Advice Please on Whether you think my Friend is Being Ripped Off?

[Bazman999]

Can you offer any advice please?

One of my work colleagues, who has been a friend for more than 20 years, went looking for a Filipino girlfriend/wife 4 years ago after his wife sadly passed away. They were happily married for more than 25 years.

He spent a couple of holidays there, before deciding to settle down with a Filipino lady whom he met via a dating website. He is 62 years old and she is 35.

He left the company where we both work to start a fresh life in the Philippines and invested a lot of his money in local businesses close by where he lived. Unfortunately all of these businesses failed leaving him £10K’s out of pocket.

Considering how much he talked about how good the lifestyle was there and how EXTREMELY cheap is was to live in comparison to the UK, I was surprised how much these businesses cost to run and the never ending stream of excuses to pour more money into each venture. He eventually gave up and returned to the UK as he had run out of money.

He worked hard for approximately 1 year getting all of the relevant paperwork together to move his now Filipino wife to the UK - which I was involved with - providing a character reference that needed to be witnessed by a lawyer.

Regrettably, this visa application failed about 1 month ago, with 7 reasons being given as to why. 5 of these 7 issues were 100% correct with the initial application and my friend found it very frustrating that he could not confront the relevant people dealing with this in the Philippines, as it was being dealt with by his wife.

An appeal has been launched and with all of the necessary legal requirements and various “hangers on” for money, my friend has been told that he needs to send a further £8000 to make all of this happen.

I find it frustrating that my friend will not face the fact that he is being robbed of all his life savings and is burying his head in the sand!

My questions:-

1. Do you think my friend is being robbed of his money, or does all of the above sound completely normal?
2. How long does a visa application take for the first round?
3. Does £8000 sound a normal amount of money to spend on a visa appeal?

So I would appreciate your thoughts, comments and suggestions.

[Ako Si Jamie]

Your friend seems to be throwing money about like confetti which will attract the wrong types of people. I'm not an expert on the visa process but £8,000 for an appeal doesn't sound right at all.

[Tawi2]

Yup, your friend is being ripped-off big-time, an appeal wouldn't cost over half a million pesos. :icon_lol: Is his woman being leeched by fixers and immigration specialists and suchlike?

[Ako Si Jamie]

Could be his woman. I wonder how much influence she had on these businesses. Just a thought.

[joebloggs]

He worked hard for approximately 1 year getting all of the relevant paperwork together to move his now Filipino wife to the UK - which I was involved with - providing a character reference that needed to be witnessed by a lawyer.

Regrettably this visa application failed about 1 month ago, with 7 reasons being given as to why. 5 of these 7 issues were 100% correct with the initial application and my friend found it very frustrating that he could not confront the relevant people dealing with this in the Philippines, as it was being dealt with by his wife.

An appeal has been launched and with all of the necessary legal requirements and various “hangers on” for money, my friend has been told that he needs to send a further £8000 to make all of this happen.



He doesn't need a character reference for a spouse visa application :NoNo:

7 reasons? :yikes:! What were the reasons?

send a further £8,000 , all appeals are held in the UK not in the Philippines :NoNo:

If he needs someone to handle the appeal process, get someone in the UK, like Victoria Sharkey from Medivisas who has helped a few on here and is a Level 3 OISC immigration adviser. And £8,000 seems very expensive to me.

http://www.medivisas.com/

[Ako Si Jamie]

It's more like £800 I reckon. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

Sadly your friend has been, and still is, being scammed.

As Joe Bloggs has said, there is no requirement at all for any character reference in connection with a spouse visa.

It would be interesting to know what those 7 reasons for refusals were?

An appeal costs around £140 last time I looked.
But why on earth would anyone make an appeal when there are allegedly so many reasons for the ECO to refuse.

Anyone without any business sense at all will need a large fortune to make a small fortune. Period.

So how do you think you can help your friend?

[Terpe]

Can you name those 5 reasons out of 7 that caused the so called application to fail ?

Unless all reasons for refusal can be corrected then you friend has no chance to have his wife join him here.

[Bazman999]

Sadly your friend has been, and still is, being scammed.

As Joe Bloggs has said, there is no requirement at all for any character reference in connection with a spouse visa.

It would be interesting to know what those 7 reasons for refusals were?

An appeal costs around £140 last time I looked.
But why on earth would anyone make an appeal when there are allegedly so many reasons for the ECO to refuse.

Anyone without any business sense at all will need a large fortune to make a small fortune.Period.

So how do you think you can help your friend?

I'm going to show him all of these responses and hope he can, at the very least, see that something is not right here. Many thanks to all for this great advice.

