Settlement visa refused - PLEASE HELP

[Nerila]

People of good I need your help!

My husband's visa has ben refused today and we are both completely devastated. We have provided so many documents and hoped that with this there would be no grounds for refusal.

In short, the story is as follows:
I am an EEA national. I have met my husband 3 months before he was removed from UK as overstayer. He was removed Nov 2010. We have never lied in the application about any of the facts. I have went to visit him in Nigeria once for 2 weeks (April-May) to meet his family before we got married on my second visit Oct 2012. He submitted application beg Nov 2012, got refused 21 Dec 2012.

The gound for refusal were these:

1. He has failed to submit any documents which confirm that he holds the required level of English or that he meets any of the exemtions to provide these documents.

We have checked before applying that for an English speaking country (he is Nigerian), the passport itself would be sufficient. Moreover, he got married to EEA which makes him also exempt as per UK Border Agency website. Please correct if we were wrong?

2. They stated that we formed and continued our relationship even though has overstayed. I did not know he overstayed and neither did he, as all the documents were sent to another address where he did not live for a long time and no one forwarded them to him. Further, it seems they did not go though our documents properly as they stated that I went to Nigeria ONCE in order to marry him, which is not true. I have provided e-tickets of both visits, 2 stamped visas, pictures. Further, they say we never met in the 3rd country or went to visit my home country. How come this counts as a valid reason?

3. We have provided phone call history for each month since he was gone. To this they said that there was no name of the account holder, which could be remedied. BUT they also stated that the phone number does not match. Yes, my husband changed his number after couple of months, but then again it proves they did not go through all the statements to see the matching number. They further stated that calls were of limited duration. "not that would be expected in a genuine subsisting relationship". Lyca mobile history does not provide duration of calls, just the amount spent for the call, but one can see how many and how often calls/sms were made/sent. We have also printed out the list of email exchanges and gave reference letters from our friends telling about our relationship.

NONE of this seemed to be sufficient to prove our relationship is genuine.

Could you please let me know what would be the best way to deal with this. I know we can appeal in 28 days, but is there any hope to this and how long it could take?

Appreciate your thoughts, comments, responses.
Many many thanks!

[ruskcake]

People of good I need your help!

My husband's visa has ben refused today and we are both completely devastated. We have provided so many documents and hoped that with this there would be no grounds for refusal.

In short, the story is as follows:
I am an EEA national. I have met my husband 3 months before he was removed from UK as overstayer. He was removed Nov 2010. We have never lied in the application about any of the facts. I have went to visit him in Nigeria once for 2 weeks (April-May) to meet his family before we got married on my second visit Oct 2012. He submitted application beg Nov 2012, got refused 21 Dec 2012.

The gound for refusal were these:

1. He has failed to submit any documents which confirm that he holds the required level of English or that he meets any of the exemtions to provide these documents.

We have checked before applying that for an English speaking country (he is Nigerian), the passport itself would be sufficient. Moreover, he got married to EEA which makes him also exempt as per UK Border Agency website. Please correct if we were wrong?

2. They stated that we formed and continued our relationship even though has overstayed. I did not know he overstayed and neither did he, as all the documents were sent to another address where he did not live for a long time and no one forwarded them to him. Further, it seems they did not go though our documents properly as they stated that I went to Nigeria ONCE in order to marry him, which is not true. I have provided e-tickets of both visits, 2 stamped visas, pictures. Further, they say we never met in the 3rd country or went to visit my home country. How come this counts as a valid reason?

3. We have provided phone call history for each month since he was gone. To this they said that there was no name of the account holder, which could be remedied. BUT they also stated that the phone number does not match. Yes, my husband changed his number after couple of months, but then again it proves they did not go through all the statements to see the matching number. They further stated that calls were of limited duration. "not that would be expected in a genuine subsisting relationship". Lyca mobile history does not provide duration of calls, just the amount spent for the call, but one can see how many and how often calls/sms were made/sent. We have also printed out the list of email exchanges and gave reference letters from our friends telling about our relationship.

NONE of this seemed to be sufficient to prove our relationship is genuine.

Could you please let me know what would be the best way to deal with this. I know we can appeal in 28 days, but is there any hope to this and how long it could take?

Appreciate your thoughts, comments, responses.
Many many thanks!

What kind of visa did your husband apply for? Should he not have applied for a EEA Family permit?

[Nerila]

He applied for settlemeny visa. As I understand he can apply for EEA family permit only once he is in UK.

[vinny]

He applied for settlemeny visa. As I understand he can apply for EEA family permit only once he is in UK.

That's incorrect.

[Obie]

What nationality are you? Even if they refused on grounds that you are not as settled person in the UK, that is wrong, they should not have charged you and certainly should have informed you of your rights under the Citizens Directive.

[Nerila]

I'm Lithuanian and have a EEA resident permit as I've been in UK for over 6 years now.

So I take it we applied for the wrong thing altogether. I was not aware that we can apply for EEA family permit for him if he is outside UK.

Is it worth going through the appeal or would it be better to make a new application?

Can someone tell me if English test is compulsary even if he comes from an English speaking country?

Thank you all!

[pennylessinindia]

I'm Lithuanian and have a EEA resident permit as I've been in UK for over 6 years now.

So I take it we applied for the wrong thing altogether. I was not aware that we can apply for EEA family permit for him if he is outside UK.

Is it worth going through the appeal or would it be better to make a new application?

Can someone tell me if English test is compulsary even if he comes from an English speaking country?

Thank you all!

Nigeria is not an English speaking country for the purposes of settlement

Not sure why you applied for settlement given one year ago you were advised on this site what to do?

[ruskcake]

I'm Lithuanian and have a EEA resident permit as I've been in UK for over 6 years now.

So I take it we applied for the wrong thing altogether. I was not aware that we can apply for EEA family permit for him if he is outside UK.

Is it worth going through the appeal or would it be better to make a new application?

Can someone tell me if English test is compulsary even if he comes from an English speaking country?

Thank you all!

The UK consulate now have a lot of information about you and your husband on record. Any new application you make including an EEA Family Permit will be scrutinised very carefully.

Whatever you do now you need to be very careful.

[Nerila]

We will appeal and see how we get on with the appeal.

In any case, what's done is done, got to look foward what we can do in this situation. I know it is going to be tough but we will fight this case.

[ruskcake]

We will appeal and see how we get on with the appeal.

In any case, what's done is done, got to look foward what we can do in this situation. I know it is going to be tough but we will fight this case.

Its not tough it is just that applicants fail to follow the correct procedure and ignore the rules and guidelines.

[Kitty]

We will appeal and see how we get on with the appeal.

In any case, what's done is done, got to look foward what we can do in this situation. I know it is going to be tough but we will fight this case.

If your husband has not passed a relevant English test, then I cannot see how your appeal will succeed. It does not matter that you believed he did not have to do one: it is clearly a requirement of the Immigration Rules.

If you make a new application for a Family Permit, you may still be refused if the UKBA question the genuineness of your relationship. However, you will have stronger grounds for an appeal. There is no English-language requirement for a Family Permit application, and there are a much more limited set of grounds for refusal.