Christmas in the UK [UK Visa Problems]

[ukaussie]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone could offer any advice.

I am a British citizen with a uk passport currently living in Sydney Australia. My husband is an Australian citizen. We travelled to the uk in 2007 (before we were married) and my husband was denied entry and sent back to Sydney. I was the only person he knew in the UK and they believed that he was going to work.

We plan to visit my family (parents, brother, grandmother etc.) for the Christmas period. My husband has never met my side of the family and I was eager to go back to the UK to spend christmas with them. As we are married I didn't think we would have an issue with my husband getting a visa to the UK. As he had been denied entry back in 2007 we thought it wise to apply for a family visit visa.

We applied for the visa for my husband but he was refused in November. They cited that as he is unemployed they believe he will work. I sent off my wage slips, bank statements and a my leave approval letter stating that I was due to return back to work on 16th January.

We are currently in the process of reapplying for a visa (as we were told that an appeal would be a lengthy process). As we have already booked the tickets to the UK (I know it was probably a silly move to book before we got the visa, but me, in my naivety of UK immigration seriously thought we would have no issue as we are married and I have a job to come back to), we thought that if we still fly to Gatwick we could plead our case to the immigration officer. I've read lots of horror stories about Heathrow (we even have our own horror story from 2008), but haven't heard anything about the immigration officers at Gatwick.

We did think about changing the date of our tickets, or transfering the name over to someone else who might be able to use it,but the costs involved are still quite high and we thought it might be better to take our chances to go to the UK this time around.

My husband though has two big uk stamps that have crosses through them (one from 2007 and one from the recently refused visa). I'm starting to regret having applied for a visa this time around as we were told back in 2007 by the entry officer that my husband (then boyfriend) didn't need to apply for a visa to enter the UK (as he's Australian). The officer actually said that he could return to Sydney, book another flight to the UK and probably will be let in without a visa.

I didn't know if the airline would allow him to fly if he has two big crossed out UK stamps in his passport.

I just wanted to spend christmas with my side of the family along with my husband. My husband has never met my parents or anyone from my side of the family. My father is very ill (COPD) and would not be able to fly out to Sydney to see my husband. We just wanted to spend Christmas with my family. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Mr Rusty]

What a sad story.

I'm afraid it's a pound to a penny that if you just get on a plane to UK - forget about any alleged differences between Heathrow and Gatwick - your husband will be refused entry. Unless there were a radical change of circumstances since the recent visa refusal, an Immigration Officer at a UK port of entry couldn't come to any other conclusion. - and if the real reason for refusal is his unemployed status, getting a job now is unlikely to help him, as it would hardly be credible for a new employee to be given several weeks off within a couple of weeks of starting. A UK IO is not going to second-guess the ECO in Australia.

Perhaps you need professional advice to frame an appeal, or request for a review by the Entry Clearance Manager, or a new application, portraying your husband as your dependant and emphasising your need to return to your job in Australia, so that he has no realistic alternative to returning with you.

Without seeing the wording of the refusal notice it's hard to give any more objective advice.

[ouflak1]

This is also telling of the relative conservatism of the UK border agency. If your gender roles were reversed, you almost certainly wouldn't have any problems whatsoever. Really unfortunate.

[dandm]

That's terrible, I'm so sorry.

Does this essentially mean that no unemployed person is allowed to enter the UK as a visitor for fear they may choose to stay to work? How ridiculous.