Denied visitor visa. What to do?

Food budget is small, also your hotel budget. Did you check if £105.50 is enough for 8 nights? Make your arrival in London as Day 1. Check your other items. The budget is not enough.

Hotel budget was really like that as I was planning to stay in a hostel. That was the total amount for the 7 night stay. Even included the booking confirmation. How much should my food budget be? Should I make it more detailed next time?

When I make it 150k budget for the trip. How much savings woukd satisfy the ECO for that?

I think it's better not to include an invitation letter. They will check your first app and they will see that you put hotel accomm on your first app.

You can put £40-50 per day. I think your 300k is enough. Just hold the money you got from your parents for atleast 6 months. If you can still save more, then better. Put 'others' = £300.

And yeah, my other suggestion, try to visit other country (with visa needed), before you reapply.

i dont think a week is long enough--could arouse suspicion at UKVI--if you re apply ask for longer--say 2-3 weeks.

view the lost application fee as a form of tourist tax. visit visas are cheap compared to settlement.

No. They are only interested if you fail to leave the UK within the stipulated period, in other words, overstay.

Sorry to hear you were denied @superann . Sadly many first applications are denied , so don't be too disheartened .
I'm surprised your savings would be insufficient , as I'm sure they are a lot higher than other people who are granted visas .

It sounds from their reply , that they are not happy that you can complete the visit , on the budget that you have stated , so I think you should increase that ,as it's well below the capital that you have .

Read more threads on the subject on this forum , to gain more ideas and knowledge of what other people have done who were successful .

Make a list of all the documents that you included with your application , and post it on here . Maybe we can see what was lacking , or not detailed enough .

Finally , I agree with others on here that you should state that you will be visiting for two weeks , not one , as that is really too short a time it be a tourist , and see the many things in London and elsewhere .

Don't give up , just try to do a stronger application next time . We will all try to help you .

There are so many wonderful places in the world, why aim for the UK, especially if you only have time for a seven day vacation?

Answer that question, why the UK?

Seems like a bloody silly idea to me.

Head over to Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, Hong Kong, or one of the other more local places where:

• You can travel visa free,
  
• Save money on flight and accommodation costs,
  
• Food is better,
  
• You regain two days travel time and seven days becomes nine.

I can understand why the UK authorities doubt your reasons for visiting the UK.​

Yeah looks like the budget itinerary I made was not really enough. I thought it would satisfy them already. I just wanted to see the city without having to spend so much on entrance tickets. And I considered buying food from shops which I heard was cheaper, hence my low food budget. Lol Anyway here the the documents i submitted:

Application form (which vfs returned to me as my copy)
Document checklist
Old passport and current passport with photocopies of bio data page
Cover letter stating my intention of traveling to London
Travel history
Travel itinerary
Screenshot copy of flight details i intended to buy
Hostel booking confirmation
COE, 6 mos payslips, 2017 ITR, Leave consent letter from boss
Savings account bank certificate and bank statements
Payroll bank statements. Didn't include bank cert as money goes out constantly therefore no savings left for that
Letter from my mom stating the inheritance money from my late father with proof
Death cert of my dad
Utility bills under my parents name
Declaration of real property under my dads name as for more proof to where im living
Photocopies of my mom and brother's ids
1 page of photos showing family photos
Birth certificate

Maybe I submitted too much? Lol.

Thanks for all your replies. Need all the help i can get when i reapply before the year ends.

It is detailed enough but i think you have under estimated some of the costs.

£100 for food is not enough. A big mac meal costs about £6. So even if you eat big mac everyday 2x a day, thats already 84. Then how about bfast? Plus water (you have to buy bottled water there)or snacks (little stuff like nuts). So double your food budget. Food at borough market are not cheap (but its not expensive as well, you might end up paying about £15).

£30 oyster card is not enough. I think the card itself is £30 but with 20£balance in it. You will need about £7 per day (thats the cap they will charge you in a day).

The day trip in bath, stonehenge is i think too cheap. What is included in there? I know its quoted as such but the entrance to stonehenge is already at £25, plus other entrances to various tourist places like roman baths etc?

Based on those three, i think the eco officer thinks that your budget is not enough- it is a bit short on every item like food might only be short by £50, but transpo is also short as well. And as a tourist on your own, make sure you have enough money ‘just in case’.

As other members of the forum said, try to make your budget at least £1500 per week.

I agree with that view. If not for my fiance at that time, uk and us are the laat two countries i would visit. I would go to europe. Spain, italy, greece, france etc.

If the uk home offfice doesnt want your tourist money, spend it elsewhere. There are other places you can visit - i enjoyed Greece (very cheap place and lots of good looking guys - even the riot police were very cute), Istanbul, turkey (there is a direct flight from manila to istanbul via turkish air and they have architecture older than magellan’s arrival in ph ), or why not dubai- lots of filipinos, safe place to travel as a single lady plu lots of stuff to shop as well.

I agree, it doesn't matter what you spenmd in reality and on what, this is about getting a visa. Up your budget a lot especially accomodation and food. I would say a minimum of £80 plus £30 per day. If you spend less then no one will know. If you do spend less I would be surprised as well. Lots of nice places outside London much cheaper also.

That looks a pretty good list of documents to be honest , so ........
Change visit to two weeks ,
Research more ,and calculate cost of accommodation and food/ transport for two weeks and raise overall cost of trip .

Write details of itinarary and admission fees for any site seeing you plan to do , ( maybe London Eye , London Zoo, plus Buckingham Palace , Houses of Parliament , Westminster Abbey, Big Ben ,Covent Garden, Leicester Square , Chinatown , museums , etc .

Maybe letter from your mother , stating how you take care of her and support her now , dad has passed on . How she is happy for you to have this opportunity of short break to UK , and she looks forward to hearing all about it on your return home .

If you help with utility bills , maybe you can get your name added to these .
Try to have money in your bank account for 6 months if possible before applying .

Different spin on this is,
The first paragraph of the refusal reasons could suggest that the ECO has looked at the applicants wage slips and other points and excludes the lump sum input and decides the applicant cannot afford her trip on her own. They then see a large cash injection and think non genuine as it looks like for want of a better phrase a sugar daddy payment.
It could then be argued increasing the costs of the trip moves the applicant further away from being genuine unless she can clearly demonstrate where the cash injection came from.
Just a different spin!

Letter from my mom stating the inheritance money from my late father with proof
Death cert of my dad

-she has those @Mattecube to explain where the cash injection came from.

A legal document would carry more weight ECO might argue mums will write what kids want!

She mentioned with proof. What proof was that @superann? A will and testament?

I agree with almost all of the foregoing but would simply point out that Buckingham Palace will not be open to visitors at the time the OP visits our country and also Big Ben is closed to visitors due to restoration works. As far as I can recall, you need an invitation (and pass) from an MP to visit the House except during a recess.

I understand that @ superann, but maybe Mattecube has a valid point .
The ECO 's have their own way of looking at , and analysing some things .

When we first applied , even though I stated that I would sponsor my gf's entire trip ...flights , accommodation at my house , food travel and everyday expenses , they refused the visa on the same grounds I.e , she couldn't afford it on her own .

Another reason they gave , was that she didn't have any dependants in Philippines to return to, .... despite the fact that she said on her application form , that she has a young son ,that she has lived with , loved and taken care of since birth .

Be encouraged that second applications are usually more successful .