Spouse settlement visa rejection, Islamabad: HELP

[Confuze]

Text from the ECO

You have Failed to provide any evidence that your sponsor was present at the marriage ceremony. I note that photographs have been provided purporting to be of your wedding.
However these photographs only contain you and your sponsor and appear to be taken in your house, with no other person present. I am not satisfied that these photographs are of your wedding, added to the fact that your Nikah Nama is completed entirely in English, which is extremely unusual in my experience, especially in Peshawar. As such, I am not satisfied that you and your sponsor have contracted a valid Marriage 281 (i)a) or (i)b)

I note that you have stated on your application that your spouse is employed however you have provided no satisfactory evidence of this. You have produced wage slips that purportedly cover a period of some months, whilst it could be reasonable to accept them as evidence of genuine employment and I am aware that many small businesses use them for reasons of economy, they are of a type readily produced on a word processor or obtainable from a stationers' in the united Kingdom and in a condition that does not reflect their age. In the context of my other doubts as to your sponsor's claimed employment, they are not persuasive. Furthermore, the bank statements you have produced do not show any deposits that fail to reflect the amounts claimed as earrings. Given the lack of supporting evidence to substantiate your sponsor's claimed employment I am not satisfied that your spouse has regular employment, a regular wage or the prospects of any security. 281 (v)

You state that you will seek to find employment in the UK. However you have provided no evidence or information regarding your qualifications or work experience and there is no indication that you speak, write or understand English. In the absence of any evidence that you have conducted any research into Job prospects in the area I therefore consider it highly improbable that would be able to secure employment in the near future to satisfy me that your arrival will not cause recourse to public funds. 281 (v)

We provided

1. 12 Months wage Slips
2. P60 for 2006 - 2007
3. Few photo's of the wedding
4. Nikah Name in English
5. My wife Orignal copy of my wife degree
6. She ticked the box that she will work in UK
7. Proof of the passport (photo copy) showing that I was in Pakistan during the marriage ceremony

Help please with the covering letter

I was Present at marriage ceremony

We are can not produce any more pics as non was taken and we were not aware that it would help, the one we presented was taken by a family memeber.

Nikah Nama (Muslim Marriage Certificate) InEnglish was provided but they doubt that as it was in English and the fact that we are from peshawar.

I provided Proper wage slips and P60 and they doubt that. The money comes into my Bank account showing the name of the company where it comes from every month.

How do we deal with this ??

If it goes for the apeal in-case they decide not to issue visa by providing further documents how long the apeak may take ?? I checked it on AIT and it indicate that it takes 26 weeks?? can we apeal ?? and re-apply at the same time ??

And how do go about further supporting documents ??

[ilm]

I would be to go through all the reasons you were given for the rejection and look at ways you can demonstrate they are wrong. Any attitude that they are wrong and you are right will not get you very far.

The first point is they are not happy the sponsor was at the wedding. If you don't have more photos you are going to have to prove this in another way.

1, Was anyone else at the wedding that can provide a reference, support for the marriage.
2, Were any invites sent out? You could show copies of these.
3, Who performed the ceremony, they could also provide a reference.
4, Were any expenses incurred(travel, rings etc.)? You could show receipts for these.
5, Why was the Nikah Nama in English. I know nothing about weddings in Peshawar but if this is unusual, which it obviously is, you should explain why this was the case.
6, Was the proof of travel in the passport pointed out in the application?

The spouses employment is key to showing you can support yourselves. If money is coming into the bank that backs up wage slips you should point this out (Ensure the amounts are the same). If the wage slips are new explain why this is the case, or better still get the employer to explain it in a letter. As they have said the wage slips supplied are often used by small businesses so as long as they is backed up there should not be a problem. If your spouse don't have regular employment, or a regular wage you will have to show they are, and can be financialy secure. Employment history, qualifications, the type of work they do, and are prepared to do, in the form of a CV, with references could demonstrate this?

The applicants employment prospects in the UK are not always required but as the application failed to show the sponsor is financially secure they have highlighted that the applicant has not povided any information regarding their employment prospects. These could have made the difference if it was demonstrated that they would easily be able to get work. Saying they will is not enough, it needs to be backed up with qualifications, employment history etc. Simply demonstrating they speak English and have an idea of the type of work they expect to get in the UK should suffice as employment is relatively easy to get in the UK for those prepared to work. Having a degree does not show this without demonstrating how it will help them.

