Is application for tomorrow sufficient? Urgent help please!

[tabnik]

Hi everyone, I'd really appreciate your thoughts

My boyfriend is an Indian citizen and I'm a British citizen. His visa has just been rejected and he needs to reapply urgently, but I want to make sure the next application is watertight so I'd really appreciate some advice on how to correct the things they rejected him on. Here's some context:

I'm a student in the UK. He was doing an MBA in India but has decided he no longer wants to do it so hasn't officially dropped out (is technically still enrolled in the university) but is not currently studying. He has had 2 UK visit visas before - one in around March 2015 and one in December 2015. He visited the UK March 2015, June 2015, December 2015 and March 2016, staying for a maximum of just over a month each time. For each visa he provided a letter of enrolment from his college along with a letter stating leave of absence, and he also had an invitation letter and statement of providing accommodation etc. etc., first time from my family, second time from his friend's family. He included lots of info about what he was planning to do as a tourist etc. but we have NEVER mentioned the relationship as we think this could harm his application - they might think that he wouldn't leave (he's 24, male, unmarried...) But obviously every single time he's come he's come for the stated amount of time and left promptly with no issues.

So now he's not technically studying and is also not earning right now because he hasn't got a job yet, however when he goes back from England he's going to start an internship with an ad agency in Delhi who will be giving him some income. This wasn't formalised before he applied so we didn't think it necessary to include it, but now his application has been rejected. Here's what we included in the application:

From the sponsor in England (our friend)
Invitation letter for my boyfriend saying she will host him
Statement of invitation/sponsorship for the High Commission
Copy of most recent pay slip
Copy of passport

From his dad (who is currently supporting him)
Statement that he is sponsoring his trip financially
Bank statements from past 6 months (including income transactions)
Copy of passport
Tax docs

From Him:
Letter stating his full plans for the holiday (exact places that he wants to visit in Scotland and England, why he wants to visit at this time of year, things he wants to do that he hasn't done before)
Obviously application form (no mention of our relationship just tourism)

It has been rejected on these grounds:

'I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraphs V 4.2(a-e) of Appendix V: Immigration rules for Visitors because

I must consider your personal circumstances and I note that you have not submitted satisfactory evidence of your personal and financial circumstances. You state that you are a student at Bhagwant and have provided some evidence of this. However there is no evidence that you are continuing to study. The letter you have provided from the uni is almost 2 years old. You have provided no evidence of current studies. You have provided no evidence of income in India and no evidence of assets or savings. Without such evidence I am not satisfied that your circumstances are as stated by you in India and that you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit as stated by you, and do not intend to live for extended periods in the UK through frequent or successive visits or that you are genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a period not exceeding 6 months.'

We included the university letter because there was no end date on it and as he's technically still enrolled we thought it would show stability/ties to the country/community. Maybe this was stupid! How is this as a plan for reapplication - do you think anything could be added to it or if it shows enough of a change from the original application:

Letter from him explaining that he is not continuing with his studies and has decided instead to pursue a career in advertising, starting with the paid internship, which he will commence after a short holiday to the UK between college/work
Letter from the company providing the internship stating a start date/how much money they are giving him/confirming that the internship has been arranged (it is a reputable global agency so hopefully this will look good?)
The same bank details from his father but with more information about the fact that he is currently dependent on his father and that's why he's supporting the trip - maybe a reminder that he also sponsored his previous trips? To show there were no issues there? And maybe change his dad's letter to say that he is his dependent?
Same invitation letter and details

Should I add any more? Do you think he has a chance of being given a visa on this basis? We can't afford to keep applying so I really need this next application to work!!

[manci]

Apart from the issues in the refusal letter your boyfriend should also address the question of his university career. If contrary to his recent application when he claimed that he was a student he now says that he is no longer one the ECO may well consider his previous application an attempt at deception and impose an entry ban. Remember, the ECO can check with the university.

[CR001]

I hope you don't at some point wish to apply for a fiance or spouse visa. This will be scrutinised extensively, particularly given the fact of all his visits and NOT mentioning you as his girlfriend at all.

HO/UKVI keep everything on record and cross check applications for consistency.

[tabnik]

Apart from the issues in the refusal letter your boyfriend should also address the question of his university career. If contrary to his recent application when he claimed that he was a student he now says that he is no longer one the ECO may well consider his previous application an attempt at deception and impose an entry ban. Remember, the ECO can check with the university.

Really?? This is really freaking me out. Basically the situation is this: he has been enrolled in an MBA programme for 2 years and that's what he always used as his 'reason for coming back' (with a letter from the university saying he's coming back for classes). But he's basically not enjoying it and has decided to stop doing it (not take the exams and graduate) and just go straight into work experience instead. In this application that just got rejected he included the enrolment letter from 2 years ago to show that he is technically enrolled in the university (just to show some sort of stability/ties in India? probably a stupid idea) but at NO POINT in the application did he say 'I'm currently studying', he just said I want to take a holiday to England. But in the rejection letter the person said like 'you said you are a student but you've provided no real proof of this because the letter is old' so they've basically misread it?? Maybe it was silly to include the document at all but he made no claim to being a current student or to be going back to classes etc. afterwards so how do we address this? I feel like from their rejection letter they think he was trying to be deceptive or something but he never made the claim that they are referring to anywhere in his application!!!

[tabnik]

I hope you don't at some point wish to apply for a fiance or spouse visa. This will be scrutinised extensively, particularly given the fact of all his visits and NOT mentioning you as his girlfriend at all.

