Hello Everyone,
We recently applied for a fiancée Visa for my fiancée Donnlyn, who is a Filipino citizen, on August 8th 2006 and are awaiting now the result from the British Embassy. Me and my fiancée Donnlyn met each other May 31st 2004 ar NAiA I stayed for 2 months at there house. We wrote letters, chatted on MSN messenger and phoned each other everyday (which we have proof of) and kept in touch and My fiancée suggested me to stay at their home instead of hotels to keep my stay longer and to know each other more. By that time and Donnlyn is still studying at University of Santo Tomas and I fetch her always from her university and we haven’t thought of getting her yet as she is still studying. After my stay there, we again kept in touch and met again on September 29th 2005 where I stayed for 2 weeks that time Donnlyn already graduate from college we have more time spent together, and we finally decided for her to live with me. I love Donnlyn very much. Our first application for a fiancée visa was back on November 2005 which was after my second visit to my fiancée Donnlyn. After 8 or 9 days, we got our visa request denied. The ECO letter stated," You have applied for entry clearance to the UK as a fiancé: however I am not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities that you meet requirements of paragraph 290, and in particular: I am not satisfied there will be adequate maintenance for you and your fiancé, without recourse to public funds, until the date of your marriage and subsequent to your marriage: Because you have provided as evidence your fiancé’s finances his bank statements upto 4th November 2005, his account has a final balance of £38.01. Given that you are unable to work in the UK until after your marriage I am not satisfied this amount is sufficient to maintain both you and your sponsor prior to or subsequently after your marriage. We were both very hurt about this. We submitted all the requirements as per below and our only area of refusal was my savings on my bank statements. So it was clear to me when we applied again, my savings had to be a lot better! As the fiancé, I felt very stupid and naive to have supplied bank statement which showed little savings to the British Embassy. The good thing we can be proud of is we are still together and nothing has been changed on our relationship infact it becomes more stronger and we always keep positive spirit. So, after waiting 8 months more and learning from forums such as this, we have applied again showing better savings! This is what we have supplied in our second application...
Proof of relationship
1. Letters/emails/phone bills/visa stamps showing my visits to Philippines/pictures spanning our 3 year relationship/
2. My letter of intentions and date to marry my fiancée Donnlyn in Scotland/receipts of resorts we stayed at.
3. Accommodation/finances
4. Tenancy agreement/rent payments/council letter confirming the house has 3 bedrooms which is big enough to absorb my fiancée staying here/
5. Letter of support from me and letter of no objection from my parents welcoming Donnlyn to stay here.
6. Wage slips and bank statements
7. My passport copy signed by lawyer
Others:
1. Previous refusal letter from ECO/visa fee of course for ukvacs and British embassy.
2. birth certificate of donnlyn
3. Proof of singleness which my Donnlyn prepared so when we get married here she have everything complete on registration.
4. Donnlyn’s NBI clearance
We are now awaiting the result of our second application. I have supplied 6 months of new bank statements showing me putting away £200 to £400 every month and my final statement balance was £2500 which is a lot more than my previous final balance of £38.01 on our last application. As we were refused on having insufficient funds, my bank statements are our main area of concern for improvement. We are hoping in light of our new savings, the ECO will grant Donnlyn her visa.
Based on all of this, is there anything we could have done more to give us a better chance of being successful in our application? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Stuart & Donnlyn
