Settlement Refusal

Sooo useful to know- he was going to send it Parcel Force but now we will go with DHL instead!

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Yeah, it's really important to NEVER use a Royal Mail service for important documents.

My brother spent a summer in the US on an exchange visa a few years ago and stupidly left his actual visa paperwork (the form that accompanies his visa) at home. He was given 30 days to produce the document to immigration or he would have to leave the US. My mum sent it to him using a 'fast' (2-day) Royal Mail service.

On day 28, my brother had to go to Washington DC and request a replacement immigration form, because the document still hadn't arrived. It never showed up and was lost forever.

In regards to the document list you posted above, I'm just going to rearrange it slightly into the order in which it should be presented in your package (comments in blue, additions in red):

Applicant Documents
- priority processing receipt (if purchasing)
- return shipping label
- cover letter
- printed online application
- VAF4a Appendix 2
- IHS surcharge number/receipt (by the way, the first IHS payment should have been refunded to you since the visa was refused, though it can take a while for the refund to come though)
- stamped biometrics confirmation
- refusal letter
- your current passport
- all your previous passports (if you have them)
- 1 passport photo of you

Sponsor's Documents
- certified copy of his passport photo page ONLY (can be certified by a UK Post Office for about £10)
- letter of support for the visa, outlining how he meets each requirement - this letter is mandatory

Financial Documents - Category A
- 6 months of original payslips (the latest dated within 28 days of your online application date)
- 6 months of original bank statements (the latest dated within 28 days of your online application date)
- employment letter (dated within 28 days of your online application date)
- Employment Contract
- P60 (yes - include this)

Accommodation Documents
- Letter from employer stating accommodation will be provided for both of you... not sure if it needs to be separate to the employer letter or not, as usually accommodation is separate from the employment, where you live in your own rented or owned accommodation, or with relatives

Relationship Documents:
- marriage certificate
- 1 or 2 photos of you together
- boarding passes from flights to see each other
- letters/cards sent to each other
- no more than 1-3 pages of each type of correspondence (call logs/emails/messages) between you, covering the length of the relationship, no message content, just screenshots of dates/times/names.

DO NOT include any letters of support from family and friends as they cannot be considered and will not be looked at.

The instructions are on the VFS Global website and are very specific.

You must:
- print the priority receipt
- place it on the VERY TOP of your documents in the package so it is seen immediately
- write SETTLEMENT PRIORITY PROCESSING in VERY LARGE LETTERS on the outermost packaging so it is seen as soon as it arrives, before being opened (if you use the round-trip shipping, this must be on the outside of the UPS envelope).

Amazing, thank you !! My husband is sending me the documents etc today, after he gets his passport certified at the post office. We will take out the letters of support from friends and family- we had those because we had to drive to Folkstone for an interview before we were allowed to get married and that is part of the evidence of our relationship that we submitted, and of course our solicitor said we had to have them with our application as well 

I'm pretty confident with our relationship evidence, as that was satisfied on our last application - I"m just adding 1-2 pics of us in the US with my family. We've made sure the employment letter is on company letterhead, signed, etc. My husband got paid yesterday and has the payslip and got a stamped copy of the bank statement today so we are within the 28 day window.

I'm still waiting on the IHS refund, can't imagine they are in much of a hurry to get my money back to me!

Seriously, thank you so much, there were things on here we didn't have bc we were still in the mindset of our last application and what we were told we needed. So thank you for saving us from making mistakes that could lead to another disappointment!

we had those because we had to drive to Folkstone for an interview before we were allowed to get married and that is part of the evidence of our relationship that we submitted, and of course our solicitor said we had to have them with our application as well 

But that was because you wanted to get married on a visitor visa and had to prove you had a strong case for being allowed to do so.

This application is completely different.

I'm pretty confident with our relationship evidence, as that was satisfied on our last application - I"m just adding 1-2 pics of us in the US with my family.

No, don't include those photos. The only reason you need to include a photo at all is to prove you and your spouse have met at least once in person, and no one else should be in the photo. I would send 1 photo of the two of you from your wedding, and one photo from earlier in the relationship.

Also, be careful with assuming you met all the other requirements last time. Sometimes they don't tell you ALL the reasons for the refusal, just the most important ones.... and from what you've said about your lawyer's advice, I'm surprised you weren't refused for more things.

