[I'm wordy to a fault: most important parts are bolded & questions are at the end.]
It's kind of embarrassing for this to be my first post here, but I'm desperate for some advice.
I will preface this by saying that we now realize that our submission was probably inadequate & that we should have sought advice about what documents to include. I regret not finding this site sooner, & I'm very sorry for cluttering it with another "urgent! help please!" post. We have already contacted the university’s International Students Office; they instructed us to contact the British Council with our names, passport numbers, contact information, & a description of our situation. However, it’s been 2 days & we haven’t heard from the British Council. I don’t know where else to turn.
Our situation: Husband has unconditional offer from UK university. I am enrolled at US university & my department has approved a year of research abroad. He applied for student visa; I applied for student dependent. We submitted through a courier (promised 48-hour turnaround) to the Chicago consulate. I can explain why we submitted so late, if anyone cares, but with regard to my questions I’m not sure it makes a difference.
We each submitted:- student & student dependent applications with biometric data sheets & passports
- H's unconditional offer letter
- H's UK university registration receipt
- letter from H's US employer stating that while on sabbatical he will receive full salary ($X)
- marriage certificate
We were called for additional financial information. (Note: while on the phone, I asked if any other parts of our applications presented problems or needed additional documentation; the woman said no.)
We then faxed over bank statements, IRA statements, & a letter from our bank confirming our good standing. A day later, our courier informed us that we had been denied visas. The courier was able to clear H to go up to the consulate to inquire about the denial, as well as to request our passports back. H went to the consulate in person to inquire but they would not let him past the lobby & they would not tell him why we had been denied – they said someone “might call” to tell us why. He was able to get our passports back.
Given that both of us were denied, after researching common visa problems it seems most probable that the officer did not believe we had sufficient funds (and when I talked to the consulate on the phone, it sounded like the letter confirming that H will still receive $X in salary wasn’t even being counted).
So we now(after the denial) have a notarized letter of sponsorship from H’s parents and their bank statements to submit. We are prepared to submit other documentation if necessary... of course all of this means nothing until we find out why we were denied.
We need to be in the UK ASAP – H is already going to miss orientation week (next week) & the term starts on October 6th. Furthermore, we have paid the deposit on a flat & will need to begin paying rent this week. My questions are:
1. How long will it take for the reason of denial letter to come? We were denied on Friday the 19th. No one has called & we haven’t received anything from the consulate.
2. Can we reapply right away? Or should we appeal? Based on what I’ve read here, it seems reapplication is faster & what we should be doing – but the official sites (ukvisas & bia) do not give any directions for reapplying.
3. If we should be reapplying, do we need to wait for the denial letter? Or is there a way of quickly finding out why we were denied? Should we expect this letter soon (given tha twe used a courier)? It’s killing us just to sit here, in our temporary residence, waiting & wasting time/money.
4. If we should reapply, do we have to get the biometrics done again? We had them done on
Tuesday, Sept. 16 & I thought they were good for 2 weeks.
5. If we should reapply, must we pay the visa application fee again? I still have printouts and PDFs of our previous applications (I really don’t want to pay...but of course we will if it’s necessary).
6. Do you think that there are additional documents we should include in our reapplication/appeal? (e.g. transcripts, statement from my department, another letter from H's employer?)
I’m sorry for all the questions, but we’re really overwhelmed with this; plus, you know, we feel like criminals or something.
We were supposed to leave on the 21st...after the courier went through our documents & said it was a straightforward application, H booked plane tickets, a hotel room, and train tickets (yes, i know – we shouldn’t have done this). We’re out a great deal of money now because of the denial. I’m just trying to figure out how to get us there as quickly as possible so that we don’t have to lose more money.
Thank you in advance for your help.
