Can you afford 4000pound in visit visa fees?

[Russia]

An ECO uses his/her own discretion about visa validity it could be 6 months it could be 10 years - trouble is no-one knows how they decide what term to give you.
In practice this could mean 20 applications for 6 monthly visas over ten-years and at 200 each that's 4000 pounds....!

Go ask your MP or your local embassy about this and they WILL NOT give you a straight answer.

[Docterror]

In practice this could mean 20 applications for 6 monthly visas over ten-years and at 200 each that's 4000 pounds....!

And here I am thinking that BHCs charged only 50 pounds(or 63 pounds from the next month) for a 6 month visit visa.. silly me!

[Russia]

Yes SILLY YOU...

A VAF1 non-settlement visit visa application currently 85 pounds will be increasing to 200 pounds from April.

Although you can ask for a 10yr valid visa there's no guarantee you will get it.

Sort your facts out first before commenting.

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/6353/6 ... es2007.pdf

http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servle ... 9124811993

http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/VAF1Oct06,2.pdf

Pay 85 pounds for a one year visa and get a 6 month visa in return and you would be annoyed - 6 months is the minimum validity term ECO's can give and they regulary do my friend.

The VAF1 form is the same whether a 6M or ten year application - if you pay the premium of 85GBP soon to be 200GBP there is no guarantee you will get the term you asked for and on top of that NO REFUND.. so if you go ahead and make 10 year applications every time and you get knocked back (as the ECO rules and guidelines on the IND site state can be done) to 6M everytime then yes you are scuppered and you will have to cough up 4000pounds.

Although, I managed an A'level maths back in 1987 and I am pretty sure 20 x 200 = 4000 in this day and age - it's a shame moral values, tolerance for others and a sense of fairplay haven't maintained the same level of consistency over the years - re. government attitudes and policy toward visa-national spouses of British citizens http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BritishSpouse/

[Docterror]

Pay 85 pounds for a one year visa and get a 6 month visa in return and you would be annoyed - 6 months is the minimum validity term ECO's can give and they regulary do my friend.

Yes! I would be annoyed... my friend. So annoyed that I will not try and apply 20 times more and see whether I get more than 6 months or not. Easier to just pay the 63 pounds and get the guaranteed 6 months, dont you think?

And thanks for the link with the VAF1 form.. I had no idea what it was for and was really dying to see what one looks like.

[Russia]

quote]
And thanks for the link with the VAF1 form.. I had no idea what it was for and was reallydyingto see what one looks like.[/quote]

Thats because you live in Stoke on Trent and have probably never been further from your armchair than Rhodes on holiday.

You miss the point here...ECO's are a vindictive bunch of paper-pushers wanting to keep their expat priviledges and hardship payments so they can p*ss it up in various whoring bars over the world - if they knock back applicants/short sell visa applications well its all for the good as far as their paymasters are concerned.

My facetious answer was fair - this is a serious issue and frankly you asked for it - let's be friends

[transpondia]

The DSP's contain a confidential chapter on what to do if someone asks for a term longer than 6 months. The requirements vary by country, and the ECO may apply them if they feel justified.

I sued for the chapters under the Freedom of Information Act, but was refused on grounds of national security.

[Russia]

this is very useful information, so you are saying there are guidelines and the qualifying criteria is laid out for ECO reference, but just what the content of those criteria are is subject to secrecy laws - this is staggering...

...I thought it was more a case of thumb in the air, how much do we need to make budget this month type of thing.

Able to shed any more light on this? Got any theory as to why this is classified?

[transpondia]

Sadly, I cannot access the material. But I have confirmed through an informal contact at UKvisas that for a Russian female, they are not to issue an entry clearance for longer than 6 months unless the applicant has been issued 3 prior entry clearances previously. The rules for a Russian male require more.

Editted to add: yes, it is exempt from Freedom of Information on national security grounds. I appealed all the way up yet remained unsuccessfull...

[transpondia]

Just checking further, here's some extracts from my final refusal...

With respect to the specific procedures followed by the British Consulate General in St Petersburg which you mentioned in your letter to them, we can confirm that we do have a volume of unpublished guidance for ECOs, known as Diplomatic Service Procedures on Entry Clearance Volume 2 (DSP 2). I am pleased to enclose the parts of DSP 2 which are cleared for disclosure to the public.

This establishes that there is a 2nd volume which is unpublished.
They go on to say...


The remainder of the information in DSP 2 is being withheld as it falls under several exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act. In reaching this conclusion in relation to your request, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has relied on the following provisions of the Act:

(a)Section 23 (Information supplied by or concerning certain security bodies)(This is an absolute exemption)

(b)Section 24 (Exemption required for the purpose of safeguarding national security)

(c) Section 27 (Exemption required to prevent prejudice to international relations)

(d) Section 31(1)(e) (Operation of Immigration Controls)

These exemptions are set out in full in the Freedom of Information Act, which is published online at www.foi.gov.uk

What that means is there is an absolute exemption for Volume 2 (except for the little part they provided), and they are NOT going to release it.

In light of the new fees, however, I have determined that it is in the public interest to have this document and am renewing the request. I'll post the progress of this at my site (Transpondia).

[Russia]

A mischievous post for all those reading the 'EEA And British Citizenship' thread

Docterror,get over it, it's called humour