visitors visa refusal

[scorpiolady]

My long term partner from Jamaica (soon to be fiance) has just been refused a visitors visa to come to UK to meet my family and friends. Without going into too much detail, we provided all the documentation as required, including our bank statements, letters from his employer, letter from his college tutor to prove he is studying, documents to show assets etc. We both feel that some of the information provided was either skimmed over or at worst completely ignored. He now has 28 days to appeal but because it was a visitors visa he only has limited rights of appeal under two categories: humanity and dearly beloved grounds. We are both aware that he as the applicant needs to evidence the details on the application form. We truly believe we have done this as per guidelines given by the UKvisas website.

Question...Would Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 be appropriate to quote for appeal under the humanitarian grounds? Does he, or me if it applies to people from UK only, not have the right to family life, even though we have not taken the step to marry or live together as yet?

Incidently I have asked my local MP to write a letter to the Entry Clearance Officer Manager at the High commission in Kingston Jamaica and formally request a review of the case as some information we have provided has not been considered.

Thanking everybody for any replies.

[Markie]

Did you include proof of your relationship...emails...letters....pictures perhaps? These are the sort of proof that the HO might be looking for...

My long term partner from Jamaica (soon to be fiance) has just been refused a visitors visa to come to UK to meet my family and friends. Without going into too much detail, we provided all the documentation as required, including our bank statements, letters from his employer, letter from his college tutor to prove he is studying, documents to show assets etc. We both feel that some of the information provided was either skimmed over or at worst completely ignored. He now has 28 days to appeal but because it was a visitors visa he only has limited rights of appeal under two categories: humanity and dearly beloved grounds. We are both aware that he as the applicant needs to evidence the details on the application form. We truly believe we have done this as per guidelines given by the UKvisas website.

Question...Would Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 be appropriate to quote for appeal under the humanitarian grounds? Does he, or me if it applies to people from UK only, not have the right to family life, even though we have not taken the step to marry or live together as yet?

Incidently I have asked my local MP to write a letter to the Entry Clearance Officer Manager at the High commission in Kingston Jamaica and formally request a review of the case as some information we have provided has not been considered.

Thanking everybody for any replies.

[scorpiolady]

The reason for refusal did not query the relationship and as the application was for a visitors visa it was not a requirement to provide evidence of it. As I said all the necessary documentation was provided as set out in the guidelines.

[Wanderer]

Kingston is a nightmare place to get a visa from, refusals are running at about 66%, probably the highest anywhere.

Human Rights doesn't really apply here.

[scorpiolady]

Not according to the new Entry Clearance Officer Manager who was speaking publicly last Friday at a Seminar in Birmingham regarding immigration issues for Jamaicans. She gave an formal undertaking that she would ensure that the training and standards of Entry Clearance Officers is brought up to scratch. Furthermore she invited anybody who has been refused any sort of visa and, provided they have produced the documents required of them and think they have a genuine case, to write to her personally and it will be reviewed.

Apparently my partner has the right to appeal under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. Can anybody explain to me in plain English exactly what Section 6 means?

[frances2]

Hi.
This sounds very familiar. Myself and my partner just has a visitor visa refused, In Kingston. (see my thread "will a pregnancy help"). The refusal was almost expected due to some of our circumstance, BUT the standard of the refusal was very poor, had factual inaccuracies, and really looked as if the application had not been read.
As for the Human Rights Act, just do a a search on google, and read the Human Rights Convention which follows on. It's easy to understand, but hard to write an appeal against it....
I'd be very interested to know the name of the lady at the High Commission, so i could drop her a "friendly line".

[scorpiolady]

Thank you frances2 for your message. At this point in time I am going to let the MP earn his salary and see what happens. I would be very grateful for any help in compiling an appeal under the Human Rights Act 1998 though, quoting either Article 8 or Section 6. My partner mentioned he is thinking of making the appeal orally, which is a choice that can be made. Any tips for him there too will be most welcome.

[Wanderer]

I'm telling you u'll struggle with the HRA S8, HO will say go to Jamaica, live there, you have that option, Human Rights not infringed, will be the HO mantra...

S6 is about European rights i think, I know nowt about these, might be worth a punt but ur batting on a new wicket, so be prepared...

This would I imagine be all the more difficult with this being a VV, not a settlement visa.

[VictoriaS]

Yes, I agree. Arguing Human Rights on a visit visa is pretty much pointless.

