The Settlement Interview - How to Prepare
It is more than likely that if you apply for entry clearance to the United Kingdom, that you will have to at some stage attend the British Embassy in Manila for an interview with an ECO.
Most readers seem to be under the impression that this is a formality, they could not be more wrong, it is far from it, some of our male readers on the forum are under the impression that they can just apply for a visa, and just allow their wife or fiancée to ad lib it at the embassy, this is not a good move, for one thing, the Entry clearance officers are held responsible to uphold the immigration rules of UK entry clearance.
Their job is to ensure that the rules for granting a visa are complied with, in this case the visa being applied for is
“Someone who wishes to enter the United Kingdom who is a spouse or who intends to marry someone who is settled in the United Kingdom”.
What does this mean ?
It means that the Applicant is actually the person who wishes to enter the United Kingdom, and not the sponsor, who tends to be the British man who is entering into such a relationship, so understand the following:
1. The Sponsor is the British man.
2. The Applicant is the Filipina wife or Fiancée.
It is the Applicant who has to make the application, and has to sign it as such, she is responsible for the accuracy of all information, although some of the information on form VAFW 2002 is actually about the sponsor, the sponsor by nature has to provide the financial support and provide satisfactory accommodation in the UK.
So for those readers who are concerned about the process of application, there are 2 stages to this.
1. The Application and lodgement of such an application at the British Embassy in Manila.
2. The Settlement Interview.
The first process is self explanatory, and there is plenty of information on the Forum about this process, so I do not propose to write about this again.
It is the 2nd stage that I am wishing to write about, this is known as the “Settlement Interview”, what is this all about, and what should you do about it.
Well firstly, once your spouse/fiancée has submitted her application, by either personal submission or using the CAVA system, (CAVA see submission of application in other areas of the forum)
The British Embassy will no doubt have given the applicant a date for her attendance at the British Embassy.
Firstly, if the applicant does not speak very good English, this may be a slight disadvantage, for one thing, it is better if the interview is conducted in English rather than local languages, or Tagalog.
If the applicant wishes the interview to be conducted in Tagalog, a translator will be present during the interview, also the interview will be held privately between the ECO and the applicant, it is unlikely that the sponsor will be allowed to the interview, although it may seek to help If the sponsor is in the embassy waiting and the ECO is made aware of this.
The applicant should be smartly dressed, and on time for the interview, lateness and all sorts of excuses will fall on deaf ears, its no point in saying Trafik ng Trafik sa Ayala, it will fall on deaf ears.
There are literally thousands of applicants every month, if you are to be there for 10.10am in the morning, then be there.
What form will the interview take ?
The interview will be conducted behind a glass screen for the ECO, therefore if the applicant is unable to hear any questions, she should ask for it to be repeated, the ECO will be taking notes, this is nothing to fear, notes are always taken, as a complete transcript of the interview must be taken, in the event that a visa is refused, and the matter is referred automatically to the Immigration Appellate authority in the UK.
Whatever the ECO does, this is not a cause for alarm, he or she will be scribbling notes on different occasions, he or she may disappear to go out of the interview for a moment or two, this may be to consult with a colleague, it is not to be taken as a problem, in other words, alarm bells should not be ringing.
Being on this type of interview is very similar in many ways to what happens in a criminal trial, whatever you see in front of you, your body language should show that you expected it to happen.
Often body language and confidence, goes a long way to satisfying the ECO that a relationship is genuine, this is why I recommend that all interviews are conducted in English, then there is no chance of the applicant replies to questions being translated by a Filipino speaker who has no interest in your application.
So What sort of things do they want to know ?
Firstly, the ECO wants to satisfy themselves that a genuine relationship exists between the applicant and the sponsor, if there is any doubt, the visa may be refused, and left to the immigration appellate authority to sort out, this may take months to get a 2nd hearing in UK.
So lets move the odds into your favour, how can you shift the odds towards a positive result, if the ECO is satisfied that a entry clearance visa is to be issued, then your partner will be asked to come back in the afternoon or the next day to collect her passport, but don’t try and book her ticket just yet, there are one or two things that have to be done before she can climb aboard the aircraft.
How to get a positive result !
Be prepared, preparation for this stage of the process if the most important and loving thing you can do for your partner, leaving her to go on the interview without any help is not a very nice thing for her, she may be shy, some Filipino’s are shy of authority, she may feel intimidated by her surroundings, this being the British Embassy, she may be in fear of refusal when there is no need to be, in truth she may have a lot of things going around her mind.
Preparation goes a long way to helping her to get through the interview, which could be anything from 15 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the answers given, and the level of satisfaction that the entry clearance officer needs.
So how do you prepare.
Firstly our Forum Administrator Keith and myself have both said in the past, you need lots of evidence of relationship, and it does help if this evidence is close to hand when asked to produce it, if your partner, the applicant wife/fiancée is expected to produce this, then make it easy for her, by placing it in a nice file that she can immediately go to the relative section.
She will need a couple of photo albums of the two of you together.
She will need evidence of your travel to the Philippines, and also, evidence of close contact, I.e. phone cards, e mail transcripts, yahoo chat transcripts, some of these or all may not be required, but the more evidence that you have the better you are prepared.
So she has the evidence, this is available to her, and when asked for it, she can offer it to the ECO for scrutiny.
She is then likely to be asked a series of questions, these questions are designed to find out if the relationship is genuine, that the two of you have met, and that there is a reasonable chance that the two of you intend to live together in the UK as man and wife, and that this application is not just a cover up for an economic migration.
Some of the questions themselves may be an attempt to see how one reacts to a question, or to test the applicants knowledge of her partner, in any event all questions need answering, sometimes depending on how she will answer, may be a disaster and could lead to a refusal.
