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In February 2018, I applied for a UK settlement visa to get married to my partner of 4 years. It was refused because, when we applied, our savings account did not have sufficient funds. I did not understand that we needed £62,500 to be in his bank account for 6 months and we only had £18,000 at the moment of application, It was refused, obviously, after 3 long months of waiting for a response.

Since it had been so many months wsince I had seen my partner, I decided to apply for a visitor visa right after my refusal. I planned to spend 6 weeks with him, while we waited to get the money needed and have it there for 6 months.

This visa was also refused, stating that my intentions might have not changed. They also pointed out that I said that the previous application was for a fiance visa but it was actually for a settlement visa .

How can I apply for a visitor without it being refused again? I want to see my partner and me going there is the only way, since he's very busy with work.

Giorgio
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Coco jorgen
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    @Coco jorgen You’ll get a better answer if you upload a copy of the refusal letter with personal details blanked out. You demonstrated an intention to marry and settle in the U.K., making the ECO doubt the credibility of a subsequent visit visa request. There may be no remedy for that other than time – Traveller Sep 18 '18 at 07:11
  • Applying for settlement visa is contradictory to the motivation for visitors visa. Most visa guidelines worldwide say cannot be both simultaneously – Augustine of Hippo Sep 18 '18 at 07:25
  • @Coco jorgen Out of interest, after getting the first refusal why didn’t you apply for a Marriage Visitor Visa rather than a Standard Visit Visa? Your premise to marry would then have been consistent, therefore you may possibly have had a better chance of approval – Traveller Sep 18 '18 at 07:44
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    Your partner of 4 years is so busy with work he can't take time to come visit you? Did someone say red flag? Just for context, what's your nationality (and country of residence if different), and how do you support yourself at the moment? – jcaron Sep 18 '18 at 09:35
  • When I applied for the visitor visa that got refused I stated that I only wanted to visit him for now and then we'll apply again, I just wouldn't overstay since my main goal was to get married and with a 6 month visa you def cannot do that. Also @jcaron how is this a red flag? Idk about you but getting 50k is not a piece of cake. @ traveller a marriage visitor visa is to get married in the U.K. And then leave it prob would've gotten denied aswell since they might of thought I was going to overstay after marrying. – Coco jorgen Sep 18 '18 at 10:09
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    @Cocojorgen I'm not talking about getting 50K. I'm talking about him not being able to come visit you at all. BTW, even though this is off-topic here (more appropriate for expatriates.SE), there's no requirement to have £62.5K in his account, but a requirement for him to be able to prove he makes £18.6K per year. It is also possible (under certain conditions) to combine savings and income (income + (savings - 16K)/2.5 > 18.6K). – jcaron Sep 18 '18 at 10:54
  • @jcaron I couldn't take six weeks off my job to visit anyone. There are times of the year where I'd be expected not to take one week off to visit people. So I think you're reading too much into the situation there. – David Richerby Sep 18 '18 at 10:56
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    @Cocojorgen "I just wouldn't overstay since my main goal was to get married and with a 6 month visa you def cannot do that." That's basically the point I make in my answer: the immigration officer can't tell whether you're the sort of person who'll leave when you say you will to avoid jeopardizing your future or the sort of person who'll feel that staying illegally is your best chance at having that future. (I'm not accusing you of wanting to overstay; just saying that the immigration officer can't tell.) – David Richerby Sep 18 '18 at 10:59
  • @jcaron As mentioned before I applied with a savings account where you're meant to have a certain amount of money (62,500). – Coco jorgen Sep 18 '18 at 19:51
  • @Cocojorgen Just pointing out that you can reduce the amount you need in that account if you can prove you have regular income of some categories. Even at minimum wage @ 40 hours/week you can reduce the amount needed to about 22K instead of 62.5K. At 48 hours/week you probably don't need any savings at all even at minimum wage. There are conditions to meet, but there's quite a bit of flexibility. – jcaron Sep 18 '18 at 21:58

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I doubt you have much chance of getting a visitor visa. By applying for a settlement visa, you've told the UK that you're really enthusiastic about spending the rest of your life there and you're prepared to give up everything you have in your home country to achieve that. Now, you're saying "Please let me in for six weeks and I promise I'll leave." There are basically two kinds of people in your situation:

  1. people who will leave after six weeks because they respect the law and don't want to ruin their chances of living permanently in the UK;

  2. people who will use any possible way of coming into the UK and then try to stay forever.

Unfortunately, immigration officers have no way of telling which kind of person you are because all the evidence says that you want to and are able to stay in the UK forever, and there isn't really any evidence you can give to prove that you're in group 1. All you can do is promise you'll leave, but people in group 2 would also do that.

David Richerby
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