EC Interview -Hints

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:17 am

Yodi

Please could you share with us those questions she asked your husband, that is if you don't mind.

I am seriously gathering momentum to take off for my EC

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:27 am

my dear
cheeky is the understatement of the year.
the questions...long story really.
but she eventually asked teh normal questions(after all her rantings)
cant remember the order now but here goes
- if we had both resigned
- when we intend to travel
-if we would give notice at work
- have we started selling any of our assets
- where we will be staying and who with ...what type pf accomodation do they have and how many children did they have
-does my husband have a job offer ...she wasnt interested in efforts either yes or no
-she dint ask after funds but looked thru our bank statement
- what job we will be taking on there
-then she hammered on my student visa and why i was refused a student visa initailly though she saw the reasons herself from my self... but those dont relate to hsmp palaver

Thank God all the information we have given to the embassy has been accurate and consistent.... and she cant refuse on any of the comments she made to my husband... not professional..

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:49 am

Please i am interested on the issue of what work one wants to take up over there.

Did your husband say Banking and what was her reaction to this?

I am interested bcos i have a peculiar case here, i have worked in a Bank too for 11 years, before taking up a less stressful job in a very small company and run my biz as well.

I'm really not interested in taking Banking up as a career. I'm interested in Social Work and hopefully by the time i go for my EC, I would have received my NVQ4 Certificate in Social Work with Children and Famiies from UK.

I don't really know if i can go ahead and tell them my area of interest or still maintain Banking.

I have a degree in Education, even though i have gone ahead to have a post graduate diploma in Financial Management. Maybe i can say teaching or something.

My Consultant asked me the same queston and i told him Banking and Teaching. I guess that is what he must have put on my HSMP application form.

Does my query make some sense? i am really at a crossroad here.

I need some advice.

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:09 am

i thinnk you should get in touch with ur consultant and find out what did he write as ur work experience..
as in which is the latest .....
but i really dont think theres any harm in a career change.. u already pursuing the cert.. so u can as well say that...besides u have a degree in education.
u know cos u work in a bank..dosent mean u are a banker...
except u dont know how a bank works.... my husband is a systems administrator and I a systems auditor... though we work in banks..but we are not core bankers.... if u catch my drift... doctors work in oil coys but are not engineers now are they???

that ECO had brain wave and shows either the level of her ignorance or her prejudice.. u judge.
and my dear our case is an odd one out...most people dont go thru that much stress. cos HSMp approval almost always guarantees a visa if u have enough funds to resettle... very few people are refused in constrast to visit...
so dont stress ur self... just present ur case clearly without any ambiguity and tell God u dont want an ECO like we met.. and i Guess u will be fine.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:19 am

Thank you Yodi. I actually worked in core Banking, Treasury, Foreign Operations and i eventually left as Branch Operations Manager.

Like you said they will actually look at my Certificate when looking for job and not work experience.

Thank God i have another area of interest which i am seriously pursuing.

Will keep you posted as event unfolds. Wish you all the best with your EC.

Keep the forum posted when you eventually get your EC.

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:27 am

i think i have to say the ECOs in naija have gone (oops)
just heard they refused a chartered accountant 2 weeks ago cos he dint have a job offer and the place he said he wanted to stay was too small to contain him... the guy had 40,000 pounds sterling in his account.....

are they bersek or what.. with that kind of money he can decide not to work for 2 years and still live fine.....

i think they are just annoyed with the hsmp thing and thats their way to stop people from getting it from nigeria... they dont understand why nigerians are categorised as skilled....

and if the guy goes for an appeal.. he will win it easily... cos the hsmp scheme clearly states u dont need a job nor an accomodation to be given a visa. but they will have frustrated the guy and wasted his time.
in fact im going to look for the EC caseworker notes on hsmp... and see what it says.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:46 am

Are you serious. So the race is not all about who has strength now, it is divine favour.

The appeal thing how long will it take him and is it through Nigerian Lawyers or Lawyers in UK.

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:58 pm

My dear it is divine favour.. I enjoin you to go on fasting and prayer
the door God has shut no ECO can close.. its either they leave the way or they flow with the plan jeje.

I think th eguy is using a Uk lawyer though i dont know the details of dat.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:09 pm

I agree with you. We have to put the power of prayer to work and they will definitely bow to powers beyond their comprehension.

Eni to ba ni iya oun o ni sun, oun na o ni f'oju ba orun.