For example, did you include a sponsor letter of support last time? If not, that could have also been cause for a refusal, had your finances been in order.

Someone last year was refused FLR(M) because they applied inside the UK when they were on a visitor visa (which is not allowed). They were simply told that the visa was refused due to not being eligible to apply as a visitor in the UK.

They assumed they met all the other requirements though, as those weren't mentioned in the refusal letter, so they returned to the US and applied again... but the visa was refused again because they didn't meet the financial requirements...they hadn't met them the first time either, but they hadn't been told that, because the 'applying as a visitor' part took priority.

I'm still waiting on the IHS refund, can't imagine they are in much of a hurry to get my money back to me!

It used to be that it could take 90 days, but recently they seem to have changed it to 6 weeks... so if you don't get it within 6 weeks, you can contact them to find out where it is:
https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/refunds

Amazing, thank you !! My husband is sending me the documents etc today, after he gets his passport certified at the post office. We will take out the letters of support from friends and family- we had those because we had to drive to Folkstone for an interview before we were allowed to get married and that is part of the evidence of our relationship that we submitted, and of course our solicitor said we had to have them with our application as well 

I'm pretty confident with our relationship evidence, as that was satisfied on our last application - I"m just adding 1-2 pics of us in the US with my family. We've made sure the employment letter is on company letterhead, signed, etc. My husband got paid yesterday and has the payslip and got a stamped copy of the bank statement today so we are within the 28 day window.

I'm still waiting on the IHS refund, can't imagine they are in much of a hurry to get my money back to me!

Seriously, thank you so much, there were things on here we didn't have bc we were still in the mindset of our last application and what we were told we needed. So thank you for saving us from making mistakes that could lead to another disappointment!

The folks here are wonderful at rescuing applications after lawyers are full of inaccurate information I'm glad you're confident and ready to resubmit!

But that was because you wanted to get married on a visitor visa and had to prove you had a strong case for being allowed to do so.

This application is completely different.

No, don't include those photos. The only reason you need to include a photo at all is to prove you and your spouse have met at least once in person, and no one else should be in the photo. I would send 1 photo of the two of you from your wedding, and one photo from earlier in the relationship.

Also, be careful with assuming you met all the other requirements last time. Sometimes they don't tell you ALL the reasons for the refusal, just the most important ones.... and from what you've said about your lawyer's advice, I'm surprised you weren't refused for more things.

For example, did you include a sponsor letter of support last time? If not, that could have also been cause for a refusal, had your finances been in order.

Someone last year was refused FLR(M) because they applied inside the UK when they were on a visitor visa (which is not allowed). They were simply told that the visa was refused due to not being eligible to apply as a visitor in the UK.

They assumed they met all the other requirements though, as those weren't mentioned in the refusal letter, so they returned to the US and applied again... but the visa was refused again because they didn't meet the financial requirements...they hadn't met them the first time either, but they hadn't been told that, because the 'applying as a visitor' part took priority.

It used to be that it could take 90 days, but recently they seem to have changed it to 6 weeks... so if you don't get it within 6 weeks, you can contact them to find out where it is:
https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/refunds

I am worried that there are other reasons for refusal that they didn't state in our letter, especially now! No, we didn't include a letter from my sponsor in the last application, we were told it was optional - clearly not the case. The refusal letter did state that we satisfied the relationship requirement, so I will go ahead and just send in the same things we sent before, without adding photos from the US as per your suggestion. I worry there are other things that will pop up - well I am not nearly as worried now that I have found you guys! I will make sure we have everything you listed out, in that order, and I've already got a sharpie in my bag to write priority settlement application ALL OVER the outside of the envelope I send in!!

I am worried that there are other reasons for refusal that they didn't state in our letter, especially now! No, we didn't include a letter from my sponsor in the last application, we were told it was optional - clearly not the case. The refusal letter did state that we satisfied the relationship requirement, so I will go ahead and just send in the same things we sent before, without adding photos from the US as per your suggestion. I worry there are other things that will pop up - well I am not nearly as worried now that I have found you guys! I will make sure we have everything you listed out, in that order, and I've already got a sharpie in my bag to write priority settlement application ALL OVER the outside of the envelope I send in!!

