Filipino girlfriend failed visitor visa HELP

[compldc72]

Hi,

my philippine girlfriend in Cebu got her papers back from immigration yesterday. She failed the visitor visa application. I'm after some help with an appeal.
The letter she got said my sponsor papers were fine.
But, they said they were not convinced she would return. She works, she had a letter from her company, not sure what was on the letter but possibly mentioned that she only got 6 days holiday a year, she was coming her for 6 months. She sent her payslips with the visa app. Everything i could think of.
Is there anything extra in the appeal i can.
I went over to cebu in February to see her so there were also photos of us. It's this think about her not having a job when she goes back to philippines, if she's here 6 months how can she???

Is there anything extra in the appeal i can do to turn this around

thanks

Lee

[KeithD]

Over 90% fail visitor visa's, they are not the best way to go for bf/gf relationships, they are more for family. They want you to use the fiancee visa, and you must have met her in the Phil to prove your interest.

[A_flyer]

Is there anything extra in the appeal i can do to turn this around

With the elements you gave, it's normal she was denied (no E.U. Embassy will believe a 6 month holiday in Europe for a single Filipina). The only way to appeal is to go for a Fiancé or Spouse visa.

[joebloggs]

like scouser keith said, most fail, becuase they have not statisfied the eco that the person will return, visitor visa has been abused alot, people have used it to come to the uk, overstayed, and years later still not gone back, so unless you can convince and prove that the person will and has reasons to return, you may well be refused.., sad as it is, its more difficult to get a vistor visa becuase of those who abused it, and many of us cannot bring our relatives to the uk to vist us .

and now the max is 3 months, not 6 months.

[ginapeterb]

Lee,

This thread is one of millions of threads we start talking about on this forum, sadly, you only have yourself to blame, since you have already admitted that she only gets 6 days leave a year.

Entry clearance officers in the Philippines know enough to know that a girl who has a regular job and then is asking for a 6 month break is never going to return, the temptation is just too much.

The fact is, once she enters the UK there is no real chance she will return, trust me when I tell you, even if it does not work out with you, (I'm not suggesting it will not !" she will in 6 months attach herself to other Tago ng Tago Filipino's who will brief her on what to do, she will end up in the illegal jobs market and stay forever or until such time as she has saved up about £20,000 when she will then go back.

Sorry to be the merchant of doom, but thats normally the prediction of how it will be.

Try for the Fiancee visa, as Yves has said, she will probably be accepted and approved for that one.

If you find you cannot live together, at least you have 6 months to find out, people always assume that bringing a girl to UK will result in happy families, sometimes it does, sometimes it does not, being in love with a girl is not always a passport to living happily ever after, some find they cannot get on in the daily rut of life routine.

Best of luck..

[Mrs.JMajor]

hi ginapeterb,
i was really salute of how being smart you are in the sense of giving advice,,so dont get surprised if i log in here and looking for your words

[aromulus]

hi ginapeterb,
i was really salute of how being smart you are in the sense of giving advice,,so dont get surprised if i log in here and looking for your words

Peter has finally reached Cult status...

Jokes apart, mate, you are great.

Keep them coming.

[Ady]

Hi compldc72

I have gone through the exact pains and frustrations as you. In my case, we applied for a visitor visa in July 2006. The refusal arrived just before my gf's birthday in September 2006.

The reasons were that they didn't believe that I would sponsor her and her daughter's stay here (we put 4 weeks), and that they didn't believe she would ever return. We had documents from her employers stating that she could take an extended leave. We also told them that she had relatives to care for - so there was no way she could refuse to return. But, they turned this against us. It seems that whatever you say will be used against you. I proved to them that I had savings, a good income. But it was no use - they couldn't possibly see that someone would be willing to spend that amount of money.

At that time, we were both very upset. I mean, if you can't get a visa as a tourist, there is no chance they will let you stay here is there? Thanks to this site, and also IAS (Immigration Advisory Services), I now realise that visitor visas are the hardest to get, and that the embassy in Manila have a larger refusal rate than most others.

