# spouse visa appeal allowed



## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

hi
my spouse visa was refused in november 2016
we did an appeal in december 2015
we did an paper appeal, and thankfully the appeal was allowed in october 2016
please i would like to know what is the next step
what is the timeline for the visa to be stamped
thankyou


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

hi my spouse visa was refused in november 2016 we did an appeal in december 2015 we did an paper appeal, and thankfully the appeal was allowed in october 2016 please i would like to know what is the next step what is the timeline for the visa to be stamped thankyou


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## Flo30 (May 27, 2016)

Country applying from: Ghana
Type of visa applied for: Settlement - Spouse (husband) - Non Priority
Date application submitted: 8th March 2016
Date biometrics taken: 15th March 2016
Date documentation was received by UK Border Agency office: Unknown
Office location processing your visa: Sheffield
Projected timeline given: 12wks
Decision made e-mail: 7th June 2016 
Date your visa was received: 10th June 2016 REJECTED
Appeal evidence submitted to Tribunal in Leicester: 29th June 2016
Letter from Tribunal asking UKVI to submit evidence bundle: 25th August 2016 - they were given 28 days (this is a good sign as the tribunal sees your new evidence as being strong enough to win, they usually get 3months to submit evidence)
Chased Tribunal for Evidence bundle copy from UKVI: 26th September - still no bundle
UKVI Notice of Withdrawal: 7th October
Email from UKVI advising original decision overturned and visa granted: 1st November 2016 (we never did receive an evidence bundle - they obviously couldn't argue with our evidence:
Passport and IHS payment submitted: 3rd November
Email from UKVI saying passport dispatched: 16th November
Passport received: 18th November with travel to the UK tomorrow!

Hi All 

I thought I would post our spouse visa timeline to help others out there who are going through the same. We unfortunately had the visa rejected the first time and we went through the appeal process but I am so happy to say we have been awarded the visa after the UKVI overturned the original decision! 

The best bit of advise I can give is to try and carry on with everyday life as best you can and not sit and wait for the visa, this will make it 10x harder. Have faith that you have done the best you can do and you deserve the visa. 

It has been a big struggle for the both of us and it has tested our relationship but you have to remember what you are fighting for and the joy you get when the UKVI realise they are wrong is amazing. Below is a detailed list of all we had to go through. 

Our visa was rejected on the 10th June 2016 for the following reasons: 

1 – they did not believe our relationship was genuine (usual excuse by the UKVI) 

2 – they did not believe as his sponsor I earned over the £18,600 threshold (I earn £24k) 

3 – They did not believe my Husband had the right to marry me 


1 – the ECO stated they “did not believe we are in a genuine, supportive and subsisting relationship” They said our skype call logs didn’t match our statement that we “talk everyday” and they did not believe the Facebook messages were actually between us and didn’t show we cared about each others welfare and generally they did not believe we are genuine (!!!) 

This was by far the one thing that angered me the most, how dare some stranger tell me that I am not in a genuine relationship to the man I Married!! Anyway, I fuelled this anger to productivity and started to find a way to prove them wring. I found a way to download the 45,000+ messages my Husband and I have in Facebook messages. We originally had nicknames as our names on Facebook because I don’t want people finding me very easily and neither does my Husband, this didn’t cross our minds when we first applied as we are genuine and didn’t see this being a bad thing. So we changed our Facebook names and I printed 600+ pages of these messages and it weighted about 5kgs. 

To show that we are supportive and care for each others welfare, I sat there for days and individually highlighted lines of conversation and labelled them with post its like “supportive” “welfare” “future plans” because one thing I have learned is you cannot trust the ECO to do a proper job and read the messages. Do their job for them because they don’t care, they just want to reject visas. I also downloaded the messages including images to a USB stick and sent this off to them. 

Regarding the skype calls, yes we were missing some call logs but Skype calls aren’t saved to your account they are saved to individual computers. I bought a new computer so lost the logs and my husband’s computer crashes a lot. To show them this was why we were missing some I printed out a Skype Community help board showing that other people had issues with this – this is all I could do. 

