Some Advice for Appealing Spouse Visas- Dont Appeal

[Frazzy]

Hi I have been following this website for a few years now as I have had a few visa issues in bringing my wife to the UK on a spouse visa (from Pakistan), and this website did offer good advice. So I thought I will offer some advice - coming from my experience..Do Not Appeal - just apply for the visa again as this is much quicker. I took the wrong option in appealing the case and it has taken over a year for just the appeal alone, whereas a new application would have just taken a few months. Even though it would have been costly, but it would have saved a lot more time and headache.

We got married in 2011 December, and I am still fighting for her visa until now. I am a British citizen so it shouldn't have been too much of an issue, but it was.
I dont know if anyone has waited as long as I have or been through the same thing, (probably have) but it is quite a difficult time and I hope noone has to go through the same thing we did. I thoroughly believe we need to do something in order to change the whole appeal system and cut processing times, as it is a very serious matter. Who's with me?!

I have given my wifes timeline below

My wife applied @ LAHORE: 6 September 2012
Refused: 21 Nov 12 (as I supplied 4 bank statements instead of 6 - even though many people I know supplied 3 and got their visa)
Appealed: 11 December 2012
Deadline for embassy to reply: 10 July 2013 - obviously they didn't reply so had to go court.
Court Date: 22 October 2013
Got a call from Home Office 14 September 2013: they are willing to review the case which was good news, so sent all documents again to Home Office.
Home Office didnt reply so went to court on 22 October. Alhumdulillah appeal was successful (judge was nice) - case sent to BHC a month later on 22 November 2013. Chased them up until they called my wife on 31 January 2014.
Emailed call in letter on 3 Feb 2014
Submitted passport 6 Feb 2014.
Waiting for their reply...'Phew!'
InshAllah all goes well, and I wish everyone the best

P.S. I would also advise if your case is simple you can save a lot money by going to court yourself, without a solicitor as the judge is usually on your side. However, this does depend on your case so if its complicated you will probably need one, but my case was the fact that a bank statement was missing in my initial application which is not too trivial, so I went alone and the judge made his decision very quickly.

[Yazzy]

Wow you have waited such a long time
May Allah swt give you rewards for your patience

My husband and i got married 25th December 2012 and we applied 7th January 2013
We was refused March 2013 and the EC0 deadline was 10th September 2013
The ECM wrote back on 7th January 2014 to uphold the decision of refusal
Our refusal is abit more complicated as my husband overstayed in the UK and they don't think our marriage is real
Now my Court date is 24 February 2014 which is in exactly 6 days time InshAllah
We have a barrister but i am so anxious and scared as to how the judge will be
Its been 1 year and 2 months for us
You are right in saying just apply again
But sometimes in complicated cases you just have to go to court

I pray your wife gets her visa quick InshAllah
Good luck

[SoHopeful]

Great that they approved your appeal!

I don't want to be negative because I can understand how stressful it has all been, however the new rules are clear that 6 months of financial proof is required now to demonstrate job/financial stability. I worked far too hard literally to rely on the experiences of others rather than the rules to have my husband with me in the UK. Not everyone has the same 'luck' with things when it comes to immigration.

[Frazzy]

Great that they approved your appeal!

I don't want to be negative because I can understand how stressful it has all been, however the new rules are clear that 6 months of financial proof is required now to demonstrate job/financial stability. I worked far too hard literally to rely on the experiences of others rather than the rules to have my husband with me in the UK. Not everyone has the same 'luck' with things when it comes to immigration.

UPDATE: By the way my wife received a message yesterday (2 weeks after handing her passport to Gerrys) that it is under process at BHC (which I believe is the second stage) - does anyone know how long they take after this to pass the passport back to Gerrys for collection?

@SoHopeful ..yes you are right..due to circumstances I had to apply there and then and at that time the rules said 'up to 6 months' which is pretty vague in my opinion as that could mean anything up to 6 months, e.g. 4 months and they changed the rules I think right before I applied so I guess 'luck' is not something I have...but I admit I am to blame too..I guess I have learnt a good lesson from this!

@yazzy Thanks...Good luck inshAllah all goes well...usually the judges are against the Home Office and if your case is genuine then you will be fine inshAllah...my barrister actually bailed out on me the day before the appeal hearing to attend another case..so I went by myself i was pretty nervous but it wasn't bad at all. Hope that helps!

[Yazzy]

Hi Frazzy sorry just a quick question did someone from the home office come to your hearing to fight from their side?

[Frazzy]

Hi Frazzy sorry just a quick question did someone from the home office come to your hearing to fight from their side?

Hi Yazzy

Yes there was a woman from the Home Office to fight their case as to why they rejected the visa and why they still go by their decision, but she was giving silly reasons and had no case so the judge sent a letter a few days alter to say that the appeal was successful but its up to Home Office to challenge this decision - which they have 2 weeks to do - after that they cant do anything and the judges decision gets confirmed.

[Yazzy]

Hi Frazzy
Thanks for your reply
My hearing was yesterday
You was right the Judge was already on my side

I also had a women from the Home office fight my appeal
My refusal said my marriage is not genuine. Judge told the Home Office lady that my marriage is genuine and she said she doesn't disagree but she thinks my husbands been married to someone else before. Judge told her he doesn't agree with her.
Also the my husband was refused because of English test provider not been approved by UKBA.
My barrister said the college is listed on the UKBA website.
Home office lady said there is no proof that it was approved at the time test was taken.
Judge looked at the certificate which was submitted with the application which has a license number and the same license number continued until now
So i won that bit aswell i believe
Judge did say we failed to disclose my husbands return date to India although we had wrote his entry date and which visa it was and also his previous home office number. He said it was a grey area. My barrister said it was not intentional and everything had been disclosed.
Home office lady could not say anything as she did not have the application form so she could not fight it really.

At the end the judge ased my barrister if the appeal is allowed will we need the 140 pounds to be paid back something along those lines
I think then he asked the home office lady if it is allowed will she be appealing but im not too sure and she said no.
Judge told me he will write to me in 4 weeks with a decision

Did the Judge asked ur home office lady anything along those lines at the end of the hearing?
Im not sure if i've heard right
And is this a good thing if the judge says this or is it just routine?

[Frazzy]

Hi

Yes yours is slightly more complicated than mine as there are a few different issues to deal with. It sounds like nothing went wrong really so it should be a positive outcome. In my case, the judge did not say anything like that to the Home Office rep but he may have asked her when I left. The judge just said your wife will get an answer in 2 weeks, but after 3 days I received a letter (yes me, not my wife) from the court saying that the judge has gone against the Home Office and they have i think it was 2 weeks to go against the judges decision. So if she said she wont go against in your case I guess thats good news, but you can confirm with your barrister. Also, if you win the case the £140 fee you paid for the appeal gets refunded back to you. It looks as tough thats what the judge was referring to, so you did hear right. Hopefully you will get good news soon and try not to worry too much. Let me know what happens

[justrizvi]

Hi

I have applied spouse visa to the home office couple of months ago I couldn't received any news from them I have a wife and two lovely kids I am deaf and my wife is deaf too. I would like to get employer as soon as possible including study but I am suspended to get employer in the UK I have no right to work in the UK since 2011. I have had spoken to my immigration solicitor, he says, "Your case are still pending in the home office you have to wait to heard their decide to maybe permission to stay in the UK". But how long I shall be awaiting to heard them (Home Office) answers? Still no luck. That's why I am writing to you for my a little request that you could advise me I would be thanking to you.

Arsalan