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edit begins here's the refusal letter

it is on the grounds of V4.2 (a) & (c), yeah I realised after I sent it in that it was doomed :( I was being naive and uneducated about the whole deal.

I want to go in March because a: I have some time off, a couple of friends have their birthdays and to be honest, I have enough money saved up and I just graduated from University. Didn't really go anywhere during uni so it's a post university break. I have been talking to some of my friends in the EU and UK online for almost a decade, have some of my friends studying there from India and it would mean the world to me to get to see them. It also makes financial sense seeing the deal I got on my tickets. So I planned it that way.

Wasn't going to quit my job until later but the work was getting to me and it made me dislike graphic design altogether so I quit. But I make the same amount of money every month without a fulltime job if that matters to them... I do actually make enough money to move/could be completely independent but I stay with my family for health reasons. I do intend to move out of their apartment soon and will do that once I am back.

Strong ties: Finances/savings that I own, parents properties/apartments that my sister and I will inherit, family and friends and clients + active ongoing projects.

The joint account thing, it's pretty common and my parents haven't really given me any money since July 2017 so it's all mine which I have evidence for (emails with clients/job payslips/work I did) that I will attach.

end of edit

I have been through a bunch of threads on here but still have some questions.

I am a 23-year old Indian citizen. I am a freelance graphic designer. I want to travel to the UK for a period of 19 days to visit my friends and well, basically just be a tourist.

My UK visa was refused due to lack of sufficient evidence and documents, which was honestly due to my lack of research. Although my refusal letter stated that I was likely to get rejected again if my circumstances didn't change drastically, I am applying again. I didn't add a bunch of documentation: for example I didn't add evidence to my savings of about 4,000 GBP, which I shall with the current application.

I have the following questions:

  1. My father was sponsoring about 85% of my travel costs. Should I make him the sponsor for my entire trip AND also declare all of my personal finances?

  2. There was some sort of miscommunication: the ECO said that he understands that my friends are sponsoring me. (I had attached two of my (British citizen) friends' invitation letters with copies of their passports and bank statements for one of them). Should I clarify that my friends are only HOSTING me and the rest of the expenses will be paid by me?

  3. The tricky thing is that I am an unregistered freelancer. From July 1, 2017 to December 1, 2017 I had a full time graphic design job that I quit. Since I am adding my bank statements this will be evidenced in the application. I am also adding my offer and resignation letters.

I am a freelance graphic designer and have either short-term contracts or projects on retainer with my clients. The ECO wanted more evidence about the deposits made to my account so I am attaching my emails and invoices and writing justifications for each deposit made.

  1. How do I prove strong ties to my country? My parents support me by providing housing. I can include a cover letter, my mutual funds and fixed deposits as well as my fathers since he is sponsoring me and their property and housing society papers. I will be adding my return tickets. Apart from this I don't have anything else because I recently graduated from college.

  2. In my previous application there was an error/misunderstanding. Right after the income page, there is the other income/savings page. I had only ticked 'Investments' and it said "What's your total income in a year?" or something similar. I thought they wanted to know my total overall income with my pay as well as investment returns. When they said I haven't provided documentation for this amount I was confused and realised they meant total of investment returns + other fields. So how can I clarify this in my cover letter?

What would you suggest?

Thank you for your time!

whirly
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  • Did you mention that your friends were sponsoring you? If not you should write a complaint letter to them pointing out their clerical error. The decision making in the UKVI is appalling. They should be expected to meet the same standards they hold applicants to. After all, they're paid to do just that. –  Feb 06 '18 at 10:34
  • @greatone Nope! Just that they'd be hosting me for a few days since I am visiting them. Did also mention that I'm going to be staying at airbnbs in other places. Yeah, I have been pretty annoyed but it's okay, can't do much about it. :/ – whirly Feb 06 '18 at 11:16
  • Registered or unregistered free lancer makes no difference. You should show that you have clients (with the bank statement) or that you get enough money in the previous job. It is ideal to travel just after quitting a job, but visa officer often see dangers of overstaying. – Giacomo Catenazzi Feb 06 '18 at 14:09
  • "I thought they wanted to know my total overall income with my pay as well as investment returns. I realised they meant total of investment returns + other fields.". Those appear to me to be the same thing. – DJClayworth Feb 06 '18 at 14:22
  • I put this question to GayotFow as I was more interested in the general working out of how short term contract freelancers prove ties to their country (especially when they have a skillset that's very transferrable). You're welcome to read it and take from it what you can (ignore the fact that it's in a separate article and go to the comments): https://gayotfow.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/ilr-versus-freedom-of-movement/#comments – Philbo Feb 06 '18 at 14:58
  • @GiacomoCatenazzi Yep, attaching bank statements with dated invoices, email exchanges and images of work done! Should be okay since some of the clients have me on a retainer contract. Thank you so much! – whirly Feb 06 '18 at 15:03
  • @DJClayworth Yeah but they apparently it's not so for ex my yearly income is x$ and my investment income is y$ and i write the total as x+y, in my refusal letter they said "your investment returns of x+y are not evidenced anywhere" which was just an error because i didn't realise they just wanted y$ for the second section. :( I hope they don't think I was trying to lie. – whirly Feb 06 '18 at 15:05
  • @Philbo Thank you! I am adding the required details so Gayotfow can review them. :) – whirly Feb 06 '18 at 15:10
  • @whirly I wouldn't hold out too much hope unless he takes a proper interest (he's currently on a long term break from TSE) , but the additional details should allow some other users to weigh in. – Philbo Feb 06 '18 at 16:17
  • @Philbo GayotFow asked me to pass on that he feels that there's not much more that can be said and than what is covered in the two canonicals: UK visa refusal on V 4.2 a + c (and sometimes 'e') and Should I submit bank statements when applying for a UK Visa? What do they say about me? – Giorgio Feb 06 '18 at 20:19

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