Visitor visa sponsor supporting documents question.

[HappySunshine]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions about visitor visa sponsor supporting documents, if anyone has experience/ advice, it would be very much appreciated. First, a bit of context!

As I mentioned in another post, my boyfriend of just over two years was refused a visitor visa to the UK from Egypt for the first two weeks in October. The reason given was that despite evidence of hotel bookings, train tickets, theatre tickets, 5k spending money etc for the two week period, that because I as sponsor did not provide payslips and Egypt is in a current state of unrest, the ECO was not convinced that my boyfriend would return to Egypt at the end of his stay. I feel the thousand quid spent on theatre tickets/ train tickets etc and my boyfriend's 5k spending money met the requirements, along with his employer's letter of salary, holiday dates and confirmation of return but obviously not and we need to find out the best way forward.

I'm looking for confirmation on the sponsor's financial details documents for the next application if anyone can help?

We thought it best to wait to see if the situation in Egypt calms down and if not, at least we tried to be pragmatic about it and we are going to put another application in for a visitor visa at the start of April 2014 for the start of July 2014 and I am happy to provide payslips and bank statements for January, February and March, which will show around £4,100 net (approx, depending on commission) from earnings deposited into my bank account.

Are my original payslips for three months and original bank statements for three months enough for proof of income as a sponsor for a two week holiday visa? I don't really want to be asking for a letter from my employer for a two week holiday application and they will not look kindly upon it.

This time literally EVERYTHING will be pre-paid - flights booked, hotels booked and pre-paid, theatre tickets, Starbucks card loaded with enough to eat there three meals a day for two weeks, registered to my boyfriend, along with a Costa gift card and M&S gift and Oyster card loaded and included in the application - anything at all whilst over here except for buying souvenirs will be physically in the application with balances printed off on the day itself(also considering pre-paid Visa card but not sure yet), along with the cards so there is no way they could be used in the meantime.

My boyfriend will do the same again with his financial documents of payslips, letter from employer confirming salary and holiday etc. He will also provide signifcant reason to return to Egypt such as his rental agreement on his apartment and paying for both himself and his brother, who is mainly dependent on him whilst completing his studies.

If we provide all of the above as supporting documents, do I need to provide an employer's letter as well?

Any advice on things to include/ leave out would be great.

[Lucapooka]

It all boils down to the risk of his non-return. Hotels, Theatre, Starbucks, Costa, M&S, whatever; all of this is not relevant and it's crass to consider submitting such evidence to that extent. You can show your statements as evidence that you can fund his needs in the UK (if, indeed, he needs to draw on your money to fund the trip) but even if you were a millionaire it would not help embellish his own situation in his own country. You need to focus on his strong connections to Egypt and whatever evidence you can show of his social and economic ties that will motivate his return to that country rather than choosing to remain in the UK.

[HappySunshine]

Thanks for your response, although a simple answer of "yes/ no, three months of payslips and bank statements are/ aren't enough for you as sponsor for supporting financial documents" would have done.

My question was about the sponsor suporting documentation, regardless of importance of significant reason/ proof of return; I did make this clear in the title and provided context for ease of assessment.

Your advice regarding my financial situation/ provision of theatre tickets/ Starbucks cards being irrelevant is incorrect - in fact, insufficient evidence of my financial circumstances was cited as part of the reason for refusal.

The UKBA has a supporting documents for visitor visa section, in which it suggests but does not state required documents - all things such as the sponsor's financial documentation/ pay slips/ bank statements/ hotel bookings/ bookings for excursions/ trips etc and it was this that I was asking about - things you have said are not relevant.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... sitors.pdf

"Crass" applied to my effort to do everything I can to support my boyfriend's application is quite offensive, especially given that I am asking for advice from those who are supposedly better informed/ more experienced than I am. You have also not applied correct usage - the provisions are exactly in response to the refusal letter and guidelines on the UKBA site - far from "insensitive and/ or making assumptions".

Whilst I appreciate your "guru" status, I think anyone who feels it appropriate to use such emotive language in response to another person who is asking for help to learn how to best facilitate the person they love seeing their home country and trying to ensure that absolutely nothing can be held against the application is in poor taste and manners, not to mention incorrect advice with focus on return to home country - but as my question was about sponsor documentation, I didn't feel the need to go into significant detail on that.

You also did not answer the question that I asked - you gave advice on something that was a sidenote to my question. "Any advice..." does not mean ignore the question.

I hope my response does not appear rude or indignant, however the advice you gave did not answer the question that I asked, was incorrectly authoritarian in its generalisation and was also quite offensive for a forum in which people are looking for assistance/ to offer (friendly) advice - especially on something so important. If this would have been the first visa attempt and I followed your advice in response to the question, the visa would have been refused. That would make YOUR response both "crass" and "embellished".

[Lucapooka]

So good luck! It's a free access open forum and people will comment as they please. I could have invited you to join Netflix but, instead, I talked about your situation. If you don't wish for free comment and analysis you should seek advice in private, perhaps from a professional. My thoughts are not those of a guru as, unfortunately, anyone who contributes regularly on this forum will be automatically handed that unbidden appellation after a given number of posts, and those comments might be relevant to immigration or might be spam, so please don't consider as an expert anyone with that status.