Was the refusal on intent to return?

Victoria

[clairey]

Scorpiolady, I asked my MP on 5th October to investigate my husband's cousin's VV refusal from Tirana (refused on the basis of the ECO not believing he has a business over there, and doubting his intent to return, despite him having previously been to the UK), and last night when I got home from work, there was a letter from my MP that she had received from UK Visas (dated 11th November). It said something along the lines of:

"Thank you for your enquiry on behalf of your constituent. Unfortunately, due to the large volume of enquiries received recently by UK Visas, we are not in a position to give you any information about this case. We hope to be able to deal with your enquiry in the very near future. Yours sincerely (illegible scrawl), Visa Customer Services"

which I chose to interpret as "this file has fallen down the back of the radiator, and no-one can be bothered to try and get it. If we leave it long enough, you might forget about it and go away." It's an absolute joke. You have my sympathies.

[scorpiolady]

Thank you for the replies. There were 3 reasons for the refusal. the first was that his bank account had only been boosted over the last 3 months...giving no regard to the fact he stated he bought a car and was earning a second income from this. They said that therey were not satisfied his intentions were as he stated and not satisfied he was genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a limited period or that he intends to leave at the end of his stay.

The second reason was that although I have produced bank statements they say they do not show that I am financially able to finance his visit and therefore not satisfied that he would be maintained and accommodated adequately in the UK without recourse to public funds. I believe that they did not take into consideration the fact that I have my own limited company and I believe they saw the amounts on my business accounts and mistook them to be monthly amounts instead of weekly!! I hold a professional position with significant earnings and could probably maintain and accommodate half the staff in the Embassy!!

I understand that it may be futile to pursue this for a VV but I do believe there is a principle involved here and the more people who make a stand the better surely?

[Dawie]

It's almost insulting and patronising the way they refer to themselves as "Visa Customer Services", as if you are a "customer".

The way government departments, particularly the Home Office and Foreign Office, refer to themselves as "businesses" with "clients" and "customers" seems to be an attempt on their part to dehumanise the entire process by absolving themselves from any personal responsibility for the lives they ruin.

Ruined life? Just call our "Customer Services" department, as if you were phoning to complain about your BT line.

[clairey]

I know, it's ridiculous calling themselves customer services. "I'd like to return this visa please; it's the wrong size".

My aunt used to work for the Foreign Office, and was posted in Sofia and Lagos. I explained everything to her, and she was horrified. In her day, they would have been out on their ear for failing to provide a Member of Parliament with an answer when requested!

[Dawie]

I'm afraid that was back in the day when members of parliament had backbones and the civil service actually provided a "service".

[MikeKorea]

It's almost insulting and patronising the way they refer to themselves as "Visa Customer Services", as if you are a "customer".

If you think that's bad, I phoned the British Embassy here in South Korea with a visa query a few weeks ago to discover that they'd now outsourced their UK Visa Application Service to a company called VFS Global:

http://www.vfs-uk-kr.com/

Part of the Zurich based Kuoni Travel Group, VFS Global was established in 2001, in Mumbai (India), as a specialist partner for diplomatic missions worldwide. VFS Global serves diplomatic missions by managing all the administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to the entire lifecycle of a visa application process, enabling diplomatic missions to focus entirely on the key tasks of assessment and interview.
http://www.vfsglobal.com/

The machine on the phone told me that each call 'costs the local currency equivalent of $6.60 charged to your credit card'. So the UK now charges people here to ask even the most general of questions about visa applications - based on US dollars, ironically.

I don't know whether this is happening everywhere or whether it's just the shape of things to come.


Mike

[VictoriaS]

It is happening all over the world.


Victoria

[clairey]

Visa info services in Tirana are now dealt with by a company called World Bridge, https://www.visainfoservices.com/ who are part of the CSC company (we use them for IT support in our company, and they're shocking!).

Taken from their website:
You can get information about how to obtain a visa by calling WorldBridge’s user pay phone service at 442-0-70-997-270. Trained agents will provide you with visa application information. There is a fee equivalent to US$14 to make this call. This is an international call to the UK that will be routed to our call center.

Nice idea, but they don't pick up the phone. They also don't answer emails. Another example of how outsourcing doesn't work, I'm afraid.

[scorpiolady]

worldbridge is the agency that deals with visas in jamaica also

[VictoriaS]

And Canada.


Victoria