# My husbands uk visa appeal decision withdrawn by Home Office



## chess16281207 (Aug 5, 2013)

Hi

Please can someone offer me some help!

My husband and I applied for his visa to the UK in Sep 2012 and it was refused claiming I had not provided sufficient evidence that my income met the minimum level.

We since appealed and following the ECM review the appeal went to a hearing on 15/07/13.

The home office representative at the hearing made the decision to withdraw the decision having seen my P60 for the period showing income of over £21,000.

I received written confirmation of this decision the next day.

My understanding is that now our application is passed back to the ECO for them to review considering the new evidence.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Please advise me how long I might be waiting or if there is anything I can do/ anyone to contact that can speed up the process?

My husband and I have been seperated since July last year and I don't know how much longer I can cope

I look forward to some advice!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

The next step will be notification of the original visa station about the outcome by the tribunal and issue of his visa by requesting his passport.

"It can take up to 4 weeks for determinations to reach the relevant visa section, and a further 8 weeks for them to be processed. The visa section will write to you using the contact details provided on your appeal form.

Please do not contact the visa section until 12 weeks after the date when you or your representative received the judge's decision. This date will be stated on your written determination.

Do not contact the FTTIAC or our Croydon contact centre about your appeal after you have received your allowed determination. They will not be able to issue you with a visa or deal with your enquiry."
UK Border Agency | Appeals - visas and entry clearance

12 weeks from 16th July is the second week of October, so you have still a long time to wait. Hope it won't take that long but there's nothing you can do until then.


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## chess16281207 (Aug 5, 2013)

Hi Joppa, thanks for your reply.

My concern is that the judge did not have the chance to give any 'determination' as the home office withdrew the appeal. I can only assume this was an attempt to save face by the Home Office and protect their precious statistics!

There doesn't seem to be any time limit/ pressure on the ECO now to actually change their mind and issue the visa- it's like our case has now dropped under the radar!

Apparently the HO are doing this more and more frequently at the moment so I can only assume there are others in the same situation. Hopefully my concerns are just that and you are right about the 12 week timescale. 

Another long wait for us it seems!!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

If the Home Office decided not to contest your appeal, your appeal stood so you won the case. It is the same as in a contested case and the judge ruled in your favour.
I still expect the timescale to apply, but some people don't have to wait that long. There is nothing you can do to speed it up, unfortunately, and long wait is one of the disadvantages of the appeal process.


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## mshah786 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hi, any updates with your case?

My case was also withdrawn by the home office representative at court (8 august 2013), still havent recieved anything in the post yet....

Can the ECO refuse the visa even though the home office rep allows it?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

No, as Home Office will direct them to issue the visa.
The delay is entirely internal and procedural. 
Once the original visa station is formally informed of the outcome, they will ask for your passport so that a visa can be affixed.


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## chess16281207 (Aug 5, 2013)

Hi

No updates I'm afraid! It's been 6 weeks and still not heard anything. We e-mailed Worldbridge services and they basically just said don't bother us until twelve weeks have elapsed. So we wait...

Hope you have more success with your case!


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## mshah786 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hello Chess!

Whats the latest with your case? Has your husband been contacted to submit his passport or anything? I still havent heard anything yet, its been 5 weeks since the home office withdrew my case from court.

Anyone got any successful stories?


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## chess16281207 (Aug 5, 2013)

*No news!*

Hiya. Nope- still nothing! Getting pretty depressing. Just feel fairly helpless about the whole situation really. What can ya do?! I'll be sure to post if we ever get an answer! Best of luck to you as well!


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## chess16281207 (Aug 5, 2013)

Hi I have recently had the devastating news that the embassy have never received any notification from the Home Office that the appeal had been withdrawn. I have now made a formal complaint about the whole thing but don't really know how to take the news! My solicitor has since followed up with the presenting officer and the withdrawal information has been re-sent to the embassy but this whole display of incompetence really is baffling. I truly hope others don't suffer the same bad luck which seems to have plagued my husband and I.


