Post
by eyeone » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:57 pm
Dear all,
I am new to this forum and would greatly appreciate some help if possible.
My partner and I live together in Ukraine, and have done since Feb 2007. We had applied for a Visa for her to visit the UK in Sep 2006 and it was rejected on the basis that the ECO did not believe that our relationship existed as stated. With this in mind I moved out to Ukraine and based myself from there.
Now in April 2008 we applied for a visitor visa again, as we wanted to go and see my family with our son, who was born in 2007. I filled out the application form, as I had done previously, and we submitted it with all evidence. Again it was refused.
Now the strange thing for me was that she had been refused under 320 (7A) for not stating that she had been to the UK, and also that she had made an application the the Home Office for Asylum.
This came as a big shock for me as I did not know she had been to the UK and it is something she had never told me. Sadly the story is not so clear cut, as after quite some arguing and tension she told me the truth as to why she had been in the UK. She had been trafficked.
She had originally been trafficked to Greece but was caught and deported in a police raid. She was jailed and deported by train. As soon as the train crossed into Bulgaria, the local mob boarded the train and took her and some other girls off it. She was sent back in to Greece and then on to the UK. When she arrived in the UK she was taken to make an asylum claim. She only put her name on the form and signed it, her escort filled out the rest. Now this is pretty much all there is to say on the trafficking matter and this is not the reason for my post.
Now, when I found this out I asked my partner why she had not told anyone this when she applied at the Visa center. She told me that she had planned to tell them but was never given a chance. She said that she didn't tell me as she thought I would leave her.
Well I was furious and started my own enquires in to why she had been refused a visa without anyone even speaking to her.
I managed to contact the ECM in Kyiv and had some discussion with him via email. He stated that he had looked at the case and stood by the decision of the ECM but we could re-apply for a spouse visa and the visa would not automatically be refused under 320 (7B).
Well that annoyed me even more, why can she not visit?
Now I said it is not clear cut as the ECO wrote on the refusal about my partner making an asylum claim at the HO in Croydon. I understand they cannot ever refer to asylum claims in refusals? The ECM just apologized for this.
Also when the ECO came and gave her what he called his interview, he did this in the public area. My partner was that scared and everyone around could hear, she said nothing and let him go on at her.
The ECM did admit that it would have been prudent to interview my partner in private and did agree that there should not have been the chair at the side of the booth where she was interviewed, and said they had now been removed.
After several emails with the ECM, he said that we should re-apply and he would look at the case and make a note it should not be refused on papers alone.
So we have just done the application and my partner will go for her interview very soon, however I would like some advice.
1) I filled out the application form and just asked my partner to sign it. I didn't know she had been to the UK. So why should she be penalized for this without any inquiry.
2) Is it acceptable for an ECO to refer to an asylum claim in a refusal and then just say sorry it was an accident?
3) Is it acceptable that she be given an interview, given the nature of the circumstances, at a booth right where people are sat. And then for the ECM to say the chars should not have been there and have now been removed.
4) My partner was trafficked to the UK. They should have the original application that will be written in 2 types of writing. And also they should be able to check the address that was given.
5) She never found out the result of the asylum application. She does not know why they told her to do it.
6) She left the UK by herself without any involvement of the government more that 6 years ago.
7) She is willing to help the and tell as much information as she can, if someone will listen.
If anyone can give me some advice on if UK Visas have acted fairly in this case and if they have done something that might give me some leverage with them to at least get my partners voice and mine across to them.
I have all the ECM's comments on email and still have the refusal.
Thank you in advance.