Frustrating experience with VFS Guangzhou - cause of refusal of family permit

[DarrylZhang]

Good evening. My husband and I have had a most upsetting and disappointing experience with applying for a family permit in China. On 27 September, my husband had an appointment with the VFS in Guangzhou where he submitted his application. Upon arrival, we tried to confirmed the approximate time for us to receive a reply for the application. As far as I knew, it should take about 5 working days for the reply to release given of course the documents were complete; nonetheless I still wanted to confirm and one gentleman at the reception told us that it would take approximately 3 weeks to even a few months. I asked why it took so long since a Family Permit should be released as soon as possible. His reply was that the UK would release a reply usually in 5 working days but they in Guangzhou would only dispatch our application some days later because of their heavy workload. So he advised us to use their Priority Visa service so that they could dispatch our application on the same day. We paid RMB1,894 (approx. GBP210). Then we were advised to purchase an extra service - the Premium Lounge that cost RMB380 （approx. GBP42) so that we could be attended right away otherwise we would have to wait for 2-3 hours before someone attended us. We were told that the attendant could make sure that all the documents necessary for the application would be complete.

We brought all the necessary documents including the printed application form, my husband's passport, marriage certificate, birth certificate, his TB test result, criminal record, my EU passport and citizen card, and our marriage certificate. But it was worth ensuring that nothing was missing. When the attendant was going through the documents before scanning them, she gave returned my passport and citizen card and said she didn't need them. My husband asked why these documents were not needed since they were proof that I was an EU national. She said they were not necessary. Instead, she scanned copies such as our marriage certificate, my husband's TB test result and his criminal record. She took his certified birth certificate (which was never returned) and the passport.

Today, we received a reply for my husband's application. The reply was released on 2 Oct (exactly 5 days, thanks to the efficiency of the immigration section) but to our dismay, his application was refused due to the lack of evidence that I'm an EU national.

I hope to bring up this sad incident here because despite the efficiency of the UK immigration and the due diligence of the applicants, in this situation that we have gone through, this delay should not have happened. May I also ask if birth certificates are to be retained? Now that VFS retained my husband's birth certificate, we will have to go through the hassle of applying for another certified birth certificate.

This is such a frustrating experience. We paid a fee to ensure that all the necessary documents were submitted only to know that VFS staff did not pay the due diligence for their professed service and now we are suffering the consequence of their mistake.

Is there anything we can do here? Do we need to submit a new application? Or can we submit a copy of my passport and citizen card as proof of my nationality? Your advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

Raquel

[abraCadabra]

I don't think you can submit evidence of your nationality to add to that application at this point, because the application has already been decided. I would just reapply and explain in the cover letter what happened in this refusal and why your passport was not scanned. What you have to do is to make good copies on A4 of all your documents, because they only scan copies in these visa centers! Their scanner is such a device that only allows to scan something on A4, and it automatically takes pages in, so it is technically not possible for them to scan an original passport or ID card. Hope that makes sense. You can make certified copies of your passport and ID card (recommended). And birth certificate is not required for a family permit as a spouse. I am surprised that the staff did not recommend you to make copies of passport and ID right there, as far as I know they should have a photocopier available for that!

[DarrylRaquel]

Thank you, abraCadabra. The staff took copies and then scanned the documents. Since I could opt to show certified copies of my passport or national ID or their originals, I decided to bring the originals. The service included 10 free copies and payment beyond that.

She requested documents that weren't necessary and missed out the most important ones.

Thank you for your advice.

Raquel