10 year ban... applying to spouse visa

[qwerty2k2]

My wife and I have a 9 year relationship. About 7 years ago, she was forced to get married to someone else by her family. 7 years later she got a divorce from her husband, however in that 7 years, I have been to India 2/3 time a years (stamps on my passport shows this) to she how she was doing etc. I have phone call records showing I had communications for a long period at least 2 years. In her previous marriage, she applied for her visa 3 time for student visa and got a band. However the section she has been ban under Paragraph 320(7b) states that if she marries a UK Citizen this ban no longer applies. She applied for a Visitor Visa prior to her student applications but due to inadequate financial requirement, she got rejected. I recently sponsored her sister and her husband to come to the UK, she got they got their visitors visa and left legally.

All this shows relationship with her family and therefore can not the seem as a sham marriage. I know that the initial application for a settlement visa will be rejected, however what are the chances of the appeal getting approved? What could I do to strengthen the application?

[reabs]

You have left out a lot of the stuff that is relevant to your application for a spouse visa such as when you got married, where, have you been living apart, why? Those are the finer aspects that illuminate how genuine the relationship is.

Telephone records are helpful but cannot on their own be used as proof of a genuine subsisting relationship. Also, the frequent visits add to the picture but aren't enough - like the telephone records they are not solid evidence. Put yourself in the shoes of the immigration officer looking at your file - would you think they were enough? I could for example say that these telephone calls were to discuss a business deal and probably with someone other than your wife...the visits could have been to inspect your new hotel rather than to be with your partner. But a photograph of you and your wife in a happy embrace cannot be misconstrued as anything else. Do you have other records - photographs, your marriage certificate (and her divorce cert), bank statements (if you are helping her financially which is always a plus), testimonials... any kind of paperwork that links you to her?

Think of it like a picture that has been cut up into several pieces. The more pieces you can show the immigration officer, the clearer the picture will be.

You are right in that many of those 10 year bans do not apply but again without a little bit more detail it is not possible to say it with absolute certainty. At the least, they will have an impact that needs to be countered.

The part I find quite shocking about your post is where you state that "the initial application for a settlement visa will be rejected"! Why would you spend so much money and not get what you want? The right attitude is to make sure that you get the visa first time - not after ten tries...after all, you would simply be giving them ammunition to reject successive applications. They are human after all and if they saw numerous half-hearted applications had been made in the past, they would think the present and future ones are going to be just as half-hearted and not even look at them closely. Rather than spend the money on wasted applications, why not engage an immigration lawyer to give you advice and guidance on making a single winning application?

[qwerty2k2]

Thank you for your response.

Let me fill in the details:

I met my wife over a decade ago.... we were going out for about a year and a half and then decided to tell my parents. They rejected the idea and hid passport. Soon after my parent went to India to confront the other side's parents and her dad being strict, decided to marry her off. As I couldn't fly to India and defend her. she thought I abanded her and she decided to marry this person (I was young and naive at the time, and thought she was doing it for my passport). As the year passed whilst still in communication, I learnt that she actually genuinely loved me. I went back to India to reassure her and have got photographic evidence in support of my trips and some of the hotel bills. She applied for visa get to away from her husband, however was rejected every time. About a year ago she managed to get a divorce and about 6 months ago I married her. Over the last 2 years, I sponsored her sister to come to the UK and when I went back there we all went on holiday, I have photographic evidence of this. My phone records show that I have been calling every day and recently over the last 3 months, I have internet communication records such as messages.

I felt that she will get rejected under the ground of Suitability requirements because of the ban.

Before going to a Lawyer, I wanted to know what chances are.

[Casa]

Just one question...under what category did you sponsor her sister? Friend?

[qwerty2k2]

Family friend as I wasn't married to my wife at the time.