Refusal with Right to Appeal

Hey folks,

Unfortunate that this has to be my first post but hopeful and confident to solicit advice that might be valuable for others as well.

My husband and I had a helpful session with an immigration lawyer when I was last visiting London last September and realized our situation was relatively straightforward so I decided to navigate through this on my own. I applied for the Spouse visa under category A after a few weeks of research on this forum along with the documented guidance from our lawyer and was in supremely high spirits until I got an email from Sheffield this morning saying a decision had been made.

Since I've been following others' waits on the priority/non-priority timeline threads for a hot minute, this seemed fairly earlier than anticipated- and lo and behold, after a premature celebration, I noticed the attachment on the email which stated my application had in fact been refused 

All other criteria met, long story short, it states the following and that I have a right to appeal:

You have provided your sponsors personal bank statements, however, they do not show your sponsors monthly salary being paid into the account.
You have therefore failed to provide the required documents relating to your sponsor’s employment. These documents are specified in the Immigration Rules in Appendix FM-SE and must be provided. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)

After processing this rejection for a few hours and almost sending my poor partner into a downwards spiral, I'm reaching out for some advice: we provided the bank statements, I can see in the copies I have on file clearly showing pay deposited monthly for all 6 months and it just seems like human error. I have 28 days to appeal via the following link that was in the attachment and a note that the IHS will be refunded so I'll have to pay it again and I'm assuming it will be at the higher current rate (got in right before it went up last year). So that's kind of bogus. Further, an appeals process has an additional £80 or £140 fee as well. Should I appeal or can I do an administrative review even though I have a 'right of appeal' noted in the refusal?

https://www.gov.uk/immigration-asylum-tribunal/appeal-from-outside-the-uk [nofollow]

Sorry that you guys are going through this.

Sounds like a review might work on this if it is as you say it is. I'm sure one of the more senior types can answer that more clearly!

I hear appeals are often not worthwhile for things like this as they take so long, and you tend to be better off just resubmitting the application with anything else they might need (despite the big nasty cost).

Hey folks,

Unfortunate that this has to be my first post but hopeful and confident to solicit advice that might be valuable for others as well.

My husband and I had a helpful session with an immigration lawyer when I was last visiting London last September and realized our situation was relatively straightforward so I decided to navigate through this on my own. I applied for the Spouse visa under category A after a few weeks of research on this forum along with the documented guidance from our lawyer and was in supremely high spirits until I got an email from Sheffield this morning saying a decision had been made.

Since I've been following others' waits on the priority/non-priority timeline threads for a hot minute, this seemed fairly earlier than anticipated- and lo and behold, after a premature celebration, I noticed the attachment on the email which stated my application had in fact been refused 

All other criteria met, long story short, it states the following and that I have a right to appeal:
After processing this rejection for a few hours and almost sending my poor partner into a downwards spiral, I'm reaching out for some advice: we provided the bank statements, I can see in the copies I have on file clearly showing pay deposited monthly for all 6 months and it just seems like human error. I have 28 days to appeal via the following link that was in the attachment and a note that the IHS will be refunded so I'll have to pay it again and I'm assuming it will be at the higher current rate (got in right before it went up last year). So that's kind of bogus. Further, an appeals process has an additional £80 or £140 fee as well. Should I appeal or can I do an administrative review even though I have a 'right of appeal' noted in the refusal?

https://www.gov.uk/immigration-asylum-tribunal/appeal-from-outside-the-uk

I'm sorry to hear about your refusal.

Are they clearly from your husbands pay though? Does the employer name match and are the pay amounts match exactly?

If so, I would ask for an administrative review.

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Sorry that you guys are going through this.

Sounds like a review might work on this if it is as you say it is. I'm sure one of the more senior types can answer that more clearly!

I hear appeals are often not worthwhile for things like this as they take so long, and you tend to be better off just resubmitting the application with anything else they might need (despite the big nasty cost).

Yikes, didn't realize it could take long. Would prefer to pay for the appeal rather than another round of applying but even more preferable if we can just ask them to take a look at the statements.

