Post
by UKRanger » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:00 pm
My Father is over 65 and my mother is 59. They are in India and lonely and have no one to be with them. I want to take care of them by bringing them to the UK where I can take care of them well. After checking through the UKVisa website, I thought we have acquired the eligibility for a settlement visa, as it says if the father is over 65 and the mother is travelling together then both of them can apply together. My parents have also been financially dependent on me from the past 8-10 years. However this Monday when my dad visited the visa office for the interview, his application was rejected. The visa officer has been very rude to my dad accusing him of lying and fraud. My father is in almost a state of shock because of this and is hurt and upset that someone could treat him like this and not believe his situation.
One of the several reasons the officer has mentioned was that we had mentioned in the application that I have an elder brother. However because of an unfortunate state of personal events, my elder brother has completely cut any contact, support or care of my parents. We dont even know where he lives, and we are trying to find this out. The last I had heard from one of his friend was that he is in the US. We clearly had mentioned in the application form that my parents have two sons. But the office does not believe that we do not have any contact with my elder brother and is of the opinion that my parents are lying about the loss of contact, just to get across to the UK.
I have just become a citizen of UK in the beginning of this year, and my father turned 65 this year as well. We recently had a baby and the officer has mentioned in the refusal notice that me and my parents have been "motivated by childcare". This cannot be further from the truth. I have wanted to get my parents here from a long time, because they are lonely and depressed in India. I could not bring them earlier because they were simply not eligible till I became a British citizen and my dad turned 65 this year.
It has been an extremely upsetting few days, and all of us are extremely upset and disappointed over the assumptions the officer has made. We had decided to be totally honest and that is why we did mention about my elder brother. We could have probably not mentioned anything about him and said that I was the only son. But we did not want to hide anything about my brother and be totally truthful. However the fact that we have been honest about this has been turned into a case where the office now believes we are dishonest!
The officer also asked my dad about the exact date of the last financial transaction. when my dad opened the bank passbook to show him the date, he was shouted at and told to close the book immediately and only mention it from memory! I dont think it is relevant to mention the date from memory, as long as their is evidence of the transaction in the bank documents. When my father mentioned the month and year, he was again asked for the exact day. My father could not remember this day. And for this the officer has mentioned that my father hesitated and the evidence is not credible! I cannot believe a more rude, unjust and unfair method. Is this an exam? Why should a visa applicant be expected to memorise the dates?
I guess the only way forward is to apply for an appeal? I have already sent a complaint mentioning the above experience of my dad with the office. Does anyone have any idea of how the appeal system works? Is it easy? It is probably very stressful. Whom should I approach? I really have absolutely no idea. Any feedback and guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you