Husband UK Visa - advice needed

[John]

Hi, even Moderators are allowed holidays! And with the quantity of messages on this Board it is unreasonable to expect a Moderator returning from holiday to wade through all that has happened in their absence!

Anyway .... I think you should write to the Manager at the Visa Section and ask him/her to review the papers. Hopefully that might result in the decision being reversed.

If the main ground for refusal is indeed that you are Moslem and your wife is Christian, and that is why the ECO thinks the marriage will not last, I think it is worth pointing out to the Manager that a rejection on such grounds would appear to infringe anti-discrimination legislation in the UK.

Hope it all works out. Don't give up hope.

[Ajnabi]

hi John,
thanks for replying, my wife is going to meet an adviser on tuesday.
sorry if i offended you, i didn't mean my previous message at you personally and i hope you had a nice holiday.
About getting reviewed we did ask in our previous messages that how could that happen but coz we couldn't get information about it so now my wife is going to meet an adviser so lets see wat he says...
thanks again.
Sajjad

[loobey]

Hi!
I am going to Pakistan on Saturday for 3 weeks.
I have also found an advisor and he is going to represent us for the appeal. The appeal form has been sent in the UK.
I've been told that all the documents will have to be sent from Islamabad to the UK, which the Embassy in Islamabad is given 3 months in which to send them.
Does anyone know if it is worth me and my husband visiting the British Embassy, to get the documents quicker or to seek a review or even just to make a point that this is a genuine marriage? Or is it not worth bothering them?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Claire.

[Kayalami]

I note your spouse's frustrations at what he deems a lack of response from the moderators on this subject. As per John's comments such is incorrectly directed. The ECO assessed the application under the rules and found that relevant provisions were not met. This include objective findings such as those pertaining to accomodation and funding etc. We don't have the documentation to hand nor a definitive trancript of his conversation with the ECO other than that he has provided. On what premise is this refusal specifically dearly beloved or misjudged?

Why don't we start with my question to you. Are you able to confirm that your marriage is valid under the laws of Pakistan specifically given the religious aspects. Is this confirmation on the statute books i.e. is it law and if so can you point us to the relevant source.

A visit to Pakistan is helpful in further establishing the subsistence of the marriage. A visit to the BHC is not possible and in any case is irrelevant unless such is on the basis of attending a booked appointment in respect of a review or new application.

[loobey]

thanks for your reply, each of the points made by the ECO has been easily refuted and we have now sent the appeal form. What i was told was that the Embassy in Pakistan, now has 3 months, just to send the documents (including the interview notes) before the appeal will even be started and i also know that sometimes they take even longer than 3 months, so basically i wanted to know whether i could collect the necessary documents along with my husband, to bring back to the UK. But as you have stated it is not possible to go there without an appointment, it has answered my question.

Yes, we have found that it is lawful not only for the country, but also in my husband's religion for him to marry me.


Claire.

[loobey]

Hi, long time no post... hope everyone is well.

As you can see from the date of my last post it has been 3 months and Islamabad has still not sent the relevant documents to the UK. I have however received a letter from the 'Asylum and Immigration Tribunal' which states my appeal number and the 5th of September 2005 as the date the appeal was lodged. It also states that the respondent (entry clearance officer) has been directed to file a copy of the notice of decision to which the Notice of appeal relates and any other document which is relied upon by the respondent by 13 March 2006. I felt this was rather a long time, indeed over 6 months. On the British High Commission website it states:

"What happens when an appeal is lodged?
When the AIT has lodged your appeal they will send a Notice of Receipt to the British mission overseas where you applied. When the visa section receives the Notice of Receipt, the Entry Clearance Manager (ECM) will review the application again, taking into account any further comments and supporting documents you have included in the Notice of Appeal. If the ECM is satisfied that your application meets the Immigration Rules, the original decision may be overturned, and entry clearance issued.
If the ECM does not overturn the decision, an ECO will write a statement to explain in greater detail the reasons for refusing your visa. This will be sent with all your papers (the appeal bundle) to the AIT.
For settlement cases, they will prepare and send the papers within 60 working days."

I'll give a quick update on my situation. I went back to Pakistan on the 10th September and returned to the UK on the 2nd of October. In those 3 weeks, I met the majority of my husband's family, we celebrated our marriage and took many pictures. However, the following day i accidentally deleted every picture on my digital camera!!! Thankfully we have a few pictures from my husband's mobile phone and we also had the celebration recorded on to a video. We still took many (normal) pictures with his family. I have kept every single receipt/bill we got and bus tickets, flight tickets etc.