Are they clearly from your husbands pay though? Does the employer name match and are the pay amounts match exactly?

Absolutely, double and triple checked just now, they're all deposited under the company's name, match the payslips we sent over that they've acknowledged reviewing. It's the strangest thing. I wonder if another option is to ring his local MP? But if this is the process to get them to take a look at the bank statements again, then assuming we should follow it. I'm unsure because one of the requirements for the administrative review is that you not have a right to appeal- which makes me wonder if we go down that route will they be like well actually you could have appealed so you can't do this now either 

There have been scanning issues, so I would push for a review after contacting his MP. You can't see what UKVI had sent by the scanning hub, but maybe the MP can confirm that they received everything. Are you 100% sure the statements and payslips covered the full 6 months?

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Yikes, didn't realize it could take long. Would prefer to pay for the appeal rather than another round of applying but even more preferable if we can just ask them to take a look at the statements.

Sorry to hear about the refusal.

The entire appeals process from start to finish can take up to a year to be completed, though if they realise they made a mistake, it might be more like a few months.

I believe it goes back to Sheffield first, for them to check whether the decision to refuse was correct. If they made a mistake, then they can overturn the decision and issue the visa (I think they have a deadline of about 12 weeks to do this, but I can’t quite remember).

If they don’t overturn the decision, then it can go to an appeal, which is what can take several more months.

So, it’s really up to you. You could either try for the appeal, but be aware that it could take several months, and if it’s not successful, you’ll have to reapply again anyway, or you can reapply again now and ‘fix’ the reason for refusal.

Can you post the entire refusal letter wording? Sometimes you have to read between the lines to find the exact reasons for refusal (it might not just be the bank statements).

Also, can you list everything you sent with your application, so we can check that there wasn’t anything else they could have refused on?



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Sorry to hear about the refusal.

The entire appeals process from start to finish can take up to a year to be completed, though if they realise they made a mistake, it might be more like a few months.

Thank you! up to a year makes sense if things were missing but a few months for an error is so painful

Here's a list of docs I sent with a cover letter noting intended date of travel:

Applicant Documents

• Return shipping label
• IHS surcharge receipt
• Stamped biometrics confirmation
• Printed online application
• VAF4a Appendix 2
• Current and previous passports
• 1 Passport photo

Sponsor Evidence  

• Sponsorship letter from my husband
• Copy of husband's passport (biometric pages & all others)

Employment Evidence

• Employment verification
• Job Contract

Financial Evidence

• 7 months of payslips with employer’s note
• 7 months of certified bank statements
• 2018 Annual Compensation Statement

Accommodation

• Letter from sponsor's parents
• Passport bio pages from sponsor's parents
• Land registry document for sponsor’s parents’ home
• Council Tax Notice

Relationship     

• Original marriage certificate
• Photographs together
• Screenshots of FaceTime call logs
• Whatsapp chat history
• Travel receipts and e-tickets for all visits and trips

And the refusal letter wording with sensitive info removed:

Dear -----
Your human rights claim in an application for entry clearance made on 15/12/2018 is refused.
What this means for you
You can appeal this decision. Instructions on how to appeal are in the ‘next steps’ section of this letter.
The reasons for this decision are set out on the next page.
Yours sincerely,
ASM/ECO Sheffield UKVI

REASONS FOR REFUSAL
On 15/12/2018 you made an application for entry clearance to the UK under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules on the basis of your family life with your partner --------.

Your application has been considered under those Rules, and with reference to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The relevant Immigration Rules can be viewed on gov.uk here: www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules [nofollow] .

This decision takes into account as a primary consideration the best interests of any relevant child in line with section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.

We have considered your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1. of Appendix FM. However, you do not qualify for entry clearance under the 5-year partner route for the following reasons:

Suitability
Your application does not fall for refusal on grounds of suitability under Section S-EC of Appendix FM.

Eligibility
Under paragraph EC-P.1.1.(d) you do not meet all of the eligibility requirements of Section E-ECP of Appendix FM for the following reasons:

Eligibility Relationship Requirement
You meet the eligibility relationship requirement of paragraphs E-ECP.2.1. to 2.10.

