British embassy Tirana... again.

[clairey]

A friend of mine got talking to an English girl who is married to an Albanian guy at Tirana airport recently, and my friend was told the following: The lady at the airport's Albanian husband had been refused a UK spouse visa twice, but was successful on the third attempt. She said he was told in his third interview by the ECO that the British embassy are now only allowed to issue one spouse visa per month from Tirana. Can this be true without some kind of official statement? I have certainly heard some very strange reasons for refusal of spouse visas coming out of Tirana recently: not knowing the British spouse's full work address including postcode, and British spouse not being present at the time of the interview. Can they be allowed to get away with this kind of behaviour?

[jacquelineg]

Hi

Hope this is not true. My husband had his interview last Friday and we are awaiting our decision.

Lady who interviewed my husband asked when I was going back. When he said Sunday she said "sorry you won't be on that flight" as unfortunately too soon to make a decision as they are closed weekends but hope to give him reply early as possible next week when they have been through all his original paperwork and the additional information he took to his interview. She did ask if I had enclosed my boarding pass, entry visas and copies of passport pages with entry/exit stamps which obviously I had.

We are waiting in hope we are one of the lucky ones.

[clairey]

Good luck - I hope you get a positive decision quickly.
An awful lot seemed to change at that embassy when the new Ambassador took over last year, and not for the better.

[Dawie]

There should be no reason why an immediate decision cannot be reached for a spouse visa. The staff at that embassy sound dispicable.

As a contrast, a British friend of mine married his Mexican girlfriend in Mexico. They phoned the British embassy in Mexico City to organise an appointment for the spouse visa for her, expecting to wait a few weeks for the appointment. Believe it or not, they were given an appointment for the very next day.

They went to the embassy, handed in the application form and required documentation, and were even more surprised when the ECO told them to wait in the reception area while the visa was printed and stuck into her passport. They waited 30 minutes.

There should be absolutely no reason why this level of service cannot be possible at all British embassies and consulates. Waiting weeks for an appointment, never mind the weeks AFTER the appointment waiting for a decision is ridiculous.

[clairey]

Dawie, would it be worth reporting them to the Ombudsman perhaps? I realise these are only secondhand versions of events, but as the Ombudsman can't investigate an individual case, perhaps that's a good thing? I just feel they shouldn't be allowed to get away with behaviour like this.