Standard Visitor visa for wife refused for the second time (Appendix V 4.2(e) and 4.3(c))

Question

It's very disappointing that my wife's visitor visa is refused for the second time.

I have a business visa and my wife wanted to travel with me as a dependant with a visitor visa.

When my wife applied for visa for the first time they refused and said that she did not submit my (husband's) financial documents.

My wife submitted all the required documents including my financial documents and applied for visitor visa second time. But again they refused the visa. This time they pointed her to Appendix V 4.2 ( e ) and 4.3 ( c ).

Appendix V 4.2 The applicant must satisfy the decision maker that they are a genuine visitor. This means that the applicant: (e) must have sufficient funds to cover all reasonable costs in relation to their visit without working or accessing public funds. This includes the cost of the return or onward journey, any costs relating to dependants, and the cost of planned activities such as private medical treatment. Appendix V 4.3 ( c ) Funds, maintenance and accommodation provided by a third party: V 4.3 A visitor’s travel, maintenance and accommodation may be provided by a third party where the decision maker is satisfied that they: (c) can and will provide support to the visitor for the intended duration of their stay.

In visa application and in other documents that we provided, my wife clearly mentioned that she is travelling as a dependant and her husband (myself) will be taking care of travel, food, accommodation or any other expenses that she might need.

I also submitted my invoices and bank statement which show that I as a business receive £1400 every month as a consultant from my client in UK. Also my client has already paid for my expenses so I have £1400 every month to spend for my wife in UK.

I am not sure why the visa was rejected the 2nd time even after providing all details and clear explanations. To be frank, we are not left with any documentation that we have. We submitted all documents we have.

Are there any special documents that my wife should have submitted to satisfy Appendix V 4.2 ( e ) and 4.3 ( c )?

Here is what the ECO has to say:

Your application for a visit visa to the United Kingdom has been refused.

How your application was considered

You have applied for a visa to visit the UK.

In deciding whether you meet the requirements of Appendix V: Immigration rules for visitors

(https://www.gov.uk/government/collection/immigration-rules)

• the financial and personal circumstance as declared by you on your application form,

• your passport and travel history,

• your family circumstances and

• the supporting documents you provided.

• Rate of exchange GBP1 to Rs.98.15

The decision

I have refused your application for visit visa BECAUSE I AM NOT SATISFIED that you meet the requirements of paragraph(s) V4.2 (a - e) of Appendix V: Immigration Rules for Visitors because:

On your application form you have stated your visit to the United Kingdom will be funded by your husband and that he will assist with your travel cost, support and accommodation. However you have presented no satisfactory evidence from them to show that they are able to do so. You have provided business and tax documents from small room communication but from information available to me I am not satisfied that they accurately reflect the true income derived from his business. I am not satisfied that you will maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependant adequately out of the resources available to you without recourse to public funds or taking employment; or will, with any dependants, be maintained and accommodated adequately by relatives or friends Finally I am not satisfied that you can meet the cost of the return or onward journey. Therefore, your application is refused under Appendix V 4.2 (e) and 4.3 (c) of the Immigration Rules .

Future Applications

Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered on their individual merits, however you are likely to refused unless the circumstances of your application change.

So, the ECO did not consider my 3 months invoice of £1400 to my client. I have submitted my one year business bank statement so that he could see that every month £1400 is credited to my Indian account from my client in UK.

Also ECO thinks that my Income Tax documents that I downloaded from Income Tax office website that I submitted are not accurate.

Irony is I have been granted Business Visa every year based on the same documents. Even this year they have granted my business visa based on the same Income Tax Documents and same documentation.

If my documentation and all the documents that my wife has submitted are correct then I am sure ECO has not gone through all the documents or doesn't have knowledge about Indian Income Tax documents or Bank Statements?

Please help and let me know what is lacking in the documentation and documents submitted? Can my wife appeal or take legal help?

Myself and my wife are ready to apply for visa the 3rd time if anyone can tell us that we have missed any information. When my wife applied for visa for the 2nd time we have not left out any documentation. So, we are not sure what more documents we should submit to satisfy the visa officer.

