Wife's settlement visa-2nd time around

Hello all,

This is my first post so apologies if its a bit long winded.

Myself (British) and my wife (Ethiopian) got married in April of this year and applied for her settlement visa to the UK and she was refused.
I've read a lot of the threads on here and because of the hassle and the time involved of an appeal a lot of advice seems to be if you have the money go for a new appeal so we may do this but beacause of the expense we want to make sure its watertight this time.

The first point of refusul was accomadation, I live with my brother and my mother and my brother owns the house. We had proof of ownership like mortgage statements, utility bills and a letter from my brother saying he owned the property but we did not have a letter giving us actual written permission to live there. We now have this letter and I will also get a housing report. I am correct in thinking that if you live in somebody elses property it is fine as long as you have your own bedroom yes??

Secondly my finances. I am self employed (window cleaner) and in the last tax year I earned between £120-£180 per week, just over £7000 for the year and had £1300 savings no debt or loans. Now the ECO stated that there was less money going into my account then what I said I was earning which is true as my job is a cash only job so I put what I want in the bank and keep hold of the rest for living expenses. They also stated that there are no apparent payments coming out of my account to pay for rent,bills. This is also true as I just give my brother cash (approx £100 a month)
I have now got more work from one of my friends so my earnings are up to about £250 per week.
So my questions are...should I try to put all my earnngs into my account so it matches what I say I am earning? Should I take money out of my account to pay my brother for bills etc, so they can see actual activity on my statements (seems a bit silly putting money in my bank then 2 minutes later drawing it out again but there you go!) Also they made a point that my accounts were just hand written by myself so perhaps I should invest in an accountant to do them? Because my earnings have "all of a sudden" gone up would this arouse suspicion with the ECO? I can get proof of this work and a letter from the person I got the work from. Finally my wife already submitted her appeal in Addis Ababa 2 weeks ago so how would we go about getting some of the documents back as we will need the originals.

Sorry for the long post but I thought if i'm thorough in my explanation it will make it easier for people to give their advice.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards Phil

The first point of refusul was accomadation, I live with my brother and my mother and my brother owns the house. We had proof of ownership like mortgage statements, utility bills and a letter from my brother saying he owned the property but we did not have a letter giving us actual written permission to live there. We now have this letter and I will also get a housing report. I am correct in thinking that if you live in somebody elses property it is fine as long as you have your own bedroom yes??

Yes you will need a short letter from your brother to say that you can live at his house rent free untill such a time that you can afford your own accomadation. The housing report is required as proof that there is enough accomadation in the house with out it being overcrowded. Having a bedroom for you and your wife is not good enough, if it means other people in the house are cramped up due to you and your wife taking one of the bedrooms. ( see the sticky on accomadation above for guidance)

Secondly my finances. I am self employed (window cleaner) and in the last tax year I earned between £120-£180 per week, just over £7000 for the year and had £1300 savings no debt or loans. Now the ECO stated that there was less money going into my account then what I said I was earning which is true as my job is a cash only job so I put what I want in the bank and keep hold of the rest for living expenses. They also stated that there are no apparent payments coming out of my account to pay for rent,bills. This is also true as I just give my brother cash (approx £100 a month)

Do a summary of all your monthly incoming and outgoing. This should clearly show what you have coming in and what is going out. It will give the ECO an idea of your expenses

I have now got more work from one of my friends so my earnings are up to about £250 per week.

Is this a second job-if so you have to provide evidence.

So my questions are...should I try to put all my earnngs into my account so it matches what I say I am earning? Should I take money out of my account to pay my brother for bills etc, so they can see actual activity on my statements (seems a bit silly putting money in my bank then 2 minutes later drawing it out again but there you go!)

No keep it one account.

Also they made a point that my accounts were just hand written by myself so perhaps I should invest in an accountant to do them? Because my earnings have "all of a sudden" gone up would this arouse suspicion with the ECO? I can get proof of this work and a letter from the person I got the work from.

You should submitt your yearly account as proof of your earnings.It has to be done by a proper accountant.

Finally my wife already submitted her appeal in Addis Ababa 2 weeks ago so how would we go about getting some of the documents back as we will need the originals.

Your wife should have recieved all her documents back along with the refusal notice

You do realize by reapplying again, you will have to pay the full fee again.

What is your problem appealing?. Remember reapplying again does not guarantee you will get a visa.

Whilst I accept you might get the accomadation bit right, I think you are going to have problems with your finance and whether they are enough to support you both if you had to live on your own in the future.

well what ever you do good luck mate,you will need it.

Thanks batleykhan for the reply, I do realize we will have to pay the full fee again and there is no guarantee she will get her visa, and while I don't neccesary have a problem appealing it just takes such a long time. Why will I have a problem with my finances? I know £250 a week isn't a mega amount but i'm sure I read on here after you have paid for your rent and bills you need £95 a week disposable income for the 2 of you. Also my wife will get a job over here, but I guess I would need to prove that to the ECO. As for living at my brothers, are we only allowed to live there temporarily? Surely we could live there for as long as we wanted (with my brothers consent of course) or do we have to look for our own place sooner or later? Regards Phil

actually its not £95 per week...now its at least £105.25 per week

pancake wrote:actually its not £95 per week...now its at least £105.25 per week

Where did you get this info from Pancake? I was told it was £95 too when I applied for my wife's visa 2nd time round.

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