Spouse Visa Rejected- Should Appeal or Re-apply ?

[anutri27]

Hi All,

I am holding UK ILR. My wife applied for UK Spouse Visa in Apr-2019. The application was refused on the following reasons :
"The documents provided do not show that you have ever physically met with sponsor. You have provided no photo graphic evidence of either your wedding ceremony or any other time you and your sponsor have met."

We have provided marriage certificate as proof However my wife also tried to submit wedding photos, invitation cards and video recording of engagement and marriage ceremony in VFS Delhi Office but the girl who was collecting the application and documents refused to take those photos saying that these are not required.

Will appeal help in this case ? or Should we re appy again ?

[THO]

Before you do anything, make sure you can gather the evidence necessary to pass the required level of proof that you are in a genuine relationship and not just that you met once to get married.

You would not believe the amount of evidence my wife and I submitted to make them believe our relationship was real and that I can support her so she could come here to get married with me, and I am British born and bred. And I have submitted all my financials etc plus all the evidence we sent for our wedding visa again, for her spouse visa application.

If all you can add is a wedding video, with no proof that you have met a lot of times and spent time together, then I would say that your application will fail again. They often point at one or two reasons for failing, and then if you provide some more information, they will say other stuff is missing.

How many times have you met as a matter of interest?

[seagul]

It was definitely the mistake made by vfs scanning staff who are not an immigration staff but they won't accept that responsibility. In my opinion re-apply but scan your documents yourself because wedding photos, invitation cards etc are mandatory to confirm that you met the sponsor in person and they are also part of subsisting relationship evidences. Also note that they don't accept videos.

[anutri27]

Thanks a lot for your responses.
I met her multiple times. I met her in March-2018 first time. I came back to UK to continue my job. I met her again in Nov 2018 when we were officially engaged.I can produce evidence of the engagement like Photos, Video Recording , Hotel Booking etc. After engagement, I came back to UK to continue my job. I got married in March-2019.

[Waiting limited]

you have enough evidences , submit them all, flight tickets or make copies of stamped entries to India . pictures of both of you with family as well .

I copy seagul words from another post similar to your situation

before you reapply check again all documents must be valid and in compliance of the guideline such as TB shouldn't be expired, financial documents must not be older than 28 days. Remember each case will be dealt on its merits which doesn't means that a document submitted earlier will definitely be accepted again.

all the best

[THO]

It looks like your relationship was just one year old when you married her and you only met twice? Were these long visits, or just short vacations?
My wife's marriage visitor visa was rejected after we had been together for 3 years, and met all over the World and spent months together and we passed all other criteria and sent in tons of unrefutably evidence, because they said we did not prove the validity of the relationship enough to convince the ECO we would marry! I got the decision overturned and we got married, but I don't see how you will possibly be given a spouse visa based on two meetings before marrying in about 1 year only. Sorry to say, and I truly wish you well, but if you are given a spouse visa based on that, I would be amazed. I think you need to spend more time with her there and get more evidence of a real relationship, rather than spending money on another attempt.

[seagul]

but I don't see how you will possibly be given a spouse visa based on two meetings before marrying in about 1 year only. Sorry to say, and I truly wish you well, but if you are given a spouse visa based on that, I would be amazed. I think you need to spend more time with her there and get more evidence of a real relationship, rather than spending money on another attempt.

The only requirement is that both partners must have met in person and be free to marry for which wedding pictures, family & individual pictures etc usually are needed.. If they are living apart then they must prove that how they keeping in touch for which emails, chat, calls etc are sufficient.

[Jaune08]

It looks like your relationship was just one year old when you married her and you only met twice? Were these long visits, or just short vacations?
My wife's marriage visitor visa was rejected after we had been together for 3 years, and met all over the World and spent months together and we passed all other criteria and sent in tons of unrefutably evidence, because they said we did not prove the validity of the relationship enough to convince the ECO we would marry! I got the decision overturned and we got married, but I don't see how you will possibly be given a spouse visa based on two meetings before marrying in about 1 year only. Sorry to say, and I truly wish you well, but if you are given a spouse visa based on that, I would be amazed. I think you need to spend more time with her there and get more evidence of a real relationship, rather than spending money on another attempt.

I agree with you, THO. anutri27, I'll share with you one of my friend's experiences: they were applying for a fiancé visa and got refused on the basis that the ECO couldn't prove the authenticity their relationship, as they had been together for year and a half only, despite the evidence of photographs, engagement party photos, plane tickets, hotel bookings etc (they had only met 3 times in person though). So she was the one who advised us (to my then boyfriend and me) to wait longer to apply. And that's what we did.

