SPOUSE VISA REFUSAL (HELP)

My wife's spouse visa was refused on the following basis,

Eligibility Relationship Requirement
Given that you state that you have lived together, I am
not satisfied on the limited information presented in support of your application
that your relationship with your sponsor is genuine and subsisting or that you
intend to live together permanently in the UK. I therefore refuse your application
under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-
ECP.2.6 & 2.10)

Eligibility Financial Requirement

In order to qualify
solely on savings, you and your sponsor require (shortfall x 2.5 + £16000) in
savings in order to meet the financial requirements. You therefore require
£62,500 in savings. You have provided evidence of savings held by your sponsor
and state that £35,000 is held in savings however this is not sufficient to meet the
financial requirements. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-
P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)

We provided marriage certificate as the only proof of relationship and we have been married for 11 months now, do we need to provide anything else?
For financial requirements we were able to show cash savings totalling £65,000 so I still can't understand why was this not considered? £30,000 was shown in my UK bank account and money equivalent to £35,000 was shown in our home country bank and the money was in the account for more than 6 months!

We have been given an option to appeal to this decision (tier 1 tribunal court) but I have heard it takes almost a year for that to complete. Is that true?

Can anyone please advise, Thank you.

A marriage certificate was not enough to prove how genuine your relationship is.
It's important to provide pictures of you both together in different locations, if you've sent each other money/gifts - provide receipts and pictures of them, screenshots of video calls, duration of calls and chats over the course of your relationship to prove you have a ongoing relationship
Hope this helps.

Even if both of you lived together, there should be evidence of genuine and subsisting such letter addressed to both of you at the same address. Marriage certificate isn't enough to show that your relationship is genuine.

Did your savings dipped during the last 6 months at all?

Thanks, will do that but I am still not sure what happened about the maintenance funds?

No, we didn’t not touch that pot of money for 6 months. Also about the letters addressing to the same address was not possible as we were living at my parents house where I got stuck because of the covid pandemic and couldn’t travel back to the UK

The letter also mentioned this,

In support of your relationship you have provided your marriage certificate. This document stands in total isolation. No appendix 2 has been included with your application which prevents me from seeing answers to various questions about your relationship.

As far as I am aware, appendix 2 was discontinued since 2018 and is now included in the online form right?

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 11:21 am

The letter also mentioned this,

In support of your relationship you have provided your marriage certificate. This document stands in total isolation. No appendix 2 has been included with your application which prevents me from seeing answers to various questions about your relationship.

As far as I am aware, appendix 2 was discontinued since 2018 and is now included in the online form right?

I have seen this issued discussed quite a lot on many platform including Facebook but there's difference of opinion with regards whether it is discontinued or not! some experts still recommend including it while say it is no needed but for me, i will include it and also if it is no longer required, it should have been deleted.

Check your bank statements to see if the savings haven't dipped during the last 6 months otherwise i am unsure where the caseworker got 35,000 from?

You also mentioned about maintenance funds! Are you combing CAT C and CAT D together to meet the financial requirement?

I didn’t rely on any other category, completely used cash savings. I am sure the funds didn’t dip as we didn’t touch that pot of money which was evident from the bank statements which we provided.

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 11:34 am

I didn’t rely on any other category, completely used cash savings. I am sure the funds didn’t dip as we didn’t touch that pot of money which was evident from the bank statements which we provided.

For financial requirements we were able to show cash savings totalling £65,000 so I still can't understand why was this not considered? £30,000 was shown in my UK bank account and money equivalent to £35,000 was shown in our home country bank and the money was in the account for more than 6 months!"


Appeal can take up to a year or more in most cases. Your best option would be to reapply and address all the points raised in the refusal and did you provide 6 months bank statements each for both savings?

Yes I am also thinking the same to reapply, thanks. Yes I provided full 6 months bank statements from 3 different accounts on my and my wife’s name. Half the money was given by our parents so we declared the source of funds as well. All the monies were untouched and kept in the bank for more than 6 months.

Also, can I ask the home office for further clarification on the funds topic?

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:02 pm

Yes I am also thinking the same to reapply, thanks. Yes I provided full 6 months bank statements from 3 different accounts on my and my wife’s name. Half the money was given by our parents so we declared the source of funds as well. All the monies were untouched and kept in the bank for more than 6 months.

Also, can I ask the home office for further clarification on the funds topic?

The Right of appeal have been given if you think the HO made an error in their decision.

Thank you for all the replies everyone.

As the appeal process takes almost a year I wanted to know does the home office provides further details/clarification without going to the appeal stage as if I have their inputs I can change my application accordingly and reapply? Will the £3 email service which they provide can answer or that is just a generic customer service email?

