Islamabad appeal/new application

[papa]

We have appealed against BHC Islamabad's rejection of settlement application. They were supposed to send their bundle of documents/evidence to UK by 31st Jan 2008, but they haven't. The appeal authority here has given them reminders, and is now going to give a hearing date, which is going to be in at least 2 months.

We do not even know if they have looked at the file to review! We thought their original REASONS for refusal were very unfair (see prev. posts), and now have been waiting for months.

We have options for fresh application, and we hear that the turnaround times are now 2 weeks.

If we do make fresh application do we have to stop the appeal, or is it void? Is there anyway to Communicate with Islamabad on the appeal?

Please Help!

[rainbow24]

I was in a similar situation to yourself. My husband applied for a spouse visa from Islamabad to come here to the UK to be with me and my son.

We had our visa rejected and went on to do an appeal and we won the appeal, so hold on in there and don't give up!! Make sure that you have everything in your evidence folder and in ORDER incase the judge or the home office rep decides to question you about any of your documents.

I was told by my solicitor that 99% of the time Islamabad don't review cases, they just send the bundle straight to the AIT for a hearing. However, I put pressure on them to review my husbands case and they did. After reviewing his case, they still insisted on an appeal hearing. The best thing to do is to email them and you WILL get a response. Trust me! They will keep you up to date with what's happening with your husbands case. Their email address is on the british high commission website. If you can't get hold of it, let me know and I'll find it for you. I still have it stored in my hotmail account.

Don't worry, it is a long drawn out process but when you get to the appeal stage the visa should be granted. Most of the people I know have had their visas refused by Islamabad, but have won their appeals. Islamabad refuse visas all the time for minor reasons. Don't worry and just make sure that you and your solicitor prepare your evidence folder to the highest standard and organise the folder so that everything is there and you can refer to any documents easily if asked to do so. Good luck!!!

[papa]

Thanks for your advice. I will e-mail them right away.

[VictoriaS]

If you choose to reapply, you can continue with the appeal at the same time.

Victoria

[MSS]

I was constantly emailing BHC in islamabad from August to November, asking them when they would review my husbands appeal case, and each time I would receive an automated reply from the battery hens sitting over there. In frustration, I lodged a complaint in the UKvisas website. and was contacted straightaway by the complaints department who then forwarded my views to Peter Winters the entry clearance manager (ECM) in Islamabad. He replied to my email personally and explained why everything was taking so long, and then right at the end of the email he wrote this:

"Although we a large Government institution we are still run by human beings. We do not intend to make people's lives difficult and attempt to show a compassionate side wherever possible. Your husbands appeal will be reviewed today, but you need to be aware that the outcome may still be unfavourable".

Isnt it funny how they decided to review it on the day I emailed them???
Anyway, they still upheld the refusal, and now we have an appeal hearing in March.
I would recommend you reapply, if you can, i know it will cost more money, but they pumping out visas in 2-3 weeks now; I know 3 cases which were accepted in 3 weeks and 1 where the visa was granted in 3 days.
Good Luck - and please Pray for me 2!

Oh and the email for them is (i know it off by heart now): ‎VISQRY.ISLAMABAD@FCO.GOV.UK‎
-remember to quote your reference number which is on the refusal notice.

[Liberal Immigrant]

guys/ladies,

can you please please please state why your visa applications were refused? you can be brief if you like (though i'd prefer as much detail as possible).

reason why i want to know is because i will soon be going back to pak to aplpy for a fiance/spouse visa. i dont want to make any mistakes and then be stuck in a long appeal process which will take ages.

i am a refused asylum seeker, here since 1999, my HR claim has been pending since 2004, recently got engaged to my fiance and hoping to go back to pakistan to apply for entry clearance in August 2008.

any ideas/suggestions?

by the way, my fiance works full time, she earns £32k and so financially etc i.e. payslips etc WONT be a problem. as for me, i am a UK law graduate with very good job prospects.

thanks.

[Liberal Immigrant]

emm, well?