Spouse visa Refused/Successful after a query-Divorce-India

[kchakravarthi]

Dear all,
I gained a lot from this wonderful forum with the help of many kind contributing members. After having gone through all sorts of troubles finally my wife's visa is successful. I want to share my experience as well for the benefit of others. This is purely my personal opinion based on my own experience. Learned Members can differ on any point and correct where necessary.

Just to summarize my experience:
Im a UK citizen working as a contractor. at the time of my 1st marriage I was an Indian citizen. got married in India. eventually we both got our settlement visa. after some time due to some serious issues, she left to India and ended in divorce. She never returned to UK and she lost her settlement status in UK after 2 years.
Later we both obtained the Divorce decree from Indian court after complete judicial proceedings. Did not apply divorce in the UK since marriage happened in India.
Got married recently and applied for Spouse visa in priority. got rejected and reason was given in the refusal letter.
The ECO has stated that they are not satisfied because the financial requirement documents(payslips/bank statements/dividend vouchers) submitted did not cover the same period as my CT600 and also my wife's original MBA Degree certificate was missing from the documents submitted.. They were okay with the Relationship evidence.

Applied 2nd time with much care again on priority. BHC was happy with the Financial and English Language requirements but raised a query on relationship evidence. BHC emailed me asking for the UK divorce decree because as per UKBA, we both were settled in UK at the stated time of divorce. In reality, she left UK with settled status long back and lost the status as it automatically gets lapses after 2 years. So i explained the same to BHC and they were okay with it.

based on my experience,
Mainly the ECO looks whether the applicant meets the below 3 requirements
1. Financial evidence
2. Relaitionship evidence
3. English Language evidence

Imp points:
1. ECO checks all 3 points everytime you apply. Ex: you apply 1st time and get rejected where points 1 and 3 are not OK but 2 is OK. So when you apply for 2nd time it doesn't mean that they don't check point 3 again.
2. Indian divorce decree if happened with proper judicial proceedings in the court of law where one of them is an indian national at the stated time of divorce is valid and enough, you don't need a UK divorce decree absolute.
3. If at the stated time of divorce, both are settled/habitual residents/living in UK then BHC will ask for the UK divorce decree absolute also. Its good to have UK and Indian divorce cert wherever possible(Most of the UK solicitors believe 1 divorce decree(UK or India) with proper judicial proceedings is enough).
4. Some solicitors in UK say that UKBA accepts some divorce decrees and some not, so, one solicitor advised me to contact UKBA with the Indian divorce decree, email it and get confirmed if its recognised and acceptable in UK.
4. For contractors in UK, always make sure that the payslips/bank statements/dividend vouchers cover the same period as the CT600.

Below are the documents that i have sent along with the Visa application.
Documents List for a UK contractor:
Latest Sponsor’s Employment Documents
• Pay Slips covering same period as CT600
• Dividend Vouchers covering same period as CT600
• Personal Bank Statements covering same period as CT600 (original statements printed and stamped at the Halifax bank branch) and State Bank of India Jan 2016 Bank statement
• Latest P60 (April 2016)
• Personal Tax Returns (April 2016) & Tax Calculation SA302

Latest Sponsor’s Company Documents
• Company Registration document
• Combined Register and Share Certificate
• VAT Registration document
• VAT Returns (1 year)
• Current Appointment Report - Original issued from company house
• Company Tax Returns internet acknowledgement
• CT600 covering limited company’s last financial year
• Company Bank Statements covering same period as CT600 (original statements printed and stamped at the Metro bank branch)
• Company unaudited Full Accounts covering same period as CT600
• Accountant Reference Letter - Original signed by accountant
• HMRC Employer PAYE reference booklet
• Employment Contracts

Applicant’s Documents (wife)
• Cover Letter/Visa Request Letter
• Visa application form and Appendix2 duly filled and signed
• Passport
• TB Test Results
• Bank statement of Indian Bank for the latest one-year – original
• Divorce Decree Certificate
• Copy of refusal notice received against application for Spouse Visa.

Applicant’s English language criteria:
• UK NARIC Certificate original
• Master’s Degree Certificate original
• Master’s Degree English Medium completion certificate original

Sponsor’s Documents (husband)
• Sponsors letter of support/Invitation letter
• Sponsorship Undertaking Form No. SU07/12 duly filled and signed
• UK Passport and OCI copy
• NI Number Card copy
• Bachelors’ Degree copy
• Divorce Certificate

Sponsor’s Accommodation Documents
• Tenancy agreement & Letter from letting agency
• Council Tax Bill (last 1 year)
• Utility Bills (Electricity/Gas) (last 1 year)

Relationship evidence Documents
• Marriage Certificate issued in Registrar office at Delhi
• Wedding Invitation Card
• Wedding Photographs
• Calls and Social network conversations details (Lycatalk & WhatsApp)
• Flight tickets for visits between Applicant and Sponsor cities before/for/after marriage

thanks

[Janny777]

Hi friend,
Good morning! Could you please help me with a question. Your post was very information but unfortunately me and my husband saw it after our application was refused as we didnt submit husbands CT600 document. We are applying again for priority this week. We just wanted to know if u had used your spouse TB certificate and house inspection report that was used for your first application that was refused? Our both the reports have an expiry date ot 26/12/2019. Can we use the same?

How long did it take for you to get through your second application as valid?


Regards,
Janny

[kchakravarthi]

Hi,
i applied within 2 months after refusal, so i used the same TB certificate that was used for 1st application. i did not provide house inspection report, but used only the council tax bill on both occasions. in your case since its valid till end of 2019, its hsould be ok.

since its priority application, it took 2 to 3 weeks only to get it approved.

thanks
K

[Janny777]

Thank you so much friend. Appreciate your quick response. Could you please also help us with the following questions?
1. Do we need to submit FLR M form? Looks like it is only required while extending stay in UK.
2. Can I use my NARIC certificate which I used for my first application?
3. Is it mandatory for us to provide maintenance calculations and proofs?

We know we are troubling you so much with our questions. The problem is we had spent so much time and money. Our first application was also on priority basis and it took almost 13 weeks to get the refusal notice and we are applying again on priority visa and just wanted to be sure we are doing it right. Will you be okay if you could share your phone number on my email id so that my husband from UK could call you if he is stuck with some questions? If you feel free, you could email your phone number at email address removed by moderator


Thankyou!

Regards,
Janny

[CR001]

Thank you so much friend. Appreciate your quick response. Could you please also help us with the following questions?
1. Do we need to submit FLR M form? Looks like it is only required while extending stay in UK.
2. Can I use my NARIC certificate which I used for my first application?
3. Is it mandatory for us to provide maintenance calculations and proofs?

We know we are troubling you so much with our questions. The problem is we had spent so much time and money. Our first application was also on priority basis and it took almost 13 weeks to get the refusal notice and we are applying again on priority visa and just wanted to be sure we are doing it right. Will you be okay if you could share your phone number on my email id so that my husband from UK could call you if he is stuck with some questions? If you feel free, you could email your phone number at email address removed by moderator


Thankyou!

Regards,
Janny

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