I printed out images from my Instagram of my husband and I, I included 50 photos of us including our wedding day, plane tickets of my trip to Ghana, text messages from when we were both living in the UK and first dating. 

In my mind if the 600+ pages of messages didn’t prove we spoke all day every day then I didn’t know how else to convince these people. 

2 – The financial requirement by far is the stupidest reason why they rejected it. I clearly earn £24k which is well over the threshold: in the original application I submitted 6 months of payslips, 12months bank statements, 2 P60s showing total earning for the year (average £24k) letter from my company showing I am employed and earn £24k and a copy of my contract showing I earn £24k. I stated in my appeal letter “how can I trust the ECO to make a correct judgement on the visa when they clearly cannot see that I earn well over the financial threshold” 

In the appeal, I submitted 12 months of payslips, 3 x P60s, 12 months of bank statements and the HR letter and contract showing my earnings. 

3- This was the more challenging to prove that my Husband had the right to marry me. Previously my Husband was in a customary by proxy marriage but this wasn’t seen as legal in the UK and it was rejected as a means for him to stay in the UK. We got affidavits signed and notarised to prove that my Husband was a bachelor when we married. Also my Husbands ex-partner is now married with a child, she openly shows this on Facebook so I found her page and printed off images of her wedding and noted ‘if she is allowed to marry why isn’t my husband, surely the registrar would have carried out checks to stop bigamy taking place’ 

This seemed to work. 

All in all the appeal cost £100 in expenses + £140 appeal fee and our appeal bundle weighed 7kgs! I was so happy knowing they would receive the evidence and know they cannot argue with all our evidence. 

The UKVI withdrew their decision before the 19wk deadline which was our goal as I was nervous about having to go to Court over this, which anyone naturally is. As they withdrew we cannot get the £140 fee back which is so frustrating but at least we won. Once they withdrew we didn’t know what that meant, I read that the application would be considered all over again and this made me nervous but the evidence was returned to us and I had a feeling they had made their decision. Then on the 1st November they overturned the decision and we have the passport and my Husband is going to travel tomorrow morning to the UK. 

Good luck to everyone going through these appeals, they are horrendous but all I can say is submit all the evidence you can and keep faith that you will win. We were lucky enough to win the appeal in 5months without going to a Judge but I know others aren’t so lucky.


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

it is nearly 7 weeks since appeal allowed ( spouse visa from pakistan to uk)
please if anyone can help as what to do next
thankyou


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Yes, there can be a long wait but this depends partly on the country you have applied in. I think the high commission/embassy has something like two months before they have to contact you to request your passport.


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

Thankyou joppa for your answere
I am in the uk and applied for my wife 
In Pakistan
It will be nearly 7 weeks
But one thing i wanted to understand is, the appeal was done on my wife's name from pakistan, and appeal was allowed, my wife recieved all the paperwork.
Will it still be the same waiting time of 12 weeks.
8 weeks to submit passport and another 4 weeks to stamp visa and return passport
Thankyou


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

Today the caseworker called my spouse in pakistan and asked some questions and asked for sponser contact details as they wanted to speak to sponser. Is this normal ? Passport was submitted 2 weeks aho for visa after appeal allowed in October


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Not normal but they can do what they like.


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

I want to know can they canx the visa
They had 28 days after visa was allowed on the appeal to contest the judges decsion and they didnt
Everything is ok just concerned as they havnt called back and also they havnt replied to the email they sent for contact details
I replied to the email
Still waiting for phone call back or email answere


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

They should issue the visa but they can still do more checks.


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## adan1 (Jul 6, 2015)

Thankyou for your reply
After everything we have been through i was just worried because i missed the call as i was at work and cannot carry phones, i replied to their email for fresh contact details. I was just worried incase they can canx visa due to call being missed but solicitor said that they had they 28 day period to appeal against it and they didnt.


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