Therefore it is my best advice, that you should print off a copy of my advices here, and in truth you really need to “Coach” your partner and teach her how to answer the questions so as to obtain the most positive result.
So how about the questions ? Here they are some are straight forward others may need explaining, which I will seek to do.
1. Is this your first application for a visa ?
2. Have you applied for any other visa to go to other countries ?
This question may be an attempt to find out if the applicant has done this before, or has been engaged to another man, it may be an attempt to see if the applicant has made a habit of doing this in the past.
3. Have you ever been refused a visa ?
4. Is this your first visit overseas ?
If the applicant has visited an overseas destination before and has returned, without being a flight risk, this may go positively towards a decision.
5. Is this your first and only passport.
6. How long do you intend to stay in the UK ?
This question is no doubt a red herring, the replies to this, may be documented, it could be answered in many ways, but someone in a genuine relationship will probably say “As long as my husband’s career demands”, or similar.
Again it should be noted there are no wrong or right answers, it is simply a process of looking at the applicants motives for applying for a visa.
7. Why do you want to go to UK ?
Well this is self explanatory, for example if the applicant were to say
“For a better life”
Then its clear to the ECO that being with her husband or fiancé was not even given a mention, this would be a bad answer, and if the answers continue in that direction, will no doubt lead to a refusal to grant a visa.
A good answer would have been “To be settled with my husband and to care for him”
8. I suppose if you get your visa, you will be looking forward to a better life in the UK ?
Again common sense here will prevail, its not much good in saying yes to that, a more detailed response is needed such as:
I will be looking forward to living with my husband, and caring for him, (you could be really confident and say) I know once he has me with him, he is in for a much better life than he has now), again, confidence in replying is everything.
9. Would you still have married your husband if you could not live in the UK ?
Use your head here, of course if you said no to this, that’s a outright refusal question, anyone with an ounce of sense is not going to say no to this.
10. What will you do if this visa is refused ?
This is known as the classic red herring question, its purpose we all suspect is to put you on the back foot, or make you feel intimidated, its design is to see if you say, oh well if its refused I will not go through with the marriage or something along those lines, the correct response is to just say, well ok, if it is, it will be difficult for my husband and I but we will find a way of being together.
Meeting Questions.
1. When did you first meet your partner ?
This is just designed to trap you, in case you have never met your partner.
2. How did you meet your partner ?
3. Did you stay with him when you met ?
4. So how long where you with him ?
5. Did he write or call you ??
Obviously this is where your evidence of letter writing comes in, and obviously your call longs, calling cards, etc, will support your answers.
6. When was his first letter to you ?
Again I have been telling you boys out there, about letter writing, the longer the gap in postmarks, the longer the relationship, if she has the very first letter to the most recent showing a long relationship, all the better, for you.
7. Do you have any photos to show me ?
Here we go again, now she has all your photo albums, this is the time to produce them.
8. When did your husband or fiancé propose to you ?
9. Did you ask him to marry you ?
I mean come on be serious about this, if she replies yes to this, that is a dead ringer for refusal, she might say, hey, that’s not a girls job, hmmm whats a girl to do, if she has to do that.
Family Questions.
Have either of you been married before ?
This is not likely so in her case, but it may be in yours, it help if she knows your personal history, if she doesn’t, then why doesn’t she know ? What else are you hiding in the background.
Do you have any children ?
If the applicant has children, and there is no mention of them on the application, this is a bad move, always tell the embassy exactly the truth.
Does your husband have any children from a previous relationship ?
Again it helps if the applicant is aware of your personal history, this is in case, she may be required to help with the children.
Occupation questions.
What qualifications do you have ?
Have you ever worked abroad ?
Where do you live ?
Do you know if its ok for your husband to have a second person living with him ?
Does your husband or partner send you money ?
Little note here, if you are not sending “Sustento” for your loved one, this may be not looked at nicely, if you are not supporting your wife, or fiancée, it might not go well towards a visa being issued.
Do you think your husband/fiancé will be able to take care of your needs ?
Personal motive questions.
These questions are apparently famous for dropping the whole interview in the waste bin, as you will see, there are no wrong or right answers.
1. What do you have in common ?
This is a question that is offered to find out how much the applicant knows about the sponsor, this is not a time to be scratching your head, you must be ready to answer this question properly.
2. Why did you marry him ?
This is the ultimate in making sure you don’t put your foot in it, the applicant can always say “I marry him for the sex” but then again, probably not a good idea, in truth, a personal statement of love, would be the best answer.
3. What do you like most about him ?
Again, if the applicant knows the sponsor, this will be an easy question to answer, just talk about his qualities.
4. What is the real reason you want to marry him ?
Again a final test to see if the applicant is not being truthful, just be firm and confess your love for the Sponsor.
5. How do you feel about the differences in culture. ?
Again, a modest answer here will do, just stating that you think that you both understand one another cultural differences, that will be find.
Have you understood all the questions.
If you have, fine then just reply yes, at this stage, the ECO will no doubt have formed an opinion, on what they think the answer will be to the application, they will have taken various notes, and if satisfied, will most probably tell the applicant to come back later, and collect the visa.
If a visa is refused the applicant will be told, that the ECO is not at that stage satisfied with the evidence both documentary and the interview, the applicant will be given a notice of refusal and then the matter will go to appeal at the Immigration Appellate authority.
However if the evidence is compelling and the interview preparation was good, there is no reason if the relationship is genuine why a visa cannot be issued.
I hope this clears up the situation, for many interested readers, but the key is as always throughout all my articles :
BE PREPARED.
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