Haze77 wrote:Hi. My wife got the following email from BHC.
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On 5 July 2013, the High Court in the UK handed down its judgment in a Judicial Review of the minimum income threshold for spouses/partners and children applying in the family route. Having reviewed the judgment, the UK Home Secretary has decided to pursue an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The Home Office has therefore temporarily paused decision-making on some spouse/partner and child settlement visa and leave to remain applications. More information about this hold on decisions is set out on our website.
Your application for entry clearance under paragraph E-ECP.3.3 of Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules has been considered. Your application falls to be refused solely because you do not meet the income threshold requirement under Appendix FM and/or the related evidential requirements under Appendix FM-SE.
Your sponsor states that he earns an annual rental income of £xx,xxx.xx from his property, however you have not submitted the specified documents in order to verify this statement:
(i) Confirmation that the person or the person and their partner jointly own the property for which the rental income is received, through:
(1) A copy of the title deeds of the property or of the title register from the Land Registry (or overseas equivalent); or (2) A mortgage statement.
(ii) Personal bank statements for the 12-month period prior to the date of application showing the rental income was paid into an account in the name of the person or of the person and their partner jointly.
(iii) A rental agreement or contract.
These documents are specified in Immigration Rules in Appendix FM-SE and must be provided. You have not submitted all of the required documentation to demonstrate your sponsor’s income is as claimed.
A decision on your application has therefore been put on hold until the Courts have decided the outcome of the Secretary of State’s appeal in a legal challenge to the income threshold requirement. More information about this hold on decisions is set out on the UK Visas and Immigration site on GOV.UK
Your application will be reviewed and a decision taken on it once the outcome of the legal challenge is known. This may not be for several months at least.
In the meantime, if – by [3 weeks from the date of this notification] – you submit any further information or document(s), it must relate directly to the reasons given above as to why you do not meet the income threshold requirement. It must also relate only to your circumstances, and/or those of your sponsor, as they were at the date of your application, or in the relevant period(s) prior to that date. If, on the basis of this further information or document(s) and otherwise, your application meets all the requirements of the Immigration Rules, a decision will be taken on your application and it will be granted. However if it is determined that your application still does not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules, your case will remain paused until the outcome of the appeal is known. Your application may also be refused if other grounds come to light which were not applicable at the time of the initial decision.
Please note that if your case remains paused, we will not write to you again until the outcome of the appeal is known.
You can submit further documentation to us via courier, using the postal address above, or via one of our Gerry’s visa application centres. Please ensure that documents sent to us comply with our guidance in relation to supporting documents. You should also include a covering note quoting your reference number (found at the top of this letter), so that we can identify your case. Evidence should be submitted in original format and thus emailed copies of documents will not be considered as part of the application process.
Alternatively, you can withdraw your application at any time (and any document(s) submitted with it will be returned to you) and you can pay the relevant application fee and make a fresh application. You may wish to consider doing so for example if you wish to rely on a change in circumstances since the date of your application or on the fact a requirement relating to a period of time (e.g. in respect of employment or cash savings) is now met which was not met at the date of the application. If you withdraw your application, you will not be refunded the application fee.
If you wish your passport to be returned to you while your application remains on hold, please email visaenquiries.islamabad@fco.gov.uk and this will be arranged for you.
We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause you and your family. We will update you once we know the outcome of the appeal. We thank you for your cooperation and keeping your correspondence to a minimum.
Yours sincerely,
UK Visas and Immigration
British High Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan
The documents submitted to do with the rental income were the title deed for the property, the tenancy agreement with my tenant and bank statements. My tenant wanted to pay the rent in cash and hence the rental income was not shown going into the bank.
I think this is why they rejected the income level.
We did submit the tenant’s housing benefit letter from the Council showing that the rent was being paid by the Council as housing benefit for my tenant.
What documents can I send now to prove that I am receiving the rent?
Should I send my tenant’s bank statements showing the tenant receiving the housing benefit from the Council and an affidavit from my tenant that he wanted to pay the rent by cash and that he has been paying rent?
The tenancy started long before I got married and I have owned the house since several years before I got married.
Is it also worth seeing my MP together with my tenant and get the MP to write a letter that the rental income is genuine.
I cannot show the rental income being paid into the bank but how else can I prove to the ECO that the rental income is genuine?
Many Thanks in advance for everyone’s help on here.
Hi Haze,
I was wondering if you have any outcome, and if you could please let us know what the outcome was, and what extra information you had provided to them? Thank you
i can imagine the pain u must b feeling /( yh mine was refused initially on 28 august . Thank u so much i also wish u luck n rely prey ur appeal is successful. Why did thy refuse n on what basis wil u b re appealing if u dont mind me asking[/quote]