the appeal process then i would be most grateful for there support, also, do people think in general that our relationship has been going on long enough for immigration to give my fiancee a visa, or is ours too short.
Looking forward to you replys, many thanks
julnya.

[Lucapooka]

With regards to point 2 and the financial requirements, i'm earning around £20k per year and to me it would seem that this is enough income to support my spouse. Whether immigration has just over looked this i dont know.

They will have told you exactly what was missing or at fault (in their estimation) in a letter that she will have received when her passport was returned. Without citing the exact text of the refusal notice, you can't really expect a solution from the members of this forum. We don't why you don't meet the financial requirements as we don't know what evidence you provided (evidence which is clearly defined in the immigration rules and guidance).

[julnya]

Thanks for the reply Lucapooka, im not exactly sure of the exact text for the first reason of the refusal as i cannot get back in contact with my fiancee this evening, but its along the lines off not being a valid relationship, but will post details tomorrow when i get back in contact with my fiancee.
Concerning my finances, i included wage slips, a P60 showing how much i had earned in the previous year and a letter from my employer stating that i had been in employment with them for the last 4 years. I thought that this would have been satisfactory details and would of expected this to be enough.
Thanks for you thoughts on this,
julnya

[julnya]

Sorry bud, i just re read what you said, and didnt see that you were just referring to point 2...ill let you know tomorrow when i'm able to get in contact with my fiancee. Thanks.

[ID29]

I'm not familiar with the appeal process but let me give you my thoughts anyway.

Firstly, owing to the situation in the applicant's country or because of past historic abuse by previous applicants certain countries are looked at rather more closely than others by the UKBA. I'm afraid Zimbabwe is likely to be one of those countries. That doesn't mean an application will fail, just that the application needs to be flawless. Secondly, the short time you have known your fiancée means you will have to do a little more to convince them that you are genuine than would otherwise be the case.

Incidentally, on the second point; I feel a brief visit by you to see your fiancée and family in Zimbabwe would have helped enormously here.

What you need to find is as much independent corroboration of your ongoing relationship as possible. Your internet and phone messages are helpful. But I'm not convinced yet more letters from family/friends will be so persuasive. Also what did the two of you do while she was here? Did you take any trips, stay in hotels, but jewellery or do anything that either produced a receipt, ticket or credit card statement? Did you have to travel to see your fiancée while in the UK? Any records of train/bus travel or petrol receipts/bank statement entries from her locality? What are your plans for the future? A place together, a wedding maybe? Did you check anything out and do you have evidence of this?

Concerning the financial requirement, you say you earn 'around' £20k a year. You don't sound sure? Were you able to supply ALL the evidence required to demonstrate your earnings? Payslips, bank statements (in the specified format and for the required period), letter from employer, employment contract? Are you absolutely sure they rejected you for financial reasons? Sometimes the refusal letter is worded in legalese and its easy to misunderstand the refusal reasons.

Hopefully some things for you to think about. Whatever you do, don't give up.

John

[julnya]

Hi ID29,
many thanks for your thoughts on this...i hadn’t realised that the UKBA looks more closely at certain countries than others and that Zimbabwe is likely to be one on those countries.

With regards to receipts for trips and that kind of thing....i had bought her an engagement ring and paid for her flights but im not sure whether we included many more receipts, i need to check with her on this. Also we have provisionally booked the registry office for wedding day, and had included documentation for this. Also we had taken a weeks holiday together at my sisters in blackpool and did the theme parks and amusements and the like, but didn’t at the time think to keep the receipts, but we did include photos of the trips out. Oh and another thing, im currently sending her money regularly via western union and im sure only a few of these receipts got included in the original visa application. As to taking a trip out to Zimbabwe, i guessing your right in that i should of gone out there and met the family and the like, but ive been focusing on trying to save money for the wedding as i feel this is going to drain alot of my resources.
Sorry for being abit vague as to how much i earned last year, but just checked my records and it was £23816 last year. Ill check with my fiancee tomorrow for the exact reasons for the refusal, but some of it doesn’t seem to add up at the moment...
Anyway, thanks again,
Cheers,
julnya

[ID29]

... i hadn’t realised that the UKBA looks more closely at certain countries than others...

Well officially they wouldn't use that as a justification for refusal but you'll see the same effect at the borders too. Its a shame but its also gotten tougher for everyone now too.

If you can find out the precise reasons for refusal we might be able to help more. Meanwhile think about those bits of evidence you may have missed. You don't need a lot or even anything impressive, just pieces from multiple sources that add to the overall picture.

[julnya]

Hi Friends,

I have spoken with my fiancée concerning her refusal of her fiancee visa, and have realised that with regards to the financial requirements, the last bank statements she received was dated in September and she submitted the documents in December...im therefore guessing that these documents were too late. Also ive now realised that i hadn’t included the front sheet of the bank statements which includes my name and address, and this info is not included in the subsequent sheets..note typically i bin the front sheet so that i have the statement running in order without having my details interrupting the account info. With this in mind, am i able to produce new information at the appeal in the form of additional bank statement information, i.e. the front pages and current bank statement.

Also in support of the Relationship requirements, would be able to include addtional info, e.g. facebook correspondance and western union reciepts to the appeal.

Many thanks for your help people
Kind regards
julnya.