Hello to all here, I'm Steve, and invite you to read. We met on the Internet in nov 2013, I was captivated, and we quickly became good friends and more. Rushing home from work to chat was every day's highlight And days turned to weeks and weeks to months, And we felt at ease with each other,loved each other,dreamed and made plans. In May 2014 I was due to fly out meet my love and the family, All was planned, On the morning if the flight I slipped in the bath and ended in hospital, missed the flight and we were both desolated. Two weeks later I flew out, It was magical, perfect, My love was stunning, The family welcomed me into their home and lives so seamlessly, their hospitality was incredible and made me realise what we lack at home . We planned to marry,after the best time of my life in makati Subic and dinalupihan. Sad farewells at Nino aquoy As they saw me safely away. I returned in July 2014, where We obtained our cert of no impediment , and posted our intention to marry at the British embassy. We were married 20 days later by a consular official in the British embassy. We applied for a visa, it was refused, such a kick to the stomach I never experienced before. We applied again, this time for full settlement visa,5 weeks later it was refused. We applied again using a professional and well known visa company based in Manila 5 weeks later it was refused Citing my salary as insufficient. Looking at my salary and knowing I exceeded the minimum financial requirement of £18,600 by some measure Both the visa company and ourselves were fuming and all were beginning to lose hope. I could tell in my loves voice The feeling of hopelessness creep in. The ceremony in the embassy was very cold and businesslike And although classed as British soil carried no weight at all. We married again in a wonderful ceremony in Bataan 120 guests friends and family Photographers, a band, Silver service , and a ballroom decorated like an ice cavern. A pre nup photo shoot and a professional wedding photo shoot , all arranged by my love. So angry about the visa refusal and the clear errors made by the Eco I took matters into my own hands. I appealed to the immigration tribunal in Leicester, even though that might take months. I contacted the home office via their complaints procedure page on their website , that may take weeks. I contacted my local mp and emailed the obvious errors in the ecos deliberations I threw myself on her mercy Appealed to her sense of fair play, appealed to her as a mother and as a doctor, as she is both, Within three days, her secretary mailed me from the house of commons, She had contacted the home office and requested they pull out file at the manilla hub as it was obvious to her that an error had been made by this particular eco. An ecm reviewed our application and admitted the error, the home office instructed them to reverse the decision, and 4 days later my love received our visa. The cost has been almost financially crippling, I'm a working man, in the long months before the manilla hub was shown for what it is, I supported my love financially each week, the fees for visa applications, a visa company, An appeal, two Tb tests, an English course, transport,etc etc Means I will bear the cost for some time to come. Our visa was issued just prior to the change in law regarding the 4 hour seminar and passport sticker, so we were unaware. After this final disappointment My love arrives this Wednesday coming. So, Never give up, bear any cost, Eat disappointment as though it were your favourite meal, Keep fixed in your mind the look on your loves face when you married her, Because, She is so worth it.
Oh thats so lovely congrats to you both.. Even the worst circumtances, being strong together and a lot of patient everything is worth in the end..
Hi and here, Steve. Good on you for persevering with an injustice to a successful outcome. The founder of this forum Kuya (Sean), who sadly passed away, also fought his corner to get a spousal visa for his wife. Is your wife arriving by herself on Wednesday? At least she doesn't need winter clothes at this time of year! This week will be very special for both of you.