I hope it is allowed, b4 any one here starts thinking i am up to something else.

Cheers and hear from you when you are armed with the good news.

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:24 pm

Bunto and Yodi.

Naija brethren;

I understand the difficulty with ECOs is in Naijja, but fellow brothers keep your private discussions via personal messaging.

i will lock and delete this post if you dont kindly abide...

Thank You
on behalf of the moderators

Post by **John** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:36 pm

yodiyokun wrote:the place he said he wanted to stay was too small to contain him

But this is quite specifically one of the requirements. ECOs will not let someone move into overcrowded accommodation.

Sounds like the person you are talking about should have taken better care to satisfy the ECO as regards the accommodation test.

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:14 pm

sorry chess/moderators
John,
I would appreciate if you can point me to where this is stated.
also what can be defined as small accomodation/over crowded accomodation.
In my case....
my sister inlaw has 2 children 5 and 7 and their house has 3 bedrooms..anyway we call such houses(duplexes here) spacious in Uks standard. Im not sure if its called a town house.
there is a spare room for guests, they only use 2 rooms
Now we will be staying there with our baby thats sleeps in a cot.
Is this overcrowded???
The ECO wasnt too satisfied with this.....
And really, what if you only need to stay somewhere for 2 weeks till you get a place..since you definitely have enough money to rent an apartment.. but we all know how easy that is from outside UK.
Its really a thin line, I would say, and would expect an ECO to look at the facts without prejudice.
anyway, its their decision to make..

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:10 pm

Dear Moderator

We are just venting our anger, but maybe in a wrong way.

If there are requirements to be met, let it be made available to all concern, so you play by the rule of the game.

A situation where what the guideline state is that i should show evidence that i have enough funds in my account to fend for myself without recourse to public funds and this i have done. The ECO now wake up to say that i should provide the source of the money in my account, where in the guidelines is that written(maybe i am not informed, i stand to be corrected). Providing the source will not be a problem, but for christ's sake let someone tell me what is expected of me.

On the issue of accommodation if they require us to provide a family of 3 that stays in 4 bedroom apartment. It should be stated, for pete's sake and whoever can not get that will look for an accepted alternative arrangement. What is the percentage of the people who can afford to stay in such places in UK.

The ECOs themselves know how roomy Nigeria accommodations are compared to what obtains in UK. I am positive that the kind of accommodation they stay in Nigeria they cannot afford it in UK. For christ's sake there should be a kind of decorum in the way they relate to visa applicants. One needs to experience it to know it is disgusting and distasteful(i'm sorry), but that is the truth.

All i am saying without mincing words is that they should make available in black and white what they expect from us EC applicants, then if we don't meet such they can be justified. Not a case of telling us the rule of the game at the point of disqualification, and telling us why we are being disqualified without an agreed rules to play by.

The whole thing is now trial and error. If you fail today, you try and improve on your documentations in the next application based on their reasons for refusal. The problem here is that the refusal stamps have a negative effect on one's passport, even though they claim that future application will be treated without prejudice.

One is left to wander through the maze by oneself, and feed on whatever information one can gather along the way from people who have learnt through the hard way.

Dear Moderator, like i said earlier i am very sorry, but i seriously pray for the day the Lord will bring back the captivity of Zion.

Like Yodi said, it is their decision to make, they have the horse and the rein.

Post by **John** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:30 pm

yodiyokun wrote:my sister inlaw has 2 children 5 and 7 and their house has 3 bedrooms..anyway we call such houses(duplexes here) spacious in Uks standard. Im not sure if its called a town house.
there is a spare room for guests, they only use 2 rooms

Sorry, that is not the way the calculation is done at all.

Have a read of CHAPTER 9 - THE MAINTENANCE AND ACCOMMODATION REQUIREMENTS, and in particular go to 9.12. You will see that is headed "Overcrowding". The starting point must be ... excluding any toilet, bathroom or Spam .... how many rooms in the place exceed 50 sq feet in size? Then, assuming you move in, many many adults and how many children will be living there?

And what evidence, if any, was supplied to satisfy the mind of the ECO as regards accommodation?

It might be as simple as providing further and better information to the British Mission and the visa might be granted.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:14 pm

Thank you John for the useful information. We can always rely on you to give us necessary & useful information. This has actually met me at the point of my need.