1. While some only get to know of this great platform and the helpful free services provided, most come here to seek remedial action or advice. Same happened to me. Wish everyone knows and ask for guidance before the process starts.
2. A lot of evidence are to be provided to support subsisting relationship as others have pointed out. Calls, chats, pictures, gift receipts, travel related evidence etc.
3. The money in foreign currency, did you provide the oanda rate for the day of application, state clearly that it should be considered as part of meeting financial requirements...I note your stating declared the source..just confirming as with HO when you give a silver coin that is clearly visible to the blind, you still have to state the obvious, assume nothing.
4. I loathe the fact that it takes longer to seek redress when compared with reapplying. The HO gets an easy way out as like any couple being together as soon as possible is the aim not seeking justice.

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

The checklist provided online are not comprehensive enough and usually give false sense of what documents are meat to be provided in support of an application.

Evidence flexibility should also have been exercise but it depends on individual caseworker.

I will suggest you write a cover letter addressing previous refusals.

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

Since the decision is to reapply, do so and ask questions on any matter and every step of the way, the good people on here will assist.
Reasonable Judges do ask the at appeals if they followed an aspect of the guidance that requires CW to ask applicants for clarification on evidence and or support documents, its unfortunate that most ii not majority CW don't ask, just want to tick boxes and log how many number of applications they attended to.

Thanks for your reply, yes it is unfortunate. I will reapply now. Only question now is about the funds and why weren’t they considered, any inputs?

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:15 pm

Thanks for your reply, yes it is unfortunate. I will reapply now. Only question now is about the funds and why weren’t they considered, any inputs?

The fact you are combining funds from difference accounts might have gotten the caseworker confused and like i said above, write a cover letter explaining everything even though you have already made a declaration funds.

Okay, will do thank you so much. I only combined funds from a total of 3 accounts but anyways I will keep that in mind.

AmazonianX wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:24 pm

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

Since the decision is to reapply, do so and ask questions on any matter and every step of the way, the good people on here will assist.
Reasonable Judges do ask the at appeals if they followed an aspect of the guidance that requires CW to ask applicants for clarification on evidence and or support documents, its unfortunate that most ii not majority CW don't ask, just want to tick boxes and log how many number of applications they attended to.

Thanks, I wanted to know that when I provide photos, do I need to date stamp, if yes how do I do that? Just name the photo file with the date of the photo?

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

Are the funds held outside the UK held in a bank account at an HO-approved financial institution? There were cases on this forum in which funds had not been considered due to being held at a bank that was not acceptable to HO.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide a complete application. They don't generally ask for further evidence, unless it's something like one payslip missing out of a series and even then it's a 'may ask' rather than 'will ask' kind of thing.

ALKB wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 10:00 pm

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

Are the funds held outside the UK held in a bank account at an HO-approved financial institution? There were cases on this forum in which funds had not been considered due to being held at a bank that was not acceptable to HO.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide a complete application. They don't generally ask for further evidence, unless it's something like one payslip missing out of a series and even then it's a 'may ask' rather than 'will ask' kind of thing.

Hi, yes the the money were held in a bank which is approved in HO list of financial institutions.

I personally just screenshot the photos straight from the camera roll, which had the date and time stamped on top, sometimes included the location too.

Lagado wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 10:53 pm

I personally just screenshot the photos straight from the camera roll, which had the date and time stamped on top, sometimes included the location too.

Perfect, I’ll do the same, thank you so much.

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 9:34 pm

AmazonianX wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:24 pm

saurabhp wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:13 pm

Thank you, yes i clearly the stated the account as the application form asked the relevant account numbers of the bank where the funds are held. I didn’t provide the oanda rate but I checked it myself and after taking the currency conversation rate into account we still had more than £2000 pounds in excess.

If the HO felt I didn’t provide adequate evidence (I provided everything asked in the checklist) I would have expected the HO to just drop an email asking for more proof and I would have been more than happy to provide but clearly that didn’t happen. I will now reapply with all the advise received here but I am just worried about the funds as I clearly had it before as well. Thank you.

Since the decision is to reapply, do so and ask questions on any matter and every step of the way, the good people on here will assist.
Reasonable Judges do ask the at appeals if they followed an aspect of the guidance that requires CW to ask applicants for clarification on evidence and or support documents, its unfortunate that most ii not majority CW don't ask, just want to tick boxes and log how many number of applications they attended to.

Thanks, I wanted to know that when I provide photos, do I need to date stamp, if yes how do I do that? Just name the photo file with the date of the photo?

Not just by naming the photo file. The photo app on your phone usually has the option to display date picture was taken, take the screenshot of the picture when in this mode. This will serve as contemporary evidence.
Another option is to annotate the picture describing people in it(if not only you and partner), location and event taking place.