Eligibility Financial Requirement
You do not meet the eligibility financial requirement of paragraphs E-ECP.3.1. to 3.4.
You have stated in your Visa Application Form that you meet the financial requirement through Category A. I am not able to take into account any potential employment you have available to you in the UK or any offers of financial support from third parties. In order to meet the financial requirements of Appendix FM your sponsor needs a gross income of at least £18,600 per annum. You state that your sponsor is employed by ------ since xx/xx/xxxx and earns an annual salary of £xyz. As evidence of your sponsor’s employment you have submitted the following;
• An employment letter
• Monthly payslips
• Personal bank statements

The Immigration Rules state that in respect of salaried employment in the UK, all of the following evidence must be provided (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence [nofollow] ):

(a) Payslips covering:
(i) a period of 6 months prior to the date of application if the person has been employed by their current employer for at least 6 months (and where paragraph 13(b) of this Appendix does not apply); or
(ii) any period of salaried employment in the period of 12 months prior to the date of application if the person has been employed by their current employer for less than 6 months (or at least 6 months but the person does not rely on paragraph 13(a) of this Appendix), or in the financial year(s) relied upon by a self-employed person.

(b) A letter from the employer(s) who issued the payslips at paragraph 2(a) confirming:
(i) the person's employment and gross annual salary;
(ii) the length of their employment;
(iii) the period over which they have been or were paid the level of salary relied upon in the application; and
(iv) the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency).

(c) Personal bank statements corresponding to the same period(s) as the payslips at paragraph 2(a), showing that the salary has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.

You have provided your sponsors personal bank statements, however, they do not show your sponsors monthly salary being paid into the account.

You have therefore failed to provide the required documents relating to your sponsor’s employment. These documents are specified in the Immigration Rules in Appendix FM- SE and must be provided. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC- P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)

Eligibility English Language Requirement
You meet the eligibility English language requirement of paragraphs E-ECP.4.1. to 4.2.

Exceptional Circumstances
We have considered, under paragraphs GEN.3.1. and GEN.3.2. of Appendix FM as applicable, whether there are exceptional circumstances in your case which could or would render refusal a breach of Article 8 of the ECHR because it could or would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for you or your family. In so doing we have taken into account, under paragraph GEN.3.3. of Appendix FM, the best interests of any relevant child as a primary consideration.

Based on the information you have provided we have decided that there are no such exceptional circumstances in your case.

Refusal under the Partner Rules
In light of the above, your application is refused under paragraph D-ECP.1.3.of Appendix FM with reference to paragraph EC-P.1.1.(d) and you do not qualify for entry clearance on the 5-year partner route, or on the 10-year partner route on the basis of exceptional circumstances, under Appendix FM.

NEXT STEPS

RIGHT OF APPEAL
You have 28 days from the date you receive this decision to appeal. Information on how to appeal, the appeal process and the fees payable are all available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/immigration-asylum-tribunal/appeal-from-outside-the-uk [nofollow]
If you want to seek legal advice you must do so now.

IMMIGRATION HEALTH SURCHARGE
If you have paid the Immigration Health Surcharge it will be refunded. You may need to pay again if any appeal is successful.

There have been scanning issues, so I would push for a review after contacting his MP. You can't see what UKVI had sent by the scanning hub, but maybe the MP can confirm that they received everything. Are you 100% sure the statements and payslips covered the full 6 months?

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120% sure! Will ask him to consider contacting his MP tomorrow morning, just because it seems so strange

I’m so sorry you’ve had this happen. I’m in another visa group and I know of 3 people that have recently had their refusal decisions overturned due to UKVI error. I think each of them had UKVI read their bank accounts incorrectly. They all contacted their MPs immediately and wrote a polite email to UKVI high lighting that the information they say was missing from the bank statements was actually there. I would definitely start with your MP.

I’m so sorry you’ve had this happen. I’m in another visa group and I know of 3 people that have recently had their refusal decisions overturned due to UKVI error. I think each of them had UKVI read their bank accounts incorrectly. They all contacted their MPs immediately and wrote a polite email to UKVI high lighting that the information they say was missing from the bank statements was actually there. I would definitely start with your MP.

