# UK Tourist Visa for my Chinese girlfriend



## snowyno7 (Mar 9, 2015)

Hi all, 

I'm looking for general advice and experiences of others in similar situations. I've had a read through the forums and found some very helpful info, but thought I would check if anyone can offer me more specific or detailed advice.

Myself, (UK citizen) and my Chinese girlfriend have been living together in China for a year now. I work for a UK company, but I am currently based in China. 
We want her to come to the UK this April (next month) for three weeks to visit my parents and of course allow her to do the tourist thing and see as much as possible while in the UK.

Not realising quite how strict UK immigration could be, we have already submitted and been refused her first application for a general visit visa back in February. We applied for a 2 year visa thinking it would save repeat applications should we want to come back to see my family at christmas for example.
I was named in the application as her sponsor, and we provided my bank statements, a copy of my passport, and a letter of invitation to stay with me at my UK home, and stating why we were travelling together, along with a utility bill to prove my address. 

They stated they refused it on several grounds, all related really; (1) no proof of relationship between us, therefore they saw no reason why I would fund the trip for her. (2) They also stated they didn't have proof of her job salary, however they made a massive mistake in the assessment (by my account anyway), as we stated her yearly salary would be 50,000RMB (as shown correctly in the application form), and they stated in the refusal letter that WE say she earns this figure per month!!! (3) They also stated they didn't think I had enough funding to cover the trip (although they discounted me as a sponsor anyway due to lack of relationship proof); over £3k GBP was shown in my account (I believe to be sufficient for two return flights and to cover our living costs whilst in the UK), considering I have a house for us to stay in. (4) basically they then reiterated they don't believe her intentions are true (i.e. that she would leave the UK after the trip) or that she could cover the costs of her onward/return journey. 

We were both a little shocked to see it refused, and in anger/disappointment we applied again a couple of days later in the hope we could provide enough documentation to counter all the points in the refusal, such that we can still make the planned trip at the start of April, only a few weeks away.

This time around I have shown a far greater sum of money in my UK account (£7k), and we have provided booking info/tickets/immigration stamps of our trip together to Thailand 6 months ago, photos of us together, and witness statements from close friends, (signed and contact info provided) to declare they can vouch for our relationship and that we have been living together for a year. We have also shown supporting documentation from my company stating my work is based in China, and this covers all my travel costs to/from the UK, as well as showing her savings (£2.5k GBP) in her Chinese bank account. 

Now we have had the dreaded email; "A decision has been made on your application and your documents are being returned to the Visa Application Centre (VAC)".

I am very worried it has been refused again because this email is the same as before. I know it is meant to be unambiguous for confidentiallity reasons, but come on, could they not just say yes or no!

I guess I am fearing the worst, and I am hoping for advice from anyone who is, or has, gone through this process. We only want a tourist visa for now, I'm not asking for the earth, I would just love the chance to let my parents meet my long term girlfriend, and show her my country!

Many thanks for any info people can offer in regards to a successful Chinese national's UK general visit visa application. 

Regards,
Snowy


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

All you can do is wait. There are no hidden clues, no secret messages, nothing to decipher in the emails. If you addressed all the points they thought were deficient, you have a reasonable chance of success.


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## snowyno7 (Mar 9, 2015)

I appreciate your optimism!! Many thanks! 
Keeping my fingers firmly crossed. 

I just can't help but think the fact we pointed out their mistake in the first application could have a negative effect though!


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## snowyno7 (Mar 9, 2015)

UPDATE:::

So the 2nd application got refused (for what I believe to be 2 ridiculous reasons), and the reasons are different to the first application completely, just like someone is moving the goalposts to be honest.

1) you stated you recieve support income from your family and have shown no evidence of this. 
-------We stated £500 per year on top of her savings, and that she had just left her job to take this planned holiday before starting new employment. we only stated this income on the application to show that her family would help her if she needed, however she has over £2.5K in an account in China which we proved; why would she need to prove income from family if she has sufficient funds to live and travel.

2) You stated your partner (me) will travel from/back to China with you but have shown no evidence of his entry status to China!
------- We stated I do business in China and reside there for business purposes, they have all my details, passport copy, payslips from my UK employer and stating letter from my employer showing I am posted in China for business. I don't see why I should prove my Chinese visa status status as I am not the one applying for a UK visa.
I have a Multi-Entry visa, and now wish I had just scanned and submitted this too. 

What I am slightly furious about is that surely UK immigration can type in my passport number and find out exactly what visa's I hold and where I am in the world. I am pretty certain all of that information is tracked otherwise why do we have a border agency or immigration service at all??!!

Before we now embark on the 3rd application I want to know if anyone can offer me more advice.

I don't know how to show this support from family of £500/year so I am thinking to just not put that on the next application and to only show her savings, as for such little its seems pointless. Also submit a scanned copy of my Chinese visa which is obviously very simple.
That would settle the two points, however we did this on the first application, responded with application number two and answered all points and got back a different two reasons. 

Does anyone have experience appealing a decision, or is that just not worth the hassle? I feel like it is likely to be a drawn-out process, so I may as well just go for another application.


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## silken (Apr 2, 2015)

You can't appeal a decision for a visit visa, unfortunately. 

It seems like you provided a lot of evidence but the ECO has doubts and this is very difficult to resolve. The most important thing for a visit visa is showing that the applicant has good reasons to return to their country of residence (strong ties, as they put it). I sponsored my boyfriend, now husband, when he applied for a visit visa last year and fortunately (and surprisingly) he was granted the visa despite only having a very low paid part time job in his home country. His wage at the time was only about £80 a month and he was paid cash in hand so had no proof of his wage being paid. He does however own his home so we submitted proof of this. We thought we'd be refused but we submitted a lot of other evidence and luckily it worked first time!

Each case is considered on its own merits and it's very difficult to give advice on what to do next, especially after 2 previous refusals. One thing I included in our application was a sponsorship declaration (drafted by myself) confirming the dates of his visit and stating that all related costs would be met by me. I had this 'sworn' at a solicitors, it cost £5 to do so. Also, we made a detailed travel itinerary and cost calculation showing exactly where we were planning to visit and how much it would cost. We provided screenshots of costs for travel and attractions and added it all up to show that we had enough savings to cover the trip. My husband had only about £800 of his own savings so I sent him an extra £1000 and made an affidavit confirming that I had sent the money by way of a gift and that it was for his own personal use (to be put towards our trip).

All in all, before you make another application, you really need to address the concerns the ECO had about your previous applications and try to provide as much evidence as you can of your girlfriend's ties in China. I'm sorry I can't give any specific advice, I just wanted to tell you that it is possible to get a visitor visa for a girlfriend/boyfriend even when the situation seems less than ideal. With the previous refusals though, it does complicate things a little more. I hope someone else can give you some sound advice on how to proceed but I do wish you good luck, I hope you'll find a way to resolve this


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