Answer 1

Based on the refusal notice, the ECO in fact did look at your stuff, i.e., they acknowledge this in the notice. The refusal does not appear to be a documentation shortfall.

All applications submitted in India are ultimately sent to one of the hubs, New Delhi, Chennai, or Mumbai where an impressively large staff of assistants check them. The assistants annotate your transcript with their findings and these are made available to the decision-maker (an ECO, or Entry Clearance Officer).

When you see a phrase like "...from information available to me...", the ECO is telling you that their investigation turned up something that contradicts the stuff you sent. We don't know what it was, and they will never tell you what it was. Similarly, we don't know if what they found is accurate or not. All we can tell you is the Chief Inspector audited the visa handling process in India (several times, from several different angles) and overall it looked pretty good.

If your wife has had two refusals, you can be sure that the application was examined by the 'higher ups' and double checked to be sure they were on solid ground.

Let's look at your questions...

...doesn't have knowledge about Indian Income Tax documents or Bank Statements?

The assistants at the various hubs are local hires (Indian nationals) and have the requisite expertise from training or other qualifications. They know how to contact a bank and how to contact the Indian tax authorities if they need something clarified. Overall the hubs in India process about 150,000 applications annually and examine all sorts of evidence.

Please help and let me know what is lacking in the documentation and documents submitted?

There does not appear to be missing information; the refusal notice does not indicate this. You can examine lots of notices in our archives where the applicant got called out for a documentation shortfall and see the differences. It appears to be a case of them turning up something where they do not believe your resources are adequate to support another person on your visit; and as written above nobody can accurately identify it without exposing all of your personal information (and the net is not appropriate for that type of enquiry).

Can my wife appeal or take legal help?

There are no avenues for appeal. But of course your wife can instruct a solicitor to help out. To do that she would select and instruct one of the specialists listed by the UK Law Society. I am guessing they would ask for about GBP 650 at the bottom range (but that's simply a GUESS). I do not recommend solicitors in India because they are not generally accredited and your wife may be vulnerable to a fraudulent practitioner.

Emphatically, avoid the submission of a third application until a qualified practitioner has put some shape on your circumstances.

Answer 2

You say your client has already paid for your expenses - but how did they do that (have they bulk purchased food or agreed to a contractual per diem or on-campus food allowance, pre-bought transportation passes, paid rent) and did you provide evidence to support this assertion? At first blush it sounds like you were cleared based on the funds you claim from consulting personally, then the same funds were also being claimed to be available to support your wife. That would be a red flag by itself.

Based on the income amount alone, 1400 per month equates to an average of 16,800 per year. This is not high, but not terribly low for an individual. However, for a household (two people) this is below approximately the 40th percentile in the UK. One would generally expect you would still have some expenses back in your home country (keeping up residence at least, which I would assume costs money, etc), would should logically eat up some of that monthly income.

Further, it is generally expected that consultants have more expenses than regular employees, and businesses have more expenses than individuals, but from the sound of your description you claimed that 100% of the money you get from the UK company monthly will be available to support your wife. How do you have zero expenses personally, zero business expenses, and zero household expenses in your home country while away? This would strike me as extremely peculiar.

This particular line from the letter strikes me as very important: "You have provided business and tax documents...but from information available to me I am not satisfied that they accurately reflect the true income derived from his business." By "true income", it sounds as though they are asking: how is 100% of your gross business receipts true, direct income?

It sounds like the people reviewing your applications do not believe you will be able to "maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependant adequately out of the resources available to you without recourse to public funds or taking employment" - in short, they think you are short on money or that it wouldn't take much of an unexpected expense to make you unable to live acceptably and pay for the trip home. They also think the money you claim isn't true disposable income, even if they agree you get what you claim as a net receipt.

You were approved as an individual, which makes sense, but it seems that you simply aren't providing evidence of enough resources to also host a dependent visitor, and that makes immigration very, very concerned and generally hesitant to say yes. It sounds to me like you don't just need additional paperwork - you need time to save up additional funds and in the future clarify just exactly what is your true, 100% free-and-clear take-home pay.