Once i returned to the UK I started working full-time and i have been trying to save up. I am now considering going to Pakistan in February but staying for some months, which will require leaving my job and also using a lot of my savings. Or I could just go for a couple of weeks and still keep my job. Is it possible to arrange an appointment to meet the manager of the visa section whilst I am in Pakistan?

I guess this is just a waiting time now, but is there anything that can be done to speed up the appeal process? I obviously want to go back and see my husband, but would this have a negative on affect on the appeal? Does anyone have any idea how long it will take for the hearing to come about after they have received the documents in the UK.

Thanks, Claire.

[John]

Claire, you always knew that appealing against the decision was going to be a very drawn out matter. Making a fresh application, with better evidence, and all the points of rejection covered, is always a much quicker way to proceed.

You were just working part-time. Now full-time? So how are the financial and accommodation aspects looking these days?

And how do you intend to deal with the religious aspect, whether at the appeal or in a fresh application? Looking back at your previous posts it seems that the ECO formed an opinion about a religious matter and you and your husband say he was wrong. (Simply because I have no knowledge of the matter I am not saying who is right and who is wrong.) But what evidence will be produced to show that the ECO was incorrect on the matter? Have you obtained authoritative statements from anyone in support of your view?

[bash_h]

Loobey,

As John has mentioned, waiting for an appeal might take a long time. You should really consider whether its worth making a fresh appeal. The website says it takes 12 weeks, back in January when I lodged an application it took 14 or so.

It might also be worth seeing someone like the IAS solicitors just to go over your paperwork to make sure you have everything correct.

Its your choice whether you want to go visit Pakistan but this does involve considerable expense over the long run. Im pretty sure you wont be allowed to meet the visa section manager, as far as they will be concerned, you need to go through the 'process'.

Sorry that this maybe not what you want to hear, but making a fresh application may be your best course of action. Then when your husband gets the visa you can go to Pakistan, stay for a few weeks enjoy the good weather and then come back with him

All the best.

[Ajnabi]

Hello everyone, back again! Hope everyone is doing well.
My wife is currently with me in Pakistan, so we thought we would give another update.

My wife came to Pakistan on the 19th February and she is here until the 19th May, which meant leaving her job and using the majority of her savings. When she goes back to the UK she intends to look for employment straight away.

Whilst she has been in Pakistan, her parents and advisor have informed us that they have received the notice of the appeal hearing, which is on the 6th July, so she roughly has just over one month to find a job before the hearing. She will show that the savings which she had were spent on visiting me in Pakistan.

Her father is still happy to support both of us. He has since retired from his job and received his pension, which we think should cover the financial matter. Is it possible for her father to attend the hearing with her and the advisor? As he would verbally be able to say he is willing to support us, or should we get another letter from him and get it signed by the local MP for example?

My wife has also had the local council come to their house and they confirmed that the house was habitual and there is enough room for me to live there. (This letter was address to her father).

All the documents which I took to my interview, I will give to my wife to take with her. My wife has met my parents several times now and they came and stayed with us for one week. Therefore we have more pictures.

As for the point about religion. We have found quotes from the Internet and I intend to find an original source stating a Muslim man, can marry a Christian woman. The main point for the ECO mentioning the point about religion, was because I think he was trying to say that my parents would not accept or agree with the marriage, however they have. My wife was asked at the time of our marriage if she would like to change her religion (they even told us that it would help to get a visa) but it is a life changing decision and not something which she thought should be taken lightly. However, she is very open to learning about Islam.

Would it help if I took my father to a court house and got him to sign a statement (in Urdu) which says he has happy about our marriage, which we can then get translated into English and get it attested.

My wife would like to know what happens at the hearing. She is going to make an appointment to meet her advisor before the hearing, so they can go through all the documents and make a statement. Her advisor has also informed her that he has not received the relevant documents from the Embassy yet, so he will be writing to the Home Office.

[A rather random question and nothing to do with the appeal. We have purchased a baby parrot and would like to know if it is possible to take it to the UK, whether that be my wife or myself if and when I go to the UK. I know with Bird Flu at the moment, it probably isn't likely. But we have no idea how to go about it even, so if anyone knows anything about it, that would be helpful].

Sorry if it is rather long.
Sajjad and Claire.