If you really did only provide the evidence you did I am surprised you were not also rejected on the grounds you have not shown any details of accomodation, also have you even demonstrated you have met? Read posts on this board about spouse visa's, accepted and rejected, and you should see that too little evidence is often the reason for the rejection.

I have no experience of what you can now do but from reading other posts you can appeal, contact the ECO and hope they will accept more evidence to counter the rejection or reapply. I am sure others will have a view as to what you should do but in light of such a lack of evidence an appeal would surely fail.

[VictoriaS]

I am working on a very similar appeal now.

You can appeal and reapply at the same time if you wish - we do so a lot. It looks from what you have said that you have good grounds of appeal, but expect a six month wait (at least!) to be heard! If you reapply, then it will obviously cost another £500, but will be dealt with much faster.

If you would like assistance with the appeal or application, please e-mail me.

Victoria

[Brit Chick]

Same thing happened to my husband and I with our application - the absence of wedding pictures seemed to be the main reason for refusal (also got married in peshawar so maybe it's a local thing, haha). We filed an appeal but decided a fresh application would be quicker and we were right - it was processed in under 8 weeks, hubby's been in england for 8 months now and last month we got a letter saying that the appeal we filed has been successful (we did withdraw it when the second application was successful but I guess they aren't very efficient)

Good luck with however you decide to proceed.

[SYH]

Same thing happened to my husband and I with our application - the absence of wedding pictures seemed to be the main reason for refusal (also got married in peshawar so maybe it's a local thing, haha). We filed an appeal but decided a fresh application would be quicker and we were right - it was processed in under 8 weeks, hubby's been in england for 8 months now and last month we got a letter saying that the appeal we filed has been successful (we did withdraw it when the second application was successful but I guess they aren't very efficient)

Good luck with however you decide to proceed.

Damn real good info Brit Chick. in the new application what was your strategy, what did you include that made the second app more successful.
Sounds like you might want to reapply but with a much more secure application to get it done more quickly

[Brit Chick]

Second applicatiom was pretty much the same as the first but obviously I really concentrated on providing evidence to refute the point of refusal - as we hadn't provided any photographic evidence of having met (never mind the fact that my passport showed my dates of entry to and from pak and that my signature was on the marriage certificate etc) I made sure I included LOTS in the second application. Probably a few too many but I'd rather be safe than sorry

[SYH]

Second applicatiom was pretty much the same as the first but obviously I really concentrated on providing evidence to refute the point of refusal - as we hadn't provided any photographic evidence of having met (never mind the fact that my passport showed my dates of entry to and from pak and that my signature was on the marriage certificate etc) I made sure I included LOTS in the second application. Probably a few too many but I'd rather be safe than sorry

good to know thanks for the feedback for ilm

[Confuze]

Do I need to send the orignal passport with the appeal application??

[avjones]

No, don't send original documents to the AIT or the Home Office appeals unit.

Send photocopies, and take the originals to court with you.

DOn't forget to provide a bundle of the papers, including witness statements, copies of photos / bank statements / mortage or rent documents / passports at least a week before the hearing to both the AIT and the Home Office appeals unit.

[Confuze]

Thanks for the info but as I know that the appeal will be reviewed first an if the CEO decide to issue visa then the paper work will not be sent to the AIT, in which I thought the CEO may need the passport to stamp it or you think they will contact us and ask for the passport that is if we were unfortunate.

[VictoriaS]

Amanda, I always send the originals to the AIT, so the Judge has them to hand, and so the AIT can confirm to the ECO that the documents they have copies of are genuine copies taken by them. I wonder why were were told differently! I certainly never send passports though.

Confuze - if the appeal is allowed you will be contacted by the ECO and asked for the passport for stamping.

Victoria

[Confuze]

thanks everyone and I will keep you updated which may help others

[avjones]

Amanda, I always send the originals to the AIT, so the Judge has them to hand, and so the AIT can confirm to the ECO that the documents they have copies of are genuine copies taken by them. I wonder why were were told differently! I certainly never send passports though.

Confuze - if the appeal is allowed you will be contacted by the ECO and asked for the passport for stamping.

Victoria

I always advise my solicitors to send copies to the AIT, and for the lay client to bring the originals to the tribunal hearing.

I've come across 3 cases where originals have got lost when sent to the AIT, so I think it's better not to send them.

[VictoriaS]

Understandable.

I find it is always the HOPOU who lose things! And then tell me off for them not having received my bundle, even though it has been posted AND faxed!

Victoria