Refused Visit Visa-But Now A Possible Development. Some advice/feedback needed!

[NOGLET]

Just a quick question. Myself and my partner eventually applied for a general visit visa for him to visit me in the Uk from The Philippines-and we were refused. We went for the general visit visa as we have only been together a few months. We had sent in almost 50 pages of supporting documents as we had decided to try and cover all of the bases and a few more for good measure. I also saw an immigration solicitor who advised us to go for a shorter visit of 3 months.

However, when I read the reason for refusal I basically hit the roof. The Entry Clearance Officer had, what looked like blatantly ignored all of our evidence and the reasons he/she gave had all been covered and explained within the documents we sent. I was so angry I sent an email to the manager and said that I refused to believe that despite us having no right to appeal, I did not accept that someone could make such errors, take our visa fee money and that there was nothing they as a manager could do. I was that livid I also said that as human beings we all on occasion make mistakes-and an Entry Clearance Officer was no exception.

I did not expect to hear anything back-but I have just received an email back from them saying that the content of my email had been noted and had been forwarded to the Entry Clearance Officer for consideration. I have taken that to mean that just maybe we may still have a chance, so I have basically replied back saying that if there is anything else we can submit no matter how small, we will do this readily to show them that we really are genuine and that my partner has every intention of returning home. I have thanked them also for the possibility of them reconsidering.

I am trying hard not to be optimistic or read into it too much, as I did not think that this would happen-it was just me having a damm good rant at them. So it would be good to hear of anybody else's stories if this has happened, or if anyone thinks that we may be still in with a chance? Any feedback/advice is always welcome!

[grahamw48]

They are prejudiced...simple as that.

They'll never admit it of course.

Good luck anyway.

[hawk]

my fiancees visa was refused last week they said she had little socal tyes to philippines she has a son familey friends so i cant understand why they say that no tyes were trying to get it over turned good luck with your visa app

[NOGLET]

Thanks for that Graham-will post as to what happens!

[imagine]

wish you all the best of good luck noglet

[sweetnote143]

goodluck to the visa application of your partner, and welcome to the forum

[lastlid]

Hi Noglet,

I imagine that going through someone's visa application might be quite interesting on the one hand but once one has done a few it probably gets quite boring. So it wouldn't surprise me if the ECO's nod off while checking through our docs or miss bits out or make mistakes etc etc. Not funny really. But laughable.

Hopefully someone will check through your application and see that you have presented the necessary material and award your partner the visa.

[sars_notd_virus]

Welcome to the forum NOGLET!!

good luck and hope you hear some good news soon!!

[NOGLET]

Thank you very much!

[Arthur Little]

Hard lines ... especially after the amount of effort you've obviously put in to cover all contingencies. Sadly ... ... it seems Entry Clearance Officers tend to look for every loophole they can find, in order to turn down requests for Visit Visas - based on an inherent suspicion that applicants will fail to return to their homeland within the allotted timeframe - as, unfortunately, HAS BEEN the case all too often in the past.

If you'll forgive me for saying so, another reason for refusal, COULD just as easily be the comparatively short duration of your romantic liaison and the ensuing possibility that you may, inadvertently, have "overplayed the romantic card" - leading the ECO to strongly suspect that, once here, the odds were your partner would overstay in this country.

Whatever motivated the decision to decline the request, I do hope this latest development ultimately works in your favour.

[Arthur Little]

Meanwhile ... to our friendly site, and please keep us in the picture.

[Terpe]

Sorry to hear about your refusal NOGLET

What was the reason(s) given?

[elvie89]

well i was having thesame,i applied general visit visa and was being refused as well,so we sent a letter via mail and email letter on they answered us and said our letter was being forward to ECM but then they replied again that the ECM advice us to re-apply and make sure that i meet all the requierments for the next try so we are really annoyed,but that was it!!

[andy222]

What a game.

[NOGLET]

Hello again-and thanks to everyone for the support as it is really appreciated!

The reasons for refusal were so lame it would have been laughable-probably due to the fact that the ECO could not even add up the emails we had sent between us correctly. He/she also said that my telephone number was not showing on the itemised bills we had sent in (It was in the top left hand corner), and even if it was there was no evidence that it was my partner I was speaking to??!! They then said there was no evidence to suggest we had even met when I was out there-yet there were 2 identical flight itineries submitted, one in my partners name and one in mine, paid with my credit card and seats allocated together!

The icing on the cake was a letter from my housing association stating they were more than happy for my partner to stay with me for UPTO six months and there was no risk of overcrowding. My association had thought they were being flexible and helpful by saying it could be for a maximum of six months-even though we were only applying for a 3 month stay. This we also addressed and explained-and they totally ignored it. The only other things they babbled on about were not providing enough information about his previous work or studies history-but we thought what on earth has that got to do with someone wanting to visit for 3 months, and financially they are being supported by me.

I just think it is one big farce but lets see what happens. We have aleady decided that if it is a negative response we are going to reapply straight away and sling all the information at them that they have based this first refusal on. I also did state in my complaint that, seeing that they had not mentioned any of the other evidence we had provided, such as savings etc this was taken by us to mean they did not have a problem with this. Whether that will do any good I do not know? My way of thinking, and forgive me if I am being naive, is that if we address the reasons for refusal, sooner or later they are going to run out of reasons to refuse-either that or they are just going to get more and more outrageous!

[NOGLET]

Thanks to all for the support so far!
The reasons given were:
My partners offer of employment letter did not have a start date on-this was explained in the documents and we stated the reason there was not start date was because the employer (one of partners family memebers who's business it is) was trying to be flexible regarding the date-as we did not know how long the visa process took, the longer it went on for-the later the date next year he would be returning. So we have now addressed this and he has actually told him when he wants him back by now.

The ECO said that even though I had travelled over there, there was no evidence we had actually met. An itinerary was in the documents showing 2 identical flights booked with my credit card, one in his name and one in mine showing seats that had been allocated next to each other for the flight and I had paid extra for the allocation.

They said even though I had supplied itemised phone records there was no evidence it was him I was actually speaking to-yet his name is all over the bills by the telephone calls made. They also said my phone number was not on the bill-it was in the top left corner in black and white practically waving at the moron.

They said the letter from my landlord cast doubt as to our intentions-because my landlord, again trying to give us flexibility I suppose had said my partner could stay for a period of UPTO six months if he wanted. We had only asked for three months and again we explained this in the documents.

They also said there was no evidence of prior work or study-but why would we put any of that in when it is the past, and we are talking about a 3 month general visit in the future!? I will not swear but alot of it struck me as just hair splitting-so I have sent them a revised letter from my landlord showing a 3 month stay, a load more emails between us, the employment lettrer is being sent with an actual start date, and also a picture of the 2 of us together which I managed to track down. In retrospect I wish we had sent that to begin with! I did state in the email of compalint back to them that, as they have not mentioned any of the other evidence we sent as a reason for refusal, we are assuming they were perfectly happy with that side-such as savings etc.

I don't know if we are being naive here but our way of thinking is that if we concentrate on addressing the reason they give for refusal (no matter how lame), and then reapply making sure we cover those reasons, that eventually thery are going to find it more and more difficult to find reasons-or they are going to become even more outrageous!!!