Finally the Agony is over.

[imagine]

wow do i like that letter nice one Marco.

[MissAna]

Perhaps at the same time you could get a member of your staff to apologise to my wife for her treatment particularly the very insulting accusation that she was abandoning our son.

and i think that staff deserve to be fired..

anyway Congratulations.. not long now, soon your wife will be with you.

[rhaichard]

well done .,,,... congratulation

[Dedworth]

A very well thought out and composed letter Marco, the reply ought to be interesting

[travina]

great news marco. so happy for you and your wife. now i think im the one left waiting for the outcome of the appeal lol

[Leen]

job well done Marco happy for you and to your wife,time to celebrate

[Steve.r]

I only just picked this up as I am in Shanghai, it is wonderful news Marco, I am so happy that it has been overturned.

Does this now mean I can stop beating your high scores in the arcade as you will have better things to be thinking about

Time to celebrate

[lastlid]

Sent this Email to the Ambassador and have also contacted my MP.

Dear Mr Ambassador
I am writing regarding my wife Mrs Mary Grace XXXXXXXXX application for a spousal visa which was refused by your Embassy and the refusal was upheld by an Entry Clearance Manager.
I was due to appear at the Tribunal Service in the UK tomorrow september 12th but have now been informed by my solicitor that the hearing has been cancelled as the Presenting officer representing you has pulled the case and instructed that the visa be issued.
Whilst I am naturally delighted at the outcome I am nonetheless extremely angry at the way we have been treated by your staff. Part of the refusal says that I provided no proof that I have ever visited the Philippines in the form of a passport or flight bookings or Photographs of myself and my wife. I have now visited the Philippines 3 times although at the time of my application I provided a copy of my passport which included a visa and 2 entry and exit stamps as well as a copy of My Marriage certificate. You are no doubt aware that to get married in the Philippines requires a British Citizen to obtain a certificate of Legal Capacity to marry from the British Embassy in Manila which is exactly what I did in September last year. Why did your ECO not check this and more importantly why did your ECM not check this before upholding the refusal. Incidentally our supporting documents also included many photographs and copies of flight bookings.
It is blatantly obvious that the Entry Clearance department at the Embassy is not fit for purpose from the top down. You charge in excess of £900 for a spousal visa application and don't even have the decency to read it properly. This cannot be argued because our refusal quite clearly shows that the application was not studied properly. There are too many mistakes to argue otherwise. For your ECM to then uphold the refusal and allow the matter to proceed to tribunal defies logic. Fortunately someone in the UK spotted your staffs incompetence before the matter went before a judge.
I am pursuing the reimbursement of our expenses here and have also contacted my MP on this matter.
I would ask that if your staff have a shred of decency in them would it be possible for them to issue my wife's Visa asap. It is our wedding anniversary on the 4th October and I would very much like to spend it with her.
I don't feel that this is a lot to ask in view of the way we have been treated and would be grateful if you could in some way speed this up. Perhaps at the same time you could get a member of your staff to apologise to my wife for her treatment particularly the very insulting accusation that she was abandoning our son.


Thanking you in anticipation
Yours sincerely

Excellent.

Yes, "not fit or the purpose from the top down" indeed.

[andy222]

Well I think your a bit more tollerent than me marco. This is just my opinion on what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would wait until your wife is here then get in touch with your solicitor to see if I could take them to the cleaners. All the anguish you have been through and basicly they have called you a liar. They have been negligent. Just my opinion.

[lastlid]

Well I think your a bit more tollerent than me marco. This is just my opinion on what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would wait until your wife is here then get in touch with your solicitor to see if I could take them to the cleaners. All the anguish you have been through and basicly they have called you a liar. They have been negligent. Just my opinion.

I agree Andy. And more. They* could have overturned this at the reconsideration stage. But chose not to. They must have looked at Marco's reconsideration letter and chose to ignore it! They then proceeded to try and defend this and wrongly so, but knowingly. And surely knowing the anguish it would cause to Marco and his wife. I think that stretches the word negligence into another domain. It takes it up to another level. Negligence on its own implies a lack of care. This wasn't just a lack of care, unfortunately.

More like gross negligence or wilful negligence / misconduct. This may sound like I am splitting hairs but I am not.

* Those sort of people, surely, shouldn't be working for the civil service.

[Michael Parnham]

Have been following your updates, so well done Bigmarco.

[Iani]

This sort of thing unfortunately only upholds a long suspected view of mine, which is that many people working in the public sector, are lazy, incompetent or both, and would not survive in the private sector, where every Friday ISN'T "poets day", where they can't sit around all day so they can claim they have too much to do so have to work overtime, where they can't turn up for work looking like Wurzel Gummidge, where they are lucky to get decent pensions or even pay rises.

If I displayed this level of incompetence, ignoring clearly bloody obvious parts - such as the obvious fact you'd been to the Philippines (Trying to say you hadn't defies belief!), then at the very least I would be facing serious disciplinary action.

[lastlid]

This sort of thing unfortunately only upholds a long suspected view of mine, which is that many people working in the public sector, are lazy, incompetent or both, and would not survive in the private sector, where every Friday ISN'T "poets day", where they can't sit around all day so they can claim they have too much to do so have to work overtime, where they can't turn up for work looking like Wurzel Gummidge, where they are lucky to get decent pensions or even pay rises.

If I displayed this level of incompetence, ignoring clearly bloody obvious parts - such as the obvious fact you'd been to the Philippines (Trying to say you hadn't defies belief!), then at the very least I would be facing serious disciplinary action.

Yes, indeed. Accent on the word serious. Up to and including "summary dismissal". Of course they would get the right of appeal

[Terpe]

This sort of thing unfortunately only upholds a long suspected view of mine, which is that many people working in the public sector, are lazy, incompetent or both, and would not survive in the private sector................

That's a very broad brush.
I have worked in the public sector and the private sector.
Human nature is human nature and your view is applicable to all walks of life and all employements whether public or private sector.

[malchard888]

So pleased to read the good news Marco, u have both been through hell and your shoddy treatement should surely be the subject of an internal investigation as all ECo's should be well aware that they are playing with peoples lives and errors such as this cause so much distress. Best wishes to you both

[grahamw48]

That's a very broad brush.
I have worked in the public sector and the private sector.
Human nature is human nature and your view is applicable to all walks of life and all employements whether public or private sector.

Agreed !

Every occupation has a few bad apples and wasters, but the majority are probably doing a conscientious job.

[Rory]

Great news mate. About time as well.

[gladz]

Excellent news bigmarco

Congratulations!

[joebloggs]

missed your post Marco, I've not been on here much, I've got a legal problem thats taking my time up too

but to you and your wife.

the for putting u thru that and dropping out at the last minute

[stevewool]

Does this now mean I can stop beating your high scores in the arcade as you will have better things to be thinking about

Time to celebrate

nice

[bigmarco]

I only just picked this up as I am in Shanghai, it is wonderful news Marco, I am so happy that it has been overturned.

Does this now mean I can stop beating your high scores in the arcade as you will have better things to be thinking about

Time to celebrate

I was thinking exactly the same thing last night Steve. You will be seeing a bit less of me in the arcade now.

[bigmarco]

Well I think your a bit more tollerent than me marco. This is just my opinion on what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would wait until your wife is here then get in touch with your solicitor to see if I could take them to the cleaners. All the anguish you have been through and basicly they have called you a liar. They have been negligent. Just my opinion.

You are quite right my friend. But as my solicitor pointed out not only did they call us liars they also called my 92 year old mother a liar as she sent a supporting letter. Very angry

[sars_notd_virus]

Well done ..Congratulations!!