I wil have to digest this and know it like the back of my hand, then i will be ready to become an ECO myself

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:36 pm

John,

Please i need some clarifications on Chapter 9 section 12 of the DPS that deals with overcrowding. It is said that 'Account is taken only of rooms with a floor area larger than a 50 sq. feet and rooms of a type used as a living room: rooms such as Spam or bathrooms are excluded'.

Are they saying here that living room can be taken as a room, in effect one bedroom flat can be regarded as 2 rooms?

In the same aforementioned section of the DPS, it also states that 'under the housing Act, the number of people sleeping in accommodation must not exceed the following.......Number of rooms(4) - Maxmum number of people allowed(7.5).

I will like to know if the 4 rooms they are referring to here means a 3 bedroom of a floor area larger than a 50 sq. feet and room of a type used as living room.

Another thing i don't seems to understand is the (.5), is that referring to a human being.

Thank you.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:43 pm

sorry John. I just saw the answer to my 2nd question.

In essence if children below 10 are counted as only half a person, that means anybody with three kids below ten can live in a 2 bedroom flat(which is 3 rooms, living room inclusive).

Am i right?

Post by **John** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:58 pm

The term I use, solely for my own purpose .... I have never seen it used officially ... is a "counting room". What is a "counting room"? Well don't count any Spam, bathroom or toilet ... however big the room. But you can count any other room .. as long as it exceeds 50 sq feet in floor area.

So yes, a living room might be a "counting room", and so of course so might a bedroom.

But that does not mean it is possible to assume that say a 3-bedroom house has 4 "counting rooms". It might have only say 2 counting rooms, if say two of the bedrooms are very small. So it really is a question of grabbing a tape measure and seeing how many counting rooms there are in the place.

As regards humans, don't count any child under one year old, and for children 1 to 9, count only as 0.5 persons .... anyone 10 or over counting as 1.0.

Sister-in-law has husband/partner? And they have 2 children aged 1 to 9 .... so that would be 3.0 people. You only want to move in, so now 4.0 people. Therefore according to that chart there needs to be at least 3 "counting rooms". Just provide the evidence to prove that might be all the BHC need?

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:25 pm

Thank you it is well understood. 3 counting rooms can be a 2 bedroom apartment, with each room including the sitting room measuring minimum of 50sq feet.

Thank you.

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:27 am

john,
thanks a lot this is quite enlighteing.
so if you have 3 counting rooms you can accomodate 5 people...meaning im cool.
Now my issue is.. how do i prove the 3 rooms or 4 rooms in my case are counting rooms.
i provided..council tax documents and mortage documnets...
The council tax only shows the band the house falls in in regards to tax...
it dosent state no of bedrooms..
so how do i even show..no of rooms that are at least 50sqm.

This is something really..!!!!

And its true.. an average flat in nigeria is quite large....infact very large compared to Uk standards.

any way john more info will be appreciated.
thanks

Post by **John** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:33 am

If your sister-in-law still has the Estate Agent's Sheet, or property developer's sheet. from when the property was bought she may find that has measurements of the various rooms. That will certainly help. That is what I supplied when my wife got her spouse visa.

If that sheet is not available, or does not show detailed measurements, then I think your sister-in-law has to measure the rooms and put together the necessary evidence.

Also a few photos of the place cannot do any harm.

buntosanya · Post by **buntosanya** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:46 am

John

Thank you this is actually an eye opener. You are good

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:46 am

John
thanks a lot
will get in touch with her.. but right now the ECO hasnt made any decision yet.. said she will get in touch with us... i'll see if my sister inlaw can help
thanks

yodiyokun · Post by **yodiyokun** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:40 am

John,
Thanks a lot.
I have another question...
How do u convince the ECO that you dont need a job offer for HSMP.
why would they refuse one cos theres no job offer..
my husband was told they are not interested in his efforts ..the lady dint even look at the emails and correspondences he had...she insisted its either he had a job offer or not.
so what does one do in such a case.....

Chess · Post by **Chess** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:05 am

Yodi and Bunto.

Have you been refused a VISA on HSMP?

If so please give reasons thet ECO gave and we shall address each one - one by one so that you have a fruitful outcome. if no refusal yet then stop wasting our time and effort

we have EXTENSIVE experience in addressing such issues (for free).

answer the above and we shall take it from there - we are not interested in she said this - he said that - they said this etc....

Has VISA been granted or not. Please give reasons

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EC Interview -Hints