Spouse Visa - Egypt (currently under appeal)

[taniah]

Hi,

I am a British citizen by birth
I married my Egyptian boyfriend in April 2014
We submitted a visa application on 22nd July 2014
Application was sent to Abu Dhabi 29th August 2014
Visa refused 7th September 2014
Notification given & passport returned 22nd September 2014
Appeal lodged with UK court 5th October 2014
Notice of pending Appeal sent by court 17 November 2014

With our application we submitted 2 A4 lever arch files of evidence as I meticulously went through the evidence required. I am a sole director of my company and pay myself part salary and part dividend and the total earnings was well over the minimum required.

Unusually they said we met the relationship requirements which I believe is quite a common grounds for refusal. Might have been the 500 pages of Whatsapp conversation that might have convinced them!!!! lol

They refused on the English language requirement saying that although the receipt for the English language test at the British Council was in the papers the results weren't. This is rubbish as they were stapled together. I can't remember if this was listed separately on the receipt for the papers or not and they have since taken the receipt it back when they returned some of the documents to us. However I did have a photo of it which I have submitted as part of the appeal. As I do not speak Arabic English is our only means of communicating and the 500 pages of Whatsapp conversation show my husband writes English well above the standard required. Just to make sure though he has since taken another exam with The American University in Cairo and got A2. This is just in case the first results paper has completely vanished.

The other grounds for refusal were that a) I hadn't declared my earnings from the dividend to HMRC and that the bank statements did not show that I had received my wages or the dividend. This again is rubbish. There is no small business that would pay out over £12,650 in one go and I produced a year of both business & personal bank statements and highlighted every single transfer of money between the two accounts. I take money out of the business as and when cash flow allows. I also printed out the transactions on the Directors Drawings account to show this.

As part of my appeal I said that HMRC didn't know because personal tax returns aren't due to be submitted until January 2015 however they were aware of the dividend because the profits of the company are subject to corporation tax and the submission of the Corporation tax & accounts was included in the evidence. M y accountant has now submitted my personal tax return early and provided proof that HMRC are now aware of my total personal earnings. He also wrote a letter stating that taking salary & dividends out of a small business in dribs and drabs is within HMRC guidelines.

We are therefore hopeful that Abu Dhabi will review their decision and grant us the visa.

My questions are
1) How long are Abu Dhabi currently taking to review decisions. I know they have until 2 March to reply to the notice of appeal.
2) What is the likelihood of them changing their decision and granting the visa.
3) Would we just be better to reapply as it would be quicker? However I am worried they will just find something else to refuse on and we will be back to square one again.

Really would appreciate any advice

Many thanks

[taniah]

After chasing this up with the international visa enquiry service they said the documents had gone back to the appeal court on 31st December. On calling the justice department they told me that UKVI have stood by their decision, so now I await their defence bundle of documents and a court date.

Any advice/tips on how to handle the court appearance would be gratefully received.

Thanks