Visitor visa from kenya - bank statements

[Nofx911]

Hi I’m new here just looking for some advice . My girlfriend is Kenyan and have a applied for a visitor visa to visit me for a month and later in year we are getting married and I’ll apply for spouse visa .

Question is we’ve included her job of 4+ years that she’s approved leave . A letter from landlord saying she hasn’t handed notice in . Letter from sister who relies on her financially . Return flights . Is this enough to satisfy she will be returning home ?

Also a question on her bank statements . I’m fully sponsoring the trip flights accommodation included all that deed etc . Breakdown how much trip would cost my outgoing and incoming wage of 40,000 .
She’s included her bank statements 6 months worth that match up with her 6 months payslips . But in Kenya they do not use bank much and she withdraws her money into her M-PESA account . Which is like mobile payments . Ie her rent gets paid to landlord with M-PESA . Will the bank statements suffice or should she include mpesa statements also ( only down side to that they generally just say a name ) who uve paid too not what for


Any help would be appreciated .

[THO]

Hi,

My then GF, now wife, was not issued a visa from VN to visit me, despite providing all those types of things, plus she has a great travel history with lots of stamps in her PP including European. I also included return flights. So, I don't think you would be lucky with what you say you have.

You need far more to prove she will return to her home country, than you have listed, there is nothing that could stop her from just staying in the UK as far as the HO are concerned. You might be lucky and get one, because the ECO who picks up your case was less hard than mine, but I would not risk it, because after a refusal, almost nothing will change their minds.

[Nofx911]

Thanks THO for your reply and experiences .
Is it next to impossible then to prove to the HO that they will return home ?
It’s sent now so I just gotta hope for the best , we are planning to marry in august so I guess if it gets refused I should just wait until then and apply for a spouse visa ?

Cheers

[THO]

It is almost impossible, yes, they like things like owing a property, having a dependant child to go back to. Those things would be reasons to abscond, in my book, so you can work illegally and send money back to pay for them, but the HO sees it differently.

Immediately after the first refusal, we applied again, and added all sorts of extra stuff to convince them, plus lots of my personal details and the deeds to my home to tell them where they could find me if she does not return. Refused again as we did not show enough ties to her home country for her to return, so I ended up reversing the tickets and going to see her.

Even getting the Marriage Visitor Visa we were refused first go for stupid reasons, so I did a PAP, and they backed down, when I pointed out the reasons they refused were non-sensical, compared to the evidence they had been given demonstrating the relationship was 3 years old and how many times we had met etc.

I wish you good luck, it's a pain all the waiting.

[Nofx911]

It seems so definately , not so easy to own a house and if she had a child it would be mine hence British would give them more reason to refuse lol.
I probably wouldn’t reapply if gets refused I’ll do same as you and just reverse the tickets . I’m due to go back there in august to get married at registrar and then December with family do have traditional wedding and white wedding . Then apply for spousal .

I would of went down fiancée route but it’s not cost effective paying 1500 for a 6 month visa .

Not good getting declined with spouse first time I think I’d cry the amount it costs . Did u use a solicitor for the pap ? What reasons did they give for refusal if u don’t mind me asking I wanna be prepared for every eventuality when it comes to that visa .

Thank you

[THO]

We applied for a marriage visitor visa, which gave her 6 months in the UK when we could get married and then she would need to return home, and I could apply for spouse visa. The main reason for the refusal, was that we did not prove we would get married when she was here. This is despite me attaching an official signed document from the registrar, issued to them by the HO, saying I had approached them to organise the day, but that they are not allowed to make any arrangements or book any appointments until she has been in the UK for 8 days.

Only then can we organise a wedding date, so the fact that no venue had been organised, was because how can I organise an event when I don't know when it will be?

The other reason was that the pictures sent did not have date stamps on them! Obviously in different parts of country and World and our passports with stamps were provided.

The decision was one supposedly final with no rights to appeal or review, but I went along the approach, that I want that incompetent man to answer for his negligent actions, to ignore the reams of evidence provided, and pick on something impossible to prove, i.e. we will get married when she comes here. I could have gone to a venue and got a few prices, but that proves nothing.

Let us know what happens.

[Nofx911]

Thanks for the reply sorry been slow and replying back . We are going to apply for fiancée visa in may now regardless of the outcome of visitor visa . I booked registry office already for October .

I’ll make sure to include that confirmation etc when I reply . To hopefully get it approved first time .
And the time stamps on the photos too , definately won’t forget that one .

On terms of the visitor visa we have got a decision after 3 weeks , no email from uvki but she got email Monday from Tls contact stating a decision had been made and to collect her passport .
But decided to do that tomorrow as she’s taking the b1 English test in Nairobi so makes sense to do both at same time . I’ll update tomorrow on whatever the outcome is , hoping it will be approved but also realistic that the chances are be refused due to balance of probabilities and there discrimination towards poorer countries .

[Nofx911]

We applied for a marriage visitor visa, which gave her 6 months in the UK when we could get married and then she would need to return home, and I could apply for spouse visa. The main reason for the refusal, was that we did not prove we would get married when she was here. This is despite me attaching an official signed document from the registrar, issued to them by the HO, saying I had approached them to organise the day, but that they are not allowed to make any arrangements or book any appointments until she has been in the UK for 8 days.

Only then can we organise a wedding date, so the fact that no venue had been organised, was because how can I organise an event when I don't know when it will be?

The other reason was that the pictures sent did not have date stamps on them! Obviously in different parts of country and World and our passports with stamps were provided.

The decision was one supposedly final with no rights to appeal or review, but I went along the approach, that I want that incompetent man to answer for his negligent actions, to ignore the reams of evidence provided, and pick on something impossible to prove, i.e. we will get married when she comes here. I could have gone to a venue and got a few prices, but that proves nothing.

Let us know what happens.

Just to let you know the immigration Gods were on our side , she got approved for 6 month visit visa

[THO]

Good news, I'm very pleased for you. Good luck for the future.

[AmazonianX]

Congratulations