Probably it's one of those unwritten rules by Home Office, where despite the evidence, they require a threshold of two years to call it authentic (even though it isn't stated anywhere)

[seagul]

I'll share with you one of my friend's experiences: they were applying for a fiancé visa and got refused on the basis that the ECO couldn't prove the authenticity their relationship, as they had been together for year and a half only, despite the evidence of photographs, engagement party photos, plane tickets, hotel bookings etc (they had only met 3 times in person though). So she was the one who advised us (to my then boyfriend and me) to wait longer to apply. And that's what we did.

Probably it's one of those unwritten rules by Home Office, where despite the evidence, they require a threshold of two years to call it authentic (even though it isn't stated anywhere)

If they were living together for one year then photos, tickets and hotel bookings are worthless to prove subsisting relationship rather joint tenancy agreements/joint utility bills/joint bank statements will be far more importantly needed. Fiancee visa and unmarried are the visas where the partner haven't yet married. Incase of fiancee visa apart of other subsisting relationship evidences the caseworker will also want to see that how actively the partners are doing their wedding planning and arrangements in UK and the same is the purpose of that visa. Incase of married partners the HO do understand that they have to live apart because sponsor should be doing some job/self employment in UK to meet the financial requirement.

[THO]

Seagul, you should know, that NOTHING can be done to prove you are going to get married in the UK, until the fiancé has been in the country for 8 days, only then can the couple apply for a license and serve notice of intent to marry. This is official and I have the HO document to prove this. Booking a venue etc does not prove a marriage will take place, it merely proves that you have booked a venue you can later cancel and receive a refund on.
The reason visa's are so hard to get, is of course to stop people pretending they are in a relationship with someone (who they would normally have paid), so that person can find a way to enter the country that otherwise they would not be entitled to enter. They then divorce after the requisite amount of time for the indefinite leave to remain is granted.

If the bar for getting a fiance visa to marry is that high, in terms of length of relationship, number of meets etc, then the bar for obtaining a spouse visa should be equally as high, otherwise people would just marry abroad and skip the cost and months of three years pretending to be together.
It would be totally wrong to grant a visa based on this level of commitment to the relationship, based on mine, and so many other people on this board's experience of the same thing. That is why my advice is, do not apply for the visa again, you will be likely to waste your money, and get your hopes up for no reason. Also, does a failed visa put a black mark against your name, and make it harder the next time you apply? Fail twice and you might find it impossible. You might just as well spend months chatting on whatsapp etc, keeping the records of conversations which you must submitt, and traveling to her for weeks at a time etc.

Just my advice.

[seagul]

Seagul, you should know, that NOTHING can be done to prove you are going to get married in the UK, until the fiancé has been in the country for 8 days, only then can the couple apply for a license and serve notice of intent to marry. This is official and I have the HO document to prove this. Booking a venue etc does not prove a marriage will take place, it merely proves that you have booked a venue you can later cancel and receive a refund on.
The reason visa's are so hard to get, is of course to stop people pretending they are in a relationship with someone (who they would normally have paid), so that person can find a way to enter the country that otherwise they would not be entitled to enter. They then divorce after the requisite amount of time for the indefinite leave to remain is granted.

If the bar for getting a fiance visa to marry is that high, in terms of length of relationship, number of meets etc, then the bar for obtaining a spouse visa should be equally as high, otherwise people would just marry abroad and skip the cost and months of three years pretending to be together.
It would be totally wrong to grant a visa based on this level of commitment to the relationship, based on mine, and so many other people on this board's experience of the same thing. That is why my advice is, do not apply for the visa again, you will be likely to waste your money, and get your hopes up for no reason. Also, does a failed visa put a black mark against your name, and make it harder the next time you apply? Fail twice and you might find it impossible. You might just as well spend months chatting on whatsapp etc, keeping the records of conversations which you must submitt, and traveling to her for weeks at a time etc.

Just my advice.

What you are failing to understand is that everyone's case is different and in many occasions a person with adverse immigration history applies spouse visa/fiancee visa from abroad then caseworker doesn't easily be convinced unless exceptional amount of subsisting relationship is being provided. In op's case he was only only refused that he can't prove that he physically met other partner on the occasion of marriage and which is undeniably the most important requirement. You are misassuming it with number of visits to prove subsisting relationship. Also there is a chapter of UKVI regarding arrange marriages where partners doesn't have much subsisting relationship due to religious and cultural constraint. If the partners were both present at marriage occasions and now one of them in uk and doing job to meet the financial requirement but also through chat/calls is in touch with other partner and sending him/her money/gifts is absolutely fine and other than your friend if you search the board then will find several successful cases

[anutri27]

I was trying to reapply. However URL seems changed.
Do i need to submit the application on this url ? visas-immigration.service.gov.uk or visa4uk.fco.gov.uk