# UK Spouse Visa Refusal - need help with Appeal process!



## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

Our UK Spouse Settlement Visa was refused today on the grounds of not meeting the financial requirement. We had applied with cash savings. Here is the pertinent paragraph from the refusal.

"In respect of cash savings: As evidence of your savings you have provided your Charles Schwab investment statement. These statements do not demonstrate the funds can be immediately withdrawn. The covering letter also states that the value of any security held in this account is subject to change upon market conditions and activities. You have provided evidence that you have savings, however you and/or your sponsor have not demonstrated that it has been held continuously for the past 6 months. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)"

For our cash savings, we combined $25k in a savings account with $80k in an IRA. The IRA total value is well over $80k. The month before we applied, we liquidated $80k worth of securities into cash, and that cash is immediately accessible. We provided 6 months worth of bank statements for both the $25k account, and the IRA.

Apart from explaining that we have the money and that it is immediately accessible, is there some other documentation that we need to provide?

It was so shocking to receive the visa refusal - we had compiled the application so carefully. I'm surprised that they didn't reach out to us for clarification instead of a flat-out refusal.

Thank you SO much for any help anybody can provide!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

mr francis said:


> Our UK Spouse Settlement Visa was refused today on the grounds of not meeting the financial requirement. We had applied with cash savings. Here is the pertinent paragraph from the refusal. "In respect of cash savings: As evidence of your savings you have provided your Charles Schwab investment statement. These statements do not demonstrate the funds can be immediately withdrawn. The covering letter also states that the value of any security held in this account is subject to change upon market conditions and activities. You have provided evidence that you have savings, however you and/or your sponsor have not demonstrated that it has been held continuously for the past 6 months. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)" For our cash savings, we combined $25k in a savings account with $80k in an IRA. The IRA total value is well over $80k. The month before we applied, we liquidated $80k worth of securities into cash, and that cash is immediately accessible. We provided 6 months worth of bank statements for both the $25k account, and the IRA. Apart from explaining that we have the money and that it is immediately accessible, is there some other documentation that we need to provide? It was so shocking to receive the visa refusal - we had compiled the application so carefully. I'm surprised that they didn't reach out to us for clarification instead of a flat-out refusal. Thank you SO much for any help anybody can provide!


It sounds as though ECO has made a mistake. Your IRA counts as investment account so you must have held it for at least 6 months. And its cash value at liquidation must not have been greater than the value 6 months prior. It was ok for you to covert into cash a month before, so provided your total cash amount at the time of application using Oanda rate came to £62,500 or more, you have met the requirement. So an official complaint with a carefully crafted covering letter answering their refusal letter may be enough to get the decision overturned by ECM.


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## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

Joppa,

Thank you, thank you for your quick reply - it has given me hope!

We have been working through the online appeals process, but you suggest an official complaint. Can you direct me how to do that?


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## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

I found the official complaint website. i will file tomorrow and post more when I know more.

Thank you again.


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## Pallykin (Mar 30, 2014)

Mr. Francis, I'm sorry to read of your refusal, and I look forward to hearing that your it has been overturned. You are applying with the same financial category that we will be using when we make our application later this year, so I am following your story with great personal interest. Our money is also in an IRA, and will be liquidated to cash in a month or so before our application. 

One thing we will be doing in addition to what you describe is getting a letter from Fidelity, where the account resides, specifying when the funds were deposited, and from where (rollovers from 401ks and 403bs of various former employers). 

Based on your experience, I am thinking that this letter should also explicitly state that the funds are readily accessible and by what means. I had always assumed that the ECO would ring Fidelity to verify the account and its accessibility, now I am not so sure that this can be counted upon to happen. I've attached a screen shot of the page where withdrawals can be arranged. The money can be moved to another account with check writing, and possible ATM access. I'm going to be looking into this more thoroughly.

****************

I have a question for Joppa about this phrase:



> [Your IRA's] cash value at liquidation must not have been greater than the value 6 months prior.


I'm not totally clear on what this means in practical terms. If my IRA account balance were as follows:

January £71,000
February £70,000
March £72,000
April £73,000
May £74,000
June £75,000

The statements are for the calendar month, so in this example, the funds would be liquidated in May, show on the May and June statements and the application would be in July. If the entire account balance (some amount above £73,000) were to be liquidated to cash, does this mean that the application would be refused as it is above £70,000, the lowest value within the six months? 

Or does it mean that only the lowest balance in the last six month period would be counted towards the financial requirement, in this case £70,000?

Thank you for clarifying. I've been wondering about this for a while.


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## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

I filed my complaint 48 hours ago, and have not received any acknowledgement or anything. Does anyone know how quickly they tend to get back to you?


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## Razmataz (Mar 11, 2015)

Have you had any luck with your appeal process?


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## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

Razmataz said:


> Have you had any luck with your appeal process?


we haven't filed an appeal, only a complaint. the website says they respond to complaints within 20 working days, and it has been just 4 (how has it only been 4???!). i have been anxious about whether to go ahead with an appeal, but i've decided to give the complaint process a little more time, even though it is excruciating to wait. i don't know how long i can wait before i also file an appeal - what's the right thing to do?? i expected the visa to be approved by now and all of our travel arrangements booked. sigh.


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## mr francis (Dec 9, 2014)

*UK Spouse Visa refused, complaint denied, appeal filed*

update on this unbelievably frustrating process. we filed a complaint to attempt to get our visa decision overturned, but hadn't heard back so filed an appeal as well. just heard back on complaint - no dice. pretty much the same vague reasoning as in the visa refusal.

here is the text from their email:

"We have received a complaint against the decision taken to refuse your entry clearance application, on the basis that you had provided sufficient evidence of your financial savings to meet the requirements of the Imigration Rules.

Your case has been reviewed but it remains the case that the evidence produced fails to confirm that the equivalent of £62,500 had been held continuously for 6 months and could be immediately withdrawn. The decision therefore stands. You will have been advised on how to make an appeal against the decision directly to the First Tier Tribunal."

i have no idea what they want, or what other documentation i can provide. we have over 62,500 continuously held for over 6 months, and it is immediately accessible. also, nice to see that the people handling immigration can't spell "immigration".

also received a letter saying my appeal was received and i should expect to hear back in 15 weeks.

any advice on our situation?? is it likely we really won't hear anything for 15 weeks? we have already sold our house and quit our jobs. we're considering a long vacation to the balkans - is that ok, or should we stay put and just wait?

Timeline:

Visa received: Refused Mar 12, received documentation back Mar 16
Official Complaint filed: Mar 17
Appeal filed online: April 4
Supporting docs mailed: April 6
Supporting docs received: April 10
Received complaint received email: April 14
Received complaint response via email No: May 5
Received appeal document via mail: May 5


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## Ronaldinho2015 (Jul 3, 2015)

Hello everyone , i would like to share my experience her about my spouse visa to uk , i have applied for a uk settlment visa but it has been refused they say that my wife dosent earn enought to support me , in fact she does earn , but when we applied we have put six months wages lips but under sick pay because she had 8 months off sick before we applied , and even she is in sick pay she still can earn more than £18.600 , but her campany did a mistake and pid her less than she should have , so they make it right and paid her a bit extra just after the 8 months ,the if we calculate the annum incoming will be about £19.000 on that sick pay , now she received her p60 with £23.400 annum incomes for 2014/2015 , but we have appealed and put all evidences and a letter from her work explaing her incoming and the mistake wich they have done a letter from the solicitor saying the she meets the requirments , does anybody knows please if will overturn that desicion or they can be difficult and take to court as the solicitor said they have no reason to take it to court , thank you for advance


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