Many thanks to all of you for your kind words and thoughts. Special thanks to Dr Sarah wolaston Mp for totnes in Devon , Without whose help, with nothing to gain personally, finally righted a wrong. Yes , my baby arrives on her own, On Wednesday, I know she will be shattered by the travelling, 2 hours to manilla, 3 hour wait, 14 hour flight,and 3 hours drive to home She really is a wonderful person, And I have no memory of what life was like before we met,so weird. Things will be tough for a while, But at least we will be together And we are both so looking forward. We should have had the two previous visas, and as I delved deeper into the work of ecos at the manilla hub I was amazed at the way applications are processed. For instance the manilla hub deals with applications from most of South East Asia, not just the Philippines. under the freedom of information act As a direct request to the home office, Concerning the manilla hub, I obtained Eco staffing levels, Eco working hours Eco break schedules Number of applications average per month From this I deduced, The amount of time an Eco spends on each application amounts to 5.5 Minutes........!!! Providing no one is sick off work, on holiday, in the rest room, or having a bad day. Ecm's do not review ecos decisions on visa applications, And the error in our case where the Eco calculated net pay, but then stated in the refusal it was gross pay, Went unseen, unchecked,and with no minimum standard of quality control applied. No Eco or ecm signs their name There is no way to contact them directly They are protected by anonymity And thus their mistakes, which are made Are likely repeated without consequence. But that's another story ........... we are so very happy we came out of The other end, together....... Once again Many many thanks for your kind words and thoughts,and your warm welcome So looking forward now...... Steve
How much did you pay for visa applications? When you appealed and won, did you receive compensation for their mistakes?
5.5 minutes for an ECO to review an application. Makes us wonder why some people send hundreds of documents which they clearly will not be able to process
@Steverob that is a very interesting story. It must have been a very difficult year for you both. What I found of great interest is the 5.5 minutes spent as an average on each visa application and the lengths you went to to determine that. Maybe you could post here the correspondence (suitably anonymised) under the Freedom of Information Act. It also looks that backing up an appeal by contact with your MP is also a good idea, it does seem to speed up the process. However, one thing concerns me - you mention a 4 hour seminar and passport sticker being introduced just after the visa application. It appears you may be getting muddled up between the new UK 30 Vignette sticker in the passport (which requires no seminar) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) seminar which, upon completion, results in a sticker in your passport. The CFO seminar and CFO sticker requirement has existed for many years. Can you confirm that your wife has taken the CFO Seminar and has the CFO sticker in her passport? Without the CFO sticker in her passport, the Philippines authorities will not allow her to leave the country.
I would also like a link to the FoI did you do it on "what do they know"? https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about
Hi all The first visa application was a visitors visa, and if memory serves was around £300 It was our first visa application, we were both naive regarding which visa to apply for, and in fairness to the manilla hub Was not what it should have been, so no hard feelings on that one. The next visa applications cost around £800 each x 3 With the last one also costing an additional £600 , again if memory serves, as health care surcharge. I forget what the two tb tests cost Or how much the English certificate Was, as all documentation is still with my wife, and arriving with her shortly. The appeal to the tribunal was £170 And discontinued by me after a week or so as the visa was issued, this is also non refundable. I have not asked to be compensated because I do not wish to rock the boat When my love finally arrives, with feet on the ground at the airport I may think differently. The cfo certificate and sticker We were completely unaware of , even though we used a visa company at no time were we advised about this, I understood it had only recently become law over there, but, now understand that it has been law for some time Thank you howerd, I wish I had taken advice and joined this site months ago, we live and learn. No, she did not have the sticker when she tried to fly out recently, ticket issued,labels attached to bags and on the conveyor, then the immigration cubicle And non clearance to leave. Such a disappointment But easily rectified. The information regarding details of staffing levels , catchment area, average monthly visa applications, and working hours, were obtained as an online request from as Keith points out The what do they know site And please forgive my error It was not data protection act, But rather Freedom of information act. I put in two requests on that site about two months apart, each requesting additional information. Eventually both were answered and from those answers I did the math and drew my conclusions. One of the questions I asked was, Was it common practice to stamp An applicants passport visa refused The answer was a terse Yes it is. My wife's passport has 4 of these And it's almost like you are branded I do wish I had come here earlier and taken advice from fellow members, But, onward and upward Regards Steve
Hello Keith I can only see one of my requests at the moment I will continue to look for the other https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/234113/response/581329/attach/3/FOI 33199 Answer.pdf Regards Steve