[stevewool]

It's very hard for your friend to see beyond his own thinking. Is he still madly in love with his wife, or has he passed a point where he cannot go back?

Love is blind for many, but also love can be the best thing there is out there,

Is your friend a member here, and if not, why don't you get him to join? We are all here to help and not just say, "I TOLD YOU SO".

Good luck, and I wish i had someone like you looking out for me!

[Harry T]

Phew, £8,000. :yikes:! That's a lot of money for an appeal that will likely fail! Take the advice of the guys on here, they all have experience of immigration - myself included. As Terpe says, unless those 7 reasons can be overcome, then he is wasting his time and money. Try to get your friend to join here, but whatever happens, he really must NOT send anything like that sort of money without checking out the appeals procedure for himself. If he does, he is throwing good money after bad, with little prospect of winning the appeal.

[London_Manila]

It's very hard for your friend to see beyond his own thinking. Is he still madly in love with his wife, or has he passed a point where he cannot go back?

Love is blind for many, but also love can be the best thing there is out there.

Is your friend a member here, and if not why don't you get him to join? We are all here to help and not just say, "I TOLD YOU SO".

Good luck, and I wish I had someone like you looking out for me!

The loved-up ones are the first to lose any reality and normally end up just deluding themselves. :NoNo:

[fred]

Tell your friend to take the advice given here above this post of mine.
Only thing I can add is not to send any more seed money for businesses here in the R.P to anyone.

Once they know he cannot qualify for a spouse visa, the request for money will come in different forms.. 8 grand!!

C'mon ... it's about the most blatant and biggest red flag I have ever heard of! :NoNo:
That said I`d be interested to know what kind of "businesses" they attempted..

Many of us Kano`s have had a go at the odd business here and many of us have watched them go bankrupt..Nothing wrong with that ... it's just part of a learning curve. Just LEARN and move on!

Your mate will not like reading this thread as it's his pride at stake and that's understandable..

The only thing he has done wrong in my book is to trust and love his partner as he should..

The problem is, there's nothing that I have read about her or her cohorts that make me doubt that they will drain every last brass cent from him until they move on.

EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS!!!!!
Still can't believe it! :doh

Best move he ever made, was deciding to have you for a friend.

[Terpe]

................Best move he ever made was deciding to have you for a friend.

That's spot on.
It's generally not the case that those being scammed this bad have the courage or trust in friendship to actually share their problem.

[Michael Parnham]

I'm going to show him all of these responses and hope he can, at the very least, see that something is not right here. Many thanks to all for this great advice.

I've given you a rep for this thread, hoping that others will learn. Welcome to the Forum Baz! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Tawi2]

Some guys, not all -but some - get into their twilight years and are single. They need a partner, :anerikke: just someone to be around. They meet someone half their age who takes an interest in them and suddenly the world isn't a grey drab place anymore. It's filled with vibrant colour! Advise your friend to step outside the relationship just for a minute and look at it objectively. You always get a better perspective outside the box looking in than inside the box looking out.

[Michael Parnham]

Some guys, not all -but some - get into their twilight years and are single. They need a partner, :anerikke: just someone to be around. They meet someone half their age who takes an interest in them and suddenly the world isn't a grey drab place anymore. It's filled with vibrant colour! Advise your friend to step outside the relationship just for a minute and look at it objectively. You always get a better perspective outside the box looking in than inside the box looking out.

Good advice! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Ako Si Jamie]

Yup, that is good advice although his friend could be madly in love with her and won't be able to see the wood for the trees. Love is blind and all that. It could even lead to friction in the friendship. The friend might turn round and say something like that "You're just jealous because I've got a pretty woman on my arm".

Personally I'd gamble and intervene. Something needs to be said and he'll be thankful one day hopefully. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Bazman999]

FYI, I printed and showed my friend all of your posting last night! I'm happy to say it was well received and has made him think again about the direction he's currently taking for the visa appeal. He also said that he will take a look at this forum and may join for further advice.

Many thanks to all of you.:smile::smile::smile:

[Terpe]

......has made him think again about the direction he's currently taking for the visa appeal.....

There's a time limit on lodging an appeal.
All the info is contained within the refusal letter issued by UKVI
The timelimit is 28 days

Appeals can be made either solely on the information contained in the visa application (plus any other allowable and relevant documents)
or
at a hearing that a representative can attend.

It currently costs £80 without a hearing or £140 with a hearing

[timi]

Interesting to read this,He is lucky to have you as a friend. investing in businesses in PI is fraught with problems.I got help from medivisa they seemed well informed, but the best advice is to use this forum we are so appreciative, so much help received.
I agree with Ako Jamies advice