Maybe, with the new rules of sponsors having to deposit £1000, refusals will go down in the future? But, whilst we have a Government and Opposition that appeases the Daily Mail reader who is anti-immigration then we will always have problems. Never mind that population rises in the UK mainly because of natural reasons rather than immigration, and forget the fact that abuse of the immigration/tourist visa is fairly minimal - let's just treat everyone with the same coldness. Whilst the powers that be continue to protect those with an irrational fear of immigrants without using commonsense, we will always have our destinies decided by civil servants with little idea of what these relationships entail. Sorry for the politics.

[compldc72]

Hi Ady,

your words are true but, our goverment's hands are tied, seems they have to look as though they are doing the right thing, not in this case though. They just let the wrong ones thru i think....or the wrongs ones come thru without even being noticed.....
Still, lets hope my fiancee visa application has better luck in a few months time. I'll be scanning over this site for help then, it's excellent!!!

Lee

[joebloggs]

Hi Ady, the reason your g/f was refused is because of vistor visa abuse, i don't know how wide spread it is, the gov should now, maybe they don't want to tell , from the other forums i go on, for research purposes of course scouser keith , there are many people who have overstayed on a visitor visa, i'm amazed that anyone gets one these days, some then try to claim assylum, are refused and appeal, a process which can take upto 3 years or more, by which time some have found a british or european partner, so they then try to apply for a unmarried partner or a spouse visa, and some just vanish then, the gov estimate, there are upto 800,000 illegal immigrants in this country, many must of come on a visitor visa, student visa or fake passport, how else could so many get here

as for the refusal rate for Manila, its not as bad as some countries, Africa has the highest refusal rate, you have more of a chance with a spouse or fiancee visa than a visitor visa. i think the deposit doesn't apply to all visitor visa's only some, maybe depending on what country their from . i don't think the gov is anti-immigration, with a million+ mostly eastern euros here, and with the number of illegal immigrants upto 800,000, and 100,000s of assylum seekers this is causing problems with schools, nhs, housing etc... and if you think labour is anti-immigration, tories have said they will put a limit on non euros who can come to the uk...

i thought stupidly many years ago, before i got married, all i needed to do was fill in a visa form and hey the wife could live with in the country i was born in , and that my wifes family and esp her mom could come and visit us , little did i know then i would have to spend months finding out about immigration law, massive visa fees and playing the visa game..

sad to say its difficult to prove your g/f will go back, unless she has a good job, a house and money.

anyway as dom would say its my 2 euro's worth

[compldc72]

thanks everyone, you all confirmed my feelings.

I'm chatting to my girlfriend now, we will appeal as it's free but long term, i hope to go and see her in Easter (only time i can get), and then apply for fiancee visa, seems to be a 3 month wait.

thanks again guys

Lee

[KeithD]

You can get a fiancee visa in a week, usually takes 4-6 though.

[KeithD]

The visitor visa has nothing to do with what a UK person can prove, even if you a Billionaire, it is up to the applicant to prove they will return based on their own money, job, reasons to return, etc.

[IanB]

Firstly, 90% of visotor visas succeed. Thats a fact. But then you need to think that 90% of applicants are rich people coming to the UK for a holiday or business. When it comes to getting a visa for your girlfriend to visit, it is very hard for one reason: reason to return. How can you prove that she will return?

This is particularly unfair, because you are more likely to get a fianceee visa if you know your gf well, and your rerlationship is more likely to survive if she has been on holiday to the UK. How do youget to know her, how does she get to know the UK, if she cannot visit you?

I do not think that abuse is as high as Peter suggests earlier. Certainly not among Thais on visitor visas to genuinely visit boyfriends. The vast majority return home because they do not want to put future visits at risk.

In the future, ironically, it might be easier if the government introduces bonds to be paid by sponsors or even threatens sponsors with jail if their visitors do not reurn