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## mshah786 (Aug 17, 2013)

chess16281207 said:


> Hi I have recently had the devastating news that the embassy have never received any notification from the Home Office that the appeal had been withdrawn. I have now made a formal complaint about the whole thing but don't really know how to take the news! My solicitor has since followed up with the presenting officer and the withdrawal information has been re-sent to the embassy but this whole display of incompetence really is baffling. I truly hope others don't suffer the same bad luck which seems to have plagued my husband and I.



Hi, oh my god...how did you find this out?


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## mshah786 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hey 
Any updates?


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## Withdrawn1234 (Oct 19, 2013)

chess16281207 said:


> Hi I have recently had the devastating news that the embassy have never received any notification from the Home Office that the appeal had been withdrawn. I have now made a formal complaint about the whole thing but don't really know how to take the news! My solicitor has since followed up with the presenting officer and the withdrawal information has been re-sent to the embassy but this whole display of incompetence really is baffling. I truly hope others don't suffer the same bad luck which seems to have plagued my husband and I.


Hi,

Very sorry to hear that. Issuing a formal complaint is perhaps the only thing that can be done now. 

My spouse also had a withdrawal decision on 23rd September 2013. I emailed the withdrawal notice to the decision making post a week ago and politely asked them to proceed with the matter of entry clearance urgently as we have been waiting well over a year since the original visa application. Suffice to say we've had no response as of yet. 

Having read your post, I'm certain that I will have to go down the formal complaint route. The only thing I'm unsure of is whether I can treat the email that I sent a week ago as the complaint to the post and (assuming having not heard anything for weeks and weeks) contact the ombudsman to issue a complaint against the post.


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## elvencellist (Feb 17, 2014)

Were there ever any updates for anybody in this post?

Sorry to bring it up after so long! I've just returned from my hearing yesterday to find out the ECO has withdrawn his decision at the hearing. I'm terrified that this is what this means for me, since it looked like the appeal might have gone through. I've seen posts where decisions were made by the ECO following a withdrawal within two weeks but of course it never feels like one's own case might be so easy!

Thanks so much for any updates you can provide!


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## cc9 (Oct 29, 2012)

elvencellist said:


> Were there ever any updates for anybody in this post? Sorry to bring it up after so long! I've just returned from my hearing yesterday to find out the ECO has withdrawn his decision at the hearing. I'm terrified that this is what this means for me, since it looked like the appeal might have gone through. I've seen posts where decisions were made by the ECO following a withdrawal within two weeks but of course it never feels like one's own case might be so easy! Thanks so much for any updates you can provide!


Just wondering does the ECO withdrawing their decision mean that they are issuing the visa or just that they will consider the application again


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## elvencellist (Feb 17, 2014)

As it was explained to me at the hearing, it means they are withdrawing the decision to uphold the denial and are reconsidering the application with the evidence presented for the appeal. Unfortunately, it seems to be little more than a way for the Home Office to avoid having an appeal succeed against them as there doesn't seem to be any time limit for them to remake this decision.

The judge said that she wanted the decision made before May (as I am currently in the country on a visitor's visa until then and she wanted the decision made before I return to the States - although I will have to return anyway), but that doesn't seem to have any sort of legal hold. I'm just very curious about others who have been swept under this proverbial rug, as it is beginning to look more and more like this may be what has happened.

I will of course post updates on my own case, but the hearing was just yesterday so there's still hope for good news!


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## RobWalker (Nov 14, 2014)

Hi Chess
I do not think that it is just you having all the bad luck.
It is quite possibly that the Home Office has a strategy of trying to get away with as much as they can, and are willing to do whatever it takes to avoid giving a visa and hence adding another figure to their statistics.
My wife and I appealled the Home Office decision 8 months ago after being refused 4 times.
When it came near to the appeal court hearing they withdrew their decision and the case was cancelled. After wating another 2 months we were told they had refused my wife's visa again!
This leave us in the position to have to pay another £600 to appeal yet again and you can be sure the case will not be set for another 6 to 8 months and even then they may withdraw the case yet again!
My wife and I have visions of being stuck in the UK for the rest of our lives!
Can you imagine.....never allowed to travel.
That must be against our Human Rights.
What do you think?
Do we have any alternative?
I would love to know.
Rob


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