UK student visitor visa refused, even though I am financed by a government scholarship

Question

I believe my question is not a duplicate of another question. In that question their trip is funded by their father. In mine - not. I don't have a family sponsor but European Commision and Erasmus Mundus are financing me.

I come from Georgia. I have been selected for the Erasmus Mundus master's programme and received a scholarship of 42.000 EUR. This is a very prestigious scholarship scheme and a very reliable source of funding.

The programme starts on September 1st and I must spend the 1st semester at the University of Cumbria, Ambleside, the UK. In January 2016, I must move to Norway in order to continue my studies at the Norwegian Institution. From August 2016, I must study in Germany for the next part of my programme.

I have applied to the UK Visas and Immigration office, Istanbul. I have asked for short term student visitor visa and got refused. Now I am reapplying and have some questions.

Exact wording of the refusal letter quoted here:

You have applied to visit the UK as part of the Erasmus Mundus Scheme. You have provided evidence from the scheme and from the Universities involved, including the Unniversity of Cumbria.

You have stated that you are employed as a manager by COMPANYNAME. It is reasonable that you would provide evidence of this employment to demonstrate your source of income. You have provided a bank letter and statement from AAA Bank and I note the statement shows salary deposits, however the lack of any evidence from your stated employer to corroborate the income raises concerns. I realise you state you are resigning from your employment, however I would still expect to see evidence to show the source of your personal funds.

Your bank letter also states you hold two other accounts, including a Euro account. You have not demonstrated any source for the funds in these accounts.

Although your visit will be funded by the Erasmus Mundus Scheme, it is still reasonable that you would provide evidence of your circumstances in Georgia. The lack of such evidence raises concerns regarding your intentions and reason for travelling to study overseas.

In light of all of the above I am not satisfied as to your intentions in wishing to travel to the UK now. I am not satisfied that you genuinely intend a short student visit only to the UK and that you will leave the UK at the end of the visit. I am therefore not satisfied that your application meets the paragraph A57D(b)

Fist of all, about the evidence from my employer, when I filled in my application, I was about to leave my job because I wanted more time to prepare for my studies. And by the time I had an appointment at Teleperformance, I had already left my job. This is why I didn't even think of retrieving such letter from my employer. Now I see it was stupid of me. For my new application, I have retrieved the letter proving that I indeed worked there from ---- to ---- and received salary of ----. Do you think it helps?

As for two other bank accounts, I have some money on both of them but not so much. This was gift from my father when he heard I was going to study abroad. I didn't know it was necessary to demonstrate this. This time I have retrieved a document from bank that proves that it was indeed my father who deposited this sum to my account. Do you think it helps?

I understand that these two documents were indeed lacking in my application but what is surprising for me is that my personal funds should not be important when I receive a scholarship from Erasmus Mundus. I have enclosed several letters from Erasmus Mundus Scheme itself, from European Union, from my host universities, all stating that ALL MY COSTS WILL BE COVERED BY ERASMUS. I can support myself with this scholarship even without the money that I personally own. I am also surprised because I have a very good travel record in Schengen countries. I have received 4 visas during past 5 years and the last one is a 2-year schengen visa which is still in force.

I have requested more supporting letters from universities and from the Erasmus Mundus Association representatives in Georgia. I hope this also helps.

I am thinking of enclosing frank letter where I will explain why the documents were lacking in the first application and that I am adding them now. I also want to demonstrate in this letter that I do not intend to stay in the UK I perfectly understand that everybody would say the same but the thing is that if I don't leave UK, I cannot go to Norway to continue my studies and my scholarship and everything will be completely lost. This is very logical. It is not in my interests to stay in UK. I also want to indicate that I have amazing parents here at home and I would never want to leave my country forever. I also want to include letters proving that they have well paid jobs here. Do you think it is good?

Last but not the least, should I send the refusal letter back to them with my new application documents?

Answer 1

I reapplied on last Monday, paid for a priority service and finally received my visa today. I got very valuable advice from people on this website and I really appreciate it. They checked my cover letter and helped me to polish it. Here it is:

To: The Entry Clearance Officer

Reference: Current GWF00000000; Prior GWF0000000000

Subject: Name Surname, country, DOB

Dear Sir/Madam, I have been awarded Erasmus Mundus scholarship for XXX master’s programme. The scholarship fully covers my trip in three programme countries: the UK, Norway and Germany.

I have already applied for a student visitor visa recently and I have received refusal of entry clearance due to lacking evidence. My first application was submitted online on 28 Jun 2015. I had an appointment at my Visa Application Center on 24 Jul. The refusal decision was made on 07 Aug.

This time I am reapplying for the same type of visa and I want to cover the reasons of my previous refusal. I am providing new evidence with my second application. Your first concern was that I did not provide evidence of my employment at COMPANY, though I provided a ABC Bank statement that showed salary deposits. I had also stated I was resigning from my employment. The reason is that I wanted to take the time in order to prepare for my trip. With current application, I am providing a letter from COMPANY stating that I was employed at their company as a project manager and the salary I received was indeed from them.

You were also concerned that I had not demonstrated any source for the funds in two other accounts, including a Euro account. When my parents heard I was leaving, they decided it would be nice of them to gift me some money. I am now providing evidence that it was my father, Name Surname, who deposited cash into these two accounts. This includes two cash deposit orders from ABC Bank, one for each account, translated and notarized. As you have noted in the refusal letter, part of the money was deposited into EUR account and the rest – into GEL account. The sum was divided in two parts because local currency has been experiencing fluctuation in recent months and it is safer for us to keep money in different currencies.

As for additional evidence of my circumstances, I am providing evidence that both of my parents are employed and have income. I live with my parents and brother who is a student. It is very common in my country to live with parents until getting married.

After finishing my studies in the UK, I plan either to move directly to Norway for the 2nd semester, or come back home for Christmas/New Year holidays and depart to Norway from Georgia.

I hope you will take account of provided evidence, as well as the scholarship award letter from Erasmus Mundus and supporting documents from Universities involved, including the University of ____ and will look favorably on this application.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Nina

Here is the list of documents I submitted

Inventory of Submitted Documents

• Valid passport;

• Photograph;

• Cover letter;

• Visa application;

• Certificate of award of Erasmus Mundus Scholarship;

• Support letters from Erasmus Mundus and all participating universities;

• IELTS certificate;

• Bachelor’s diploma and the diploma supplement;

• Old passport;

• Letter from a former employer, plus bank statement demonstrating source of income for the last 6 months,

• Bank letter stating two accounts, plus cash deposit orders demonstrating the source for the funds, one for each account, proving that the cash was deposited by applicant’s father, plus applicant’s birth certificate, all translated and notarized.

• Letters of employment for applicant’s parents, plus their bank statements demonstrating source of income for the last 6 months.

I hope it is helpful for someone with same issue.