My experience of my successful appeal (maintenance).

[bananafish]

Ok fellas.

Here is the my experience here for posterity. Not that posterity has ever done anything for me.

My visa was rejected because of the maintenance of funds requirement.

I did not want to spend money on a lawyer so I represented myself.

For people who are too lazy to look up the facts of my case from my previous posts:

Facts

My visa was expiring on the 31st of Jan and that is when I sent my PSW application. Technically I should have had at least £800 since 30th October. But unfortunately the money came into my account on the 4th of November. However, since the 4th of November till today I have more than the required £800 in my account.

Therefore, the caseworker had statements with the correct amount (£800) from 4th Nov till 30th Jan which totals upto 88 or 89 days.

I wanted to send my continuing bank statements so that they would cover 4th of Febuary. In this regards I contacted the Home Office and they told me to send the continuing statements and they might be considered by the case-worker...but unfortunately by the time my statements reached the caseworker, a decision had been reached before they could consider the additional statements I sent them.

Since the 4th of Nov till today my account has always been more than £800


The Witness Statement

OK. So basically it seemed like I needed to cover up the initial short-fall somehow. I remembered I had an overseas account in my home country which I could use and went to work on getting the statements and a letter from the bank there. Here is my witness statement:

IN THE ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION TRIBUNAL Appeal No: xxxx
BETWEEN

XXXXX
Appellant

-and-


SECRETARY OF STATE
Respondent



WITNESS STATEMENT OF XXXXXX




I, xxxx of xxxxx (add the address here), will say as follows:

1. That, on 31st January 2009, I applied for leave to remain in the United Kingdom as Tier (Post Study Work) Migrant. An official, xxxxx considered my application on behalf of the Respondent and refused my application notification of which I received just after the 17th March 2009. It was decided that I have not provided adequate documents to demonstrate that I have been in possession of £800 for the specified 3 months before making the application and therefore I cannot claim the 10 points for maintenance under the immigration rules.

2. The Respondent is satisfied that I have been awarded all other relevant points under the Immigration Rules as the decision letter clearly shows.

3. Following successful completion of my Masters in International Commercial Law from University of xxxx, I decided to apply as a Tier 1 (Post Study) Migrant and furnished all relevant documentations to the UK Border Agency for its consideration and approval. The Tribunal will have all of these documents in support of my application in the bundle. It was and still remains my intention to contribute to my own personal development by undertaking full-time work in this country.

4. Along with my application, I submitted my bank statements of my UK account number xxxxx the period of 24th September 2008 to 30th January 2009. However, the statements from 16th January 2009 to 30th January 2009 were ad-hoc statements printed in the branch as I had not yet received official statements in the post which covered that period.

5. Being aware that I was providing ad-hoc statements, I also included a covering letter with my application bringing to attention the fact that the last two sheets of the bank statements covering period 16th January to 30th January were printed in the branch of my bank. I explained that I would be sending the official bank statements covering that period as soon as I would receive them and requested that these be included with my application.

6. However, when I received the letter (dated 10/02/2009) from the Respondent confirming receipt of my application, it explicitly stated that no additional documents should be sent unless requested by a caseworker. Complying with these clear instructions, I waited in vain for the caseworker to contact me for my bank statements.

7. As the Respondent failed contact me asking for my official bank statements, I wrote to the Respondent in a letter (dated 31/02/2009) requesting permission to send the additional bank statements to support my application. In response to the letter, I received a phone call on the 2nd March 2009 from the Respondent advising me to dispatch my bank statements to the Sheffield Office and I was given my Case Reference Number xxxx

8. Complying with this advice, I dispatched my statements on the 10th March 2009 using Royal Mail’s Special Delivery Service guaranteed to reach the Respondent at 11th March 2009. These statements covered the period from 18th January to 8th March 2009.

9. Just after the 17th March 2009, I received the aforesaid decision and was utterly surprised and disappointed to note that my application was refused on the sole basis of Maintenance of Funds. Along with the decision letter, there was a separate letter from the Respondent also dated 17th March 2009 stating that “unfortunatelyâ€

[tuhadda_fuffar]

Great BananaFish,

Being a law student, you learnt a lot through your own case!!! I wish you luck in future and hopefully you would help students who are stuck in these kind of situations when you become a barrister.

[Jack_Hammer]

I am in a similar situation, but I never had the money in my account at home to cover about a week. My visa expires end of May. I know that the application will be rejected. however, do you think it is worth applying and then giving the appeal to establish a case or it just easier to apply from outside the UK?
________
Lamborghini v8 history

[jack199]

I am in a similar situation, but I never had the money in my account at home to cover about a week. My visa expires end of May. I know that the application will be rejected. however, do you think it is worth applying and then giving the appeal to establish a case or it just easier to apply from outside the UK?

Do both, try your luck. and then you won't regract whatever the outcome is and make sure that till hearing date u keep £800 in ur account all the time and take your latest bank statement to your hearing as well

[shaina322]

Jack_Hammer here is the thing, there is a law on the books that says that you cannot introduce new evidence at the hearing but this law has not been put into effect yet. so, legally you can apply and then when your hearing comes around you can supply new evidence saying that NOW you have the money. I had an attorney for my appeal and this is what he told me, and he said he is representing people who are in this situation and have had people who have won their appeal based on new evidence even though they didn't have the money at the time of their application. the other thing is that if you leave the country and apply from outside you must have 2800 pounds in your account for three months not 800 so it is much more difficult. the decision is up to you, i would say apply with the intention of going to hearing but even though you have a good chance it is still a gamble as the whole thing depends on what judge you get.

[vinata]

Hi there,

I have also been refused my PSW visa because the balance on my account dropped down below a certain level for a few days only. I have applied to the court and currently awaiting for their response.

Because you have already gone through this process, please advice me on how long you were waiting for a reply from the court with your hearing date and then how long you had to wait for your hearing from the letter date.

Please share your experience with me.
Thanks.
Vinata

[mickijl]

Bananafish

You are an absolute star! Thanks so much for this valuable feedback. It is really helpful as my partner has just got his appeal date, and we are bricking it a little.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time out to pass this on.

xx