Spouse visa refused - confusing refusal letter

[vtaneja]

Hi All,

After a 3 month wait, we received a refusal for our UK spouse visa application. Here is a background of our situation:

a) We got married in 2008 and lived together in UK from November 2008 - June 2015
b) In June 2015, we both decided to take a break from our work and decided to travel together around the world, working online.
c) I was on a Tier 1 General visa from 2008 - 2015. In April 2015, I got the British citizenship.
c) My wife (the applicant) was on a Tier 4 visa (she did her PhD in UK) from 2008 - early 2012 and then switched to Tier 1 dependant. Her Tier 1 dependant visa expired in March 2016 - by this time we were travelling and were out of the UK.

The refusal letter states:

Eligibility Relationship Requirement
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You do not meet the eligibility relationship requirement of paragraphs E-ECP .2.1 to 2.10 because aside from your marriage certificate you have not submitted any evidence of your relationship or contract with your sponsor. The lack of any such evidence leads me to doubt that your relationship is genuine and subsisting.

I therefore am not satisfied 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. (d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration rules (E-ECP .2.6 & 2.10)

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Eligibility financial requirement (this has confusing wording)
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You meet the eligibility financial requirement of paragraphs E-ECP .3.1 to 3.4

You do not meet the eligibility financial requirement of paragraphs E-ECP .3.1 to 3.4 because you have not submitted appropriate documentation to confirm that you meet the income threshold. You have not completed the Appendix 2 form correctly which makes it difficult to assess how you believe your sponsor meets the requirements.

Having noted the documents submitted in support of your application (bank statements only) I am not satisfied that you have submitted the specified documentation.

Your sponsor is not exempt from the financial requirements as defined paragraph E-ECP 3.3. You have failed to provide the specified documents of your sponsor's employment. These documents are specified in immigration rules in Appendix FM-SE and must be provided. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P .1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules (E-ECP .3.1)

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Documents we had submitted for relationship proof:
a) Marriage certificate
b) 6 years council tax bills for our apartment in London from 2009 - 2015 (this had both our names)
c) Now from June 2015 till present we have been travelling together around the world and spending every minute of the day together. In between our travels, we would come and spend time here in New Delhi. We submitted close to 50 flight tickets with both our names in the past 2 years.
d) One of the bank statements i provided for financial proof has the same address (New Delhi) that my wife (the applicant) has on her passport


Documents we submitted for financial proof:

We had applied under the savings route - category D. We showed bank statements from 3 different banks amounting to close to £67,000 of savings

a) My (sponsor) UK bank account
b) My wife's (applicant) UK bank account
c) My Indian bank account - I also showed all documents on how the funds were accumulated in this Indian account over the past decade


Things that make me believe they didn't look at the application and documents properly:

a) It says aside from marriage certificate there isn't any other proof. But we included our council tax bills of 6 years, our flight tickets, and our bank statements that have the same address.

b) The ECO talks about the fact that we only submitted bank statements and that there is no proof of employment shown. We have clearly marked that we are taking the savings route in Appendix 2 and shown proof that we have more than £62,500 in savings together.

c) The first line says "You meet the eligibility requirements". Then the second line says "You do not meet the eligibility requirements".

What can I do now? I would be grateful if some of you can shed light on this. This is so frustrating. the only saving point is that we are together here in New Delhi at the moment, but it's still frustrating to wait for 3 months, spend all this money, and then be refused by an ECO who has not (seemingly) gone through the documents and application correctly. Please help.

[Obie]

Did you fill in appendix 2 and explain how you meet the income requirement. It is a very unfortunate situation, and you may have to challenge the refusal rather than reapplying, as you appear to have done nothing wrong.

I am assuming that the saving has been held for a period in excess of 6 months.

[vtaneja]

Hi there,

Yes, I filled all details in Appendix 2 including the source of savings. For the 3rd bank account (the Indian account), I included all details in the additional information section.

Yes, the funds have been in the accounts for more than 6 months and all the statements show that.

I agree - I don't want to reapply as I don't think there was anything missing in the application. I am thinking of appealing but would like to know from others who have appealed and could share their experiences.

Thanks

[vtaneja]

Hi All,

I am thinking of appealing this decision rather than reapplying as I don't really know what else I would submit even if I reapplied. Plus the ECO seems to have gotten the financial eligibility section all wrong, so I do want to challenge that. I am just not sure about:

a) Whether to hire a solicitor for the appeal process? How much do the solicitors charge for an appeal? We have never used one in the past decade (have applied for more than 100 visas) but we hate to be in the situation that we are in now and contemplating hiring a solicitor if that will help with our appeal. Confused!!

b) What happens in the appeal process? I have read conflicting posts - some people had written that they added new evidence when appealing. Some had mentioned that you can't produce any new documents. So what exactly do we do - do we just say that we had submitted so and so documents and we believe that ECO might have made a mistake when processing our application.

c) In our refusal letter, on the first page, it says "Your human rights claim in an application for entry clearance on 10/07/2017 is refused" - is this a generic statement - I am not so sure about the human rights bit?

d) As I stated earlier, both of us are together in New Delhi at the moment - does that make any difference in the appeal process? Do I need to send in all documents that I sent with the application again?

Sorry for all these questions but would really appreciate some guidance. Thank you ever so much.

[vtaneja]

Hi All,

Does anyone have answers/comments for my questions based on own experience/expertise?

Thanks a lot

[samathasunkara93]

Same with me

My husband is self employed and earns 100,000 k and we married in August 2018 and applied first time on Sep 8 th they refused as my husband forgot to submit

SA100 or SA302

along with all the documents and we reapplied on Nov 11th and Dec 7th refused

1. We didn’t met the relationship requirement.
2. We didn’t met the finaincial requirement.

So we are confident my husband submitted all documents and we are filing for appeal this week

[samathasunkara93]

Any reply after you file appeal

[seagul]

Same with me

My husband is self employed and earns 100,000 k and we married in August 2018 and applied first time on Sep 8 th they refused as my husband forgot to submit

SA100 or SA302

along with all the documents and we reapplied on Nov 11th and Dec 7th refused

1. We didn’t met the relationship requirement.
2. We didn’t met the finaincial requirement.

So we are confident my husband submitted all documents and we are filing for appeal this week

What had you attached for relationship & subsisting relation evidence??