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I'm helping my significant other (who lives in another country) to apply for a visitor visa to the UK. They have never been here, but they got refused once before almost 10 years ago (something about lack of ties) together with the other people that applied with them (it was a group that hoped to visit the UK for a summer language school). Unfortunately, they got refused again. This is the letter:

visa refusal letter, with PII obscured

I was already mentally prepared to try to find an explanation (possibly they changed job title in 2007, and that's why the document in 2009 might have had a different date than in the latest application), so that we could apply again, with an explanation for the discrepancy that made it obvious that it was a mistake without any intention of deception. (I know that applying again would make sense only if we can provide further documentation. Hopefully more detailed employment information and a written apology would be enough to demonstrate good faith)

But then they retrieved the application from 2009, with the attached document for employment confirmation. You can see the original here:

original employment confirmation with PII obfuscated

And this is the translation:

translation of employment confirmation with PII obfuscated

As you can see, nowhere is the "1st January 2007" date mentioned, nor 2007 at all.

I'm now a bit lost: we cannot appeal, so the only thing we can do is to apply again with amended documentation, but the documentation we have contradicts the reason for the refusal!

It's been 3 weeks now since they originally sent the application, (for some reason the reply arrived today even if the letter is dated 09 May) and the flight ticket has already been purchased. To have any hope of avoiding a change of plans, I think that the only venue we have is to try to apply again (rather than an appeal), possibly with the expedited process (which I understand would take only a couple of days) to allow for more time for us to change plans in case things will go wrong.

I don't think that contacting a solicitor would really help us (given that we cannot appeal), but what should we provide if applying again? If they think that we're being deceptive, a further refusal under 3.7 would be extremely inconvenient.

The obvious thing would be to send copies of the old documentation, in which the correct year can be clearly seen. Maybe by attaching a brief letter that points out that the old application and the newer one are not in conflict.

But maybe the bureaucracy won't easily accept a mistake on their part? Maybe we should apologize even for a mistake that we haven't made? What kind of justification for a non-existing discrepancy could we ever provide? (I don't think this is a good idea).

I appreciate any feedback or suggestion you can provide. Thank you.

berdario
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    Your SO was warned to not purchase travel or accommodations before receiving the visa. You most likely are going to have to change or cancel the tickets. This application desperately needs a solicitor; trying to reapply without one is virtually guaranteed to result in that 10 year ban. – Michael Hampton May 22 '19 at 01:12
  • See https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/101247/uk-visa-refused-under-3-6-a-of-appendix-v-deception for a good explanation about this. You effectively have a ban and will be formally informed once you apply again. Solicitors may take up your case (pointers in linked answers) but it will cost you. We have a few questions about recourse to take if refusal letter is contradictory to facts. I'll try and dig them up – RedBaron May 22 '19 at 01:38
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    Just an idea, maybe the letter was correct but the applicant filled the wrong date in the form during previous application. – RedBaron May 22 '19 at 01:41
  • I don’t agree that this automatically required a solicitor. If everything is as obvious as it looks that the ECO was completely wrong, what’s the need for a solicitor. I however agree that this will likely not be resolved in time to use those plane tickets. Nobody to blame but yourself for buying tickets. – Augustine of Hippo May 22 '19 at 09:25
  • I know this is a long shot however considering the cost of a solicitor, I would first try this: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/96671/can-a-uk-border-immigration-officer-remove-a-stop-indicator-flag/119574#119574. Wrote a very concise letter with the evidence attached. In the meantime cancel those plane tickets – Augustine of Hippo May 22 '19 at 09:46
  • If I remember correctly, there's no point going for expedited service because the refusal will trigger extra processing anyway--you'll just waste the money. – mkennedy May 22 '19 at 19:03
  • It’s a horrible decision. Even if there was a discrepancy, the burden to prove that your SO was being deceptive was on the ECO. You should email the Embassy in Russia, the independent inspector for the UKVI, and the Home Office complaining about the refusal. It should work. If it doesn’t, consider taking legal action. Also claim your legal costs when you do so. – uberqe May 22 '19 at 20:22
  • @RedBaron that's certainly what the text of the refusal letter is suggesting ("*you stated that you had been employed ... from 1 January 2007*"). I don't think we can shed much light on this without seeing a copy of the original application. – MadHatter May 22 '19 at 20:47
  • MichaelHampton RedBaron thanks for the reply. I tried to reach out to a couple of solicitors today, let's see what they'll tell me after scheduling a consultation. @RedBaron have you been able to find other questions related to refusal with contradictory facts? We also thought about a wrong date in the form for the previous application, but it seems that employment dates usually aren't even listed in the application (only in the supporting docs). Anyhow we're trying to retrieve them – berdario May 23 '19 at 01:07
  • @user56513 Thanks for the suggestion re. lodging a complaint! – berdario May 23 '19 at 01:08
  • @mkennedy Oh, I thought that the processing time was guaranteed with the expedited service :/ do you have confirmation/other answers that talk about that? uberqe, thanks will try that if we cannot get another application through soon MadHatter yes, we got the draft of the application that had been sent 10 years ago, but I'm not sure if we can retrieve the original application exactly as it had been sent. I wrote to https://contact-ukvi.homeoffice.gov.uk asking (among other things) if they can somehow provide it – berdario May 23 '19 at 01:14
  • I'm sorry but couldn't find similar question for deception, but I found https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/117979/ukvi-eco-made-a-mistake-on-my-visa-decision where ECO made a mistake and refused the visa. – RedBaron May 23 '19 at 01:50

1 Answers1

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So, this just got resolved positively:

We got a solicitor involved, they recommended:

  • applying again
  • if that fails, a judicial review (that's a different thing than an appeal or an administrative review)

For both, knowing what information exactly UKVI used for their previous decision would be quite useful, and that can be obtained for free with a subject access request.

Instead of waiting on the SAR documents to get back to us, my SO submitted a new visa application right away (with the information that has been provided above in the question and a cover letter). The decision was positive in this case and the visa has been granted (which means that luckily plans didn't have to change),

Though this means that until we'll see the SAR documents, it will not yet be clear if they had any wrong records on their side or what was actually the explanation for the last refusal.

I might update this when I'll get that information, and I could also provide a (redacted) copy of the cover letter, if people could find that useful.

Update:

This is the cover letter, attached with the latest application:

cover letter

We also got the SAR file, and I got 2 interesting findings:

  • The mistake in the date (January 2007) doesn't appear to have been on UKVI's side: the copy of the application they have lists that date.
  • They didn't retain a copy of the employment confirmation that had been provided in 2009, for this reason I think that to clarify the original mistake it might be better to always provide our copy (even if hopefully that wouldn't be needed now that the latest application has been successful).
berdario
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