HO/UKVI keep everything on record and cross check applications for consistency.

This is also really really freaking me out. We've always thought that mentioning the relationship would harm his chances of getting a tourist visa because they would assume he wanted to settle, and that's not what this is at the moment. The advice we've been given is always that we're not obliged to mention the relationship as we're not engaged to be married or anything, it's not any sort of legally official relationship. I'm really panicking at this point. If we mention the relationship now I feel like they're never going to give him a visit visa out of fear he'll settle?? But if I don't maybe he'll never be able to settle?? What would you do now if you were us? I just want to see him right now but there's definitely a chance he'll want to get a more permanent visa in the future, I really really appreciate your help as it's so difficult to get decent and human advice on stuff like this

[KatieWills]

What reason has he previously given for wanting to visit?

[tabnik]

What reason has he previously given for wanting to visit?

Tourism/visiting friends. His first invitation letter was from my parents saying something along the lines of 'he hosted our daughter in India and showed her round etc. so now we're returning the favour' and his second invitation letter was from a friend of ours who he also met in India as she lives elsewhere in England and he was staying with her. He's always included a letter about what he intends to do each time with very specific and well-researched details of places he wants to visit, and has included details of my family and this friend under the section about 'people you know in the UK' so he has acknowledged that he knows us well but has never stated that he and I are in a relationship because we didn't think we were obliged to declare that! Like for a visit visa we always thought it doesn't make a difference whether the person you're visiting is a good friend or a girlfriend?

[ohara]

Like for a visit visa we always thought it doesn't make a difference whether the person you're visiting is a good friend or a girlfriend?

The main thing here is that HO needs to be convinced he will return home. If he is coming here to visit someone he is in a relationship with, surely you can understand why they would think this would make him more likely to not want to leave, especially someone from a country which has a high level of migration to the UK.

[tabnik]

Like for a visit visa we always thought it doesn't make a difference whether the person you're visiting is a good friend or a girlfriend?

The main thing here is that HO needs to be convinced he will return home. If he is coming here to visit someone he is in a relationship with, surely you can understand why they would think this would make him more likely to not want to leave, especially someone from a country which has a high level of migration to the UK.

Yes of course I completely understand the mentality behind that, but what I meant was is he obliged to disclose the relationship? Can he be penalised for not disclosing it when he was never explicitly asked to mention it?

[tabnik]

Hi all,

My Indian boyfriend applied for a visa to come and visit the UK last November, and was rejected. He is about to apply again and I would really appreciate your thoughts on whether you think his current application documents are enough as he is going to apply tomorrow. Here is some context, details of documents being provided below:

He has had 2 UK visit visas before - one in around March 2015 and one in December 2015. He visited the UK March 2015, June 2015, December 2015 and March 2016, staying for a maximum of just over a month each time. He provided a letter of enrolment from his college each time along with a letter stating leave of absence, and also invitation letters, sponsorship statements etc from host and his father. We have never mentioned the relationship as we think this could harm his application (maybe they will think he won't leave). But he's always come for the stated amount of time and left promptly with no issues.

His last visa was rejected on these grounds:

'I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraphs V 4.2(a-e) of Appendix V: Immigration rules for Visitors because

I must consider your personal circumstances and I note that you have not submitted satisfactory evidence of your personal and financial circumstances. You state that you are a student at (name of university) and have provided some evidence of this. However there is no evidence that you are continuing to study. The letter you have provided from the uni is almost 2 years old. You have provided no evidence of current studies. You have provided no evidence of income in India and no evidence of assets or savings. Without such evidence I am not satisfied that your circumstances are as stated by you in India and that you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit as stated by you, and do not intend to live for extended periods in the UK through frequent or successive visits or that you are genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a period not exceeding 6 months.'

We included the university letter because there was no end date on it and as he's technically still enrolled we thought it would show stability/ties to the country/community. This was probably stupid! But it's weird they complained about assets as we always said his dad was paying and provided plenty of financial documents from him. Now he's no longer studying and has been doing an internship since Jan with a small income, but his dad is still paying for his trip.

So for this new application we have:

Letter from his employer stating his salary, start date of employment, dates of his trip, that he is due back on a particular date, that he is an Indian national.
Application form which says my boyfriend is dependent on his father for living costs; my boyfriend's last 6 months of transactions showing an allowance each month and the fact that he spends it, but the allowance is paid into the account in cash by his father, do you think this is ok?
Financial details from his father: income tax details, letter from employer stating salary etc, last 6 months bank transactions, current account balance.
Also details of an LIC savings account into which my boyfriend's parents pay money every year, which will mature when he is older. There is quite a lot of money in this, so while it's not funds that are available to him I thought it would show a reason for him to come back to India?
Letter from his father stating that he will cover all costs including flights and any miscellaneous expenses.
Letter from my father to my boyfriend inviting him to come and stay for 3 weeks and to attend his daughter's 21st birthday party. Copy of official party invitation addressed to him.
Letter from my father to high commission stating he will cover all living costs, host him in his home etc. Also included: copy of passport, copy of company records (he is director) showing profits, copy of utility bill to show address. The company records are from 2 years ago so I have asked him if he can include recent pay slips instead, do you think this is better?

What do you think? Is this enough? Will this dispel any doubts they had last time? Should we include anything else/address any of their concerns in the extra information section on the application form?

Many many thanks in advance for any advice