I am a British Citizen ex-pat married 2005 to a Trinidadian wife. We have lived together in Tobago since 2002. We have decided to return to live in the UK and my wife applied for a settlement visa. During the online application my wife was told that a list of supporting documents would be sent with the appointment email. In the email it just said that supporting documents should accompany the printed application, not what those supporting documents should be.
We both attended the appointment at the British High Commission in Trinidad together with a bundle of documents and copies we thought appropriate. My wife told the application receptionist of our concern about which documents and the receptionist told us not to worry because if any documents are found to be missing from the application, the officer will get in touch and ask us to send on whatever is needed. This statement turned out to be erroneous.
We received the white copy of the application receipt form acknowledging the list of documents handed over. On the form under Sponsor's Evidence the receptionist had marked Passport x 2 then crossed it out and changed it to x 1. It was ticked as being received. In the column above, the receptionist wrote "copy of spouse pp data page", which was also ticked. I cannot say if the receptionist endorsed the bio-data page as a true copy, but my passport was handed back to us. No other original documents were handed back.
The Refusal Notice was received and with respect to my passport the Clearance Officer states:-
"I note you have failed to submit the original document and instead submitted a copy. I note photocopies are susceptible to alteration. I therefore cannot be satisfied of the authenticity or validity of the document..."
I was astonished to read that, since my passport had in fact been submitted at the time of the application, but the receptionist had handed it back after confirming the authenticity of the accompanying copy. I am informed that the Consular Officer at British High Commission has confirmed that this is standard practice.
The Refusal Notice goes on to doubt that my wife and I are in a subsisting relationship. The Clearance Officer says:-
"You have stated the two of you have been living together in Tobago since 2002. In support of this you have submitted bank statements from 2009 pertaining to you and our [sic] sponsor which show the same address. However, you have failed to demonstrate any contact with your sponsor since this date or prior to it."
The Clearance Officer fails to mention that he acknowledges that the address on our marriage certificate is the same address as stated on the application. He also fails to mention other bank statements from different dates before and after 2009 which also show the same address. I believe that the clearance officer may have mistakenly believed that I was not present in Trinidad and Tobago as my passport was missing and may have drawn the conclusion that we were not in a subsisting relationship. Neither did he read the yellow copy of the receipt notice submitted by the application officer clearly stating that my passport was in fact submitted.
These were the only two grounds for refusal.
As I understand it, the appeals procedure does not allow original documents to be submitted, but in this case the validity of my passport has been called into question, so clearly the original must be seen.
We have emailed the New York post complaining of the error and instead of an appeal have suggested that they now accept:-
That we submit the original of my passport to satisfy the authenticity and validity of the document, that we submit additional documentation to show that my marriage to my wife is subsisting and that my wife resubmits her passport to enable the visa to be attached.
If the post admits their mistake and withdraws the notice of refusal it would allow the application to proceed as if there had never been a refusal.
Are there any precedents for this?
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