Would it be risky to reapply for a Standard Visitor visa after a refusal (V4.2(a-e) etc)?

Question

We are a family of three - myself, husband and kid and had planned a six day trip to London for the year-end vacations. We had booked our air tickets and hotel reservations were done as well (I know we should have waited for the visa) but we thought our visa application was straightforward with my husband working for a big4 multinational and we submitted all documents including bank statement, pay slips, no objection letter from his company confirming the leave from work for six days and his capacity in the firm.

I am currently a stay-at-home parent and accordingly we mentioned the fact that myself and our 2-year-old kid were supported by my husband.

The visa refusal letter mentions that the funds balance shown in my husband's statement does not meet the expenses for the trip and hence it is felt that we may overstay in UK or use public funds. Hence all three visas were rejected.

We are a week away from the planned travel dates and utterly confused whether we should apply once again or get this sorted. Not sure how we will manage the cancellations either.

I would like to highlight that I noticed several mistakes in the refusal letters** - both grammatical and language related. Also the reasons for rejection have been interchanged across the two letters - my husband's and mine, which is an apparent error.

For my husband:

The decision

I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraph(s) 4.2(a-e) of Appendix V. Immigration Rules for. Visitors because - You have applied to visit the UK with your husband and child. in order to assess your intentions in the UK I must consider your personal circumstances. As a visitor to the UK it is incumbent upon you to provide sufficient supporting evidence to demonstrate that you meet the appropriate immigration rules. It is your responsibility to satisfy me that your personal circumstances in India are such that if granted leave to enter, you will comply to all the conditions attached to any such leave and that you will leave the United Kingdom on completion of the proposed visit.

• On your visa application form you have stated that you are supported by your spouse and that you have no income of expenditure and your husband is paying for your trip. Given that your husbands visa application has been refused for the reason below and you are supported by him in turn leads you to be refused.
• On your visa application form you state that you are employed earning £1720 per month and you have no other income. You state that the cost to you personally of your trip is £ 3000 and you have £1300 available. I note that you are also paying for your wife and child travel costs. You have submitted a HDFC Bank statement showing a balance of INR 159708(£1589) as at 15/11/15. However this amount is less than you state that the trip will cost you. Based on the information/documents you have provided I am unable to be satisfied that you have provided an accurate picture of your financial and personal circumstances and ties to India which leads me to doubt your intentions in the UK and that you have sufficient funds. For the trip.
• Therefore, I am not satisfied that your purpose in the UK is as you have stated and on the balance of probabilities I am not satisfied that you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit as stated by you; and do not intend to live for extended periods in the United Kingdom through frequent or successive visits or that you are genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a period not exceeding 6 months. Furthermore I am not satisfied you will have sufficient funds to cover all reasonable costs in relation to your visit without working or accessing public funds V4.2(a-e).

Future applications

Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered not their individual merits, however are likely to be refused unless the circumstances of your application change.

**so the paragraphs mentioned for me and my husband are paragraph v4.2(a-e) but for my daughter it also mentioned need for birth certificate to be submitted and paragraphs mentioned are 4.2(a-e) and 4.3(a-c) and finally mention 4.1(a)

1. In light of now having updated the exact text from my refusal letter would you advise that I reapply for the visa with additional information on bank account wherein we have sold some additional stocks to declare more liquid funds etc.?

We also intend to provide a detailed covering letter with details of other savings available, our investment in our house in India which confirms our ties to India, the fact that our toddler is part of a Montessori program in India and highlight the letter from my husband's firm which clearly states the six days of leave applied for the planned holiday.

2. There is an option of priority visa available wherein applications are processed within five days which may help us get an answer before our planned travel next week.

Would it be a risk to reapply?

3. I saw from some earlier posts that language and grammatical errors may indicate some scam.

Could we be victims of that, as it appears from our letter text?

If yes, what was suggested last time?

Answer 1

All embassy visa sections usually explicitely recommend to only make travel arrangements that can be cancelled. This has become especially difficult for short term flights (I don't know many airlines that allow you to reserve tickets longer than just a few days before charging the whole amount), but that's just your risk. While it's difficult to keep a reservation open for a long time, you can usually change flight dates, for a fee with most fares, unless you booked the cheapest fare which is just not advisable if you're waiting for a visa.

With hotels it's usually easier, they can be cancelled on short notice. Unless you booked some special deal where you had to prepay the whole amount. Again, really not advisable when waiting for a visa because the risk of rejection is always looming.

Try to make a realistic assessment. How long did you have to wait for the noficitation this time? Was it really just a misunderstanding, i.e. won't it be a problem for you to provide proof of more funds, or do you just want to discuss their view? In the first case, you should calculate that your second application will take at least as long as the first one. So you might just change your flight dates accordlingly and also your hotel reservation, as described before. In the second case, frankly, I don't think you'll manage for the holidays and it will be safer to cancel all you can for a refund.