Ah this is so very helpful, thank you! He called the MP this morning, they've said they'll get back in a day or two with some info but in the meantime for us to consider the appeals process rather than admin review because the MP thought it might be a safer route. Although I'm not sure about this, because there really shouldn't be any other issues with our application, but if that ends up being his final recommendation after a chat with Home Office I suppose that's what we'll do. I wonder if you might be able to share which UKVI email address they had reached out to after contacting their MP?

Ah this is so very helpful, thank you! He called the MP this morning, they've said they'll get back in a day or two with some info but in the meantime for us to consider the appeals process rather than admin review because the MP thought it might be a safer route. Although I'm not sure about this, because there really shouldn't be any other issues with our application, but if that ends up being his final recommendation after a chat with Home Office I suppose that's what we'll do. I wonder if you might be able to share which UKVI email address they had reached out to after contacting their MP?

I’ll check the thread and get back to you. One thing you may want to consider is contacting Medivisas. They are the only recommended attorneys in this group. It’s who I’m now working with now. I have a previous refusal that was not eligible for appeal. Their consult fee is £120 I believe. They will be able to advise you. In a situation like this I wouldn’t go solely on what my MP says. We didn’t get much help from ours and they don’t specialise in immigration law. They can help push things along but I wouldn’t trust their advise on the appeals process.

I can’t find the address. I think out of the 3 people there may have been different addresses used. I believe all 3 asked for an administrative review through their MP. From my understanding an administrative review will only work if it’s something UKVI overlooked or documents weren’t scanned correctly in NYC. I’m sorry, I don’t have more information to give. I do think you need to go through your MP for this.

I can’t find the address. I think out of the 3 people there may have been different addresses used. I believe all 3 asked for an administrative review through their MP. From my understanding an administrative review will only work if it’s something UKVI overlooked or documents weren’t scanned correctly in NYC. I’m sorry, I don’t have more information to give. I do think you need to go through your MP for this.

Wanted to provide an update on this. Following this wonderful advice, we reached out to the local MP's office and the visa decision was overturned 

For anyone who may be interested:

Timeline
3/6 - email from Sheffield that visa was refused
3/7 - called MP and drafted an email for them to reference
3/8 - MP reached out to Home Office via email, said they'd hear back by 4/11
4/15 - letter received in the mail from MP's office with next steps for admin review
4/24 - admin review email sent to Entry Clearance Manager
5/8 - email received from UK Decision Making Centre/Sheffield Visa Section stating visa decision has been overturned & separate email requesting IHS Payment again (same as the original $804)
5/9 - email sent to Sheffield Visa Section confirming IHS payment, amount and that passport had been mailed to Application Support Center in NYC
5/16 - decision made email received
5/17 - vignette stamped and passport shipped back to me
5/21 - passport received, visa vignette begins 5/23

Email
In the email we sent to the MP we requested if they might be able to review the original docs we sent and shared that we had learned that there had been several scanning errors in NY around the time we had submitted our docs (early Jan) and might this have impacted our application. Fortunately, the response from the Home Office was the following - so mystery solved:
"An Entry Clearance Manager (ECM) has reviewed this application and checked the documents we have on record. We cannot be sure, but it does seem possible that there may be a scanning error, as we have the main pages for the statements but not the transactions."

Appeal
In the meantime, since the Home Office was going to get back to the MP after the 28 day mark, as a precautionary measure I also submitted an appeal on March 18 and coincidentally received a response from the First Tribunal in the mail May 15 dated for May 8. The documentation said that it would take up to 15 weeks for the appeal, but as the decision was overturned I let them know asap that no further action was necessary. Will be requesting a refund for this in time.

Calitobrum, we are super grateful for the reassurance and guidance!

Congratulations!  I'm happy to hear that you had such a quick resolution to this unfortunate situation.  It sucks that you had to go through it in the first place, but I'm glad you and your MP got it put right so swiftly.  Time to celebrate! 

Congratulations!!!! I’m so happy this was overturned and fairly quickly.