US wife denied entry - IAFT-2 form to be completed

[magnus911]

Hi everyone, lots of amazing information here but nothing that pertains exactly to our case so I'm hoping someone has some good input.

My wife is American, I'm British and self employed. We were living in London until a brief holiday after which she was denied entry back to the UK - this was in August last year. So, we moved to NY and she originally applied for her UK visa in September. It has just been refused, it looks mainly for financial reasons.

Here is the short version of the refusal letter which is accompanied by the IAFT-2 appeal form:

- your sponsor(me) is not exempt form the financial requirements.
- i sent most recent self assessment return for around 70k.
- they require proof of registration of self employment
- they require evidence of tax paid and unpaid last year
- they require statement of account
- they require UTR
- they require personal / business bank statements
- they require proof of ongoing self empoyment
- they require VAT certificate

Now, I suppose I can get my hands on some of that. Bank statements are difficult because they'll have to be originals and i'm not in the UK to receive them.

Question 1 : If I need an extension to get that all together, do we apply for that now, or do we just send the appeal in late and make sure to fill in the extension section?

Question 2 : We were hoping to avoid furnishing all the above because my wife in fact has savings. She has a trust and an IRA which amount to over $100k. They didn't say why they rejected this proof, but I assume it was because she just printed out internet statements. Should we be exempt from other financial requirements if she can get proper printed statements from her banks? Does an IRA qualify as savings toward financial means?

Thanks in advance, I know it's a brain dump.

[vinny]

or do we just send the appeal in late

Do not appeal late.

Note that

Please do not send any original documents to the tribunal.

If you are outside the United Kingdom:

Your appeal form must reach us within 28 calendar days from the day you received the notice of decision.

You should receive your notice of decision within 28 calendar days of the Home Office decision being made.

If your appeal does not reach us by the required date, you must explain why you were not able to submit it in time. The reasons will then be assessed to decide whether there are special circumstances that allow your appeal to proceed.

[magnus911]

Ok - because the section 3 for a late appeal is on the form itself. So do we fill in the late request because we're document gathering and then fill in a new form when we've got everything ready?

[vinny]

Do not appeal late.

If necessary, submit new evidence later.

[magnus911]

Ah - I see. Thanks.

Any thoughts on whether or not I'll need to supply everything they've detailed? Or whether or not her savings will be good enough? We have a letter from her contact at the bank to say she is over the threshold and has immediate access to funds (and always has had)

[magnus911]

Also, in the denial pack, we didn't receive any of the supporting documentation that we had originally sent, including our marriage certificate and some statements. Are they keeping those as they keep our application open? Or are we supposed to get new copies and resend them?

[vinny]

It's probably better to supply as much evidence as possible.

See also APL1.11 Processing appeal documents.