You've got this.  Follow ksand's list and you WILL have an approval.  Guaranteed.

I am worried that there are other reasons for refusal that they didn't state in our letter, especially now!

Sorry - I didn't mean to worry you... the list I gave you contains everything you need to get an approval.

What I meant was that you should still double-check you have everything on the list and not just assume all your other documents were fine, just because the lawyer said so and/or they weren't mentioned in the refusal letter.

It's always best to make sure you've covered everything .

Sorry - I didn't mean to worry you... the list I gave you contains everything you need to get an approval.

What I meant was that you should still double-check you have everything on the list and not just assume all your other documents were fine, just because the lawyer said so and/or they weren't mentioned in the refusal letter.

It's always best to make sure you've covered everything .

Oh no, sorry, I didn't mean that you had made me worry more - on the contrary, you guys have made me feel much more confident about this whole process! I didn't know if there could be other reasons for a refusal not addressed in the refusal letter, though I assumed there probably could be. But hopefully we will be successful this time around, fingers crossed! I've been so fortunate that my husband has been able to be with me most of the time up til now, but he's back in England and can't come back to visit me bc it's starting to get busy at work. I have been so worried we will get another refusal, but you guys are really making me feel more calm and confident - I can't thank ya'll enough!!

I've printed the list you sent and i will triple check everything before we send it off.

Just a quick question about the online application form- my husband went round and round with our solicitor about this one! On the Family Details tab, which is titled spouse/partner it asks your marital status, then asks personal details - passport number, date of birth etc. Is this mean to be my information (which I provided on the passport and travel tab) or my spouse's info? There is another section for sponsor details, so it's a bit confusing, but I know that there are circumstances where the sponsor is not the spouse so....

Just a quick question about the online application form- my husband went round and round with our solicitor about this one! On the Family Details tab, which is titled spouse/partner it asks your marital status, then asks personal details - passport number, date of birth etc. Is this mean to be my information (which I provided on the passport and travel tab) or my spouse's info? There is another section for sponsor details, so it's a bit confusing, but I know that there are circumstances where the sponsor is not the spouse so....

That whole section is confusing, I think. I'm not completely sure on the answer for the spouse's details, but I do know that when it gets to the parents' details, it means the applicant's parent's not the sponsor's parents (even though it reads like it means the sponsor's)... they ask for your parents' details to make sure you don't already have claim to UK citizenship through your parents.

Quick question about Appendix 2 - the accommodation section. It asks for other people living in the accommodation and their relation to you. Should we list my father in law as employer, father, or both? We haven't noted him in the application as anything other than my husband's employer (they have different surnames). Thanks and happy Friday everyone 

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Quick question about Appendix 2 - the accommodation section. It asks for other people living in the accommodation and their relation to you. Should we list my father in law as employer, father, or both? We haven't noted him in the application as anything other than my husband's employer (they have different surnames). Thanks and happy Friday everyone 

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Put that his father lives there... since he is his father first and his employer second.

i.e.
If you live with your dad, you don't go around telling people you live with your boss, you say you live your dad!

P.S. Surely you have mentioned in the sponsor letter (and the employer letter) that the director of the company is also his father? That's a pretty big piece of information to leave out... and I think it could come across as suspicious if they find out during the application processing that they are father and son (could possibly be seen as using deception)!

Quick question about Appendix 2 - the accommodation section. It asks for other people living in the accommodation and their relation to you. Should we list my father in law as employer, father, or both? We haven't noted him in the application as anything other than my husband's employer (they have different surnames). Thanks and happy Friday everyone 

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Exactly as ksand said.  Not to mention, it's 100% okay that his employer is his father.   We have figured out the wording in paragraph 9 and it does NOT apply to you.  At all.  You need to forget everything that the lawyer said.   

Exactly as ksand said.  Not to mention, it's 100% okay that his employer is his father.   We have figured out the wording in paragraph 9 and it does NOT apply to you.  At all.  You need to forget everything that the lawyer said.   

Thanks guys! I will add it to our application.

I became an Auntie today! It's very bittersweet- if our application hadn't been refused I would have been home in Devon to meet the little guy ♡ But hopefully I will get to meet him soon!

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I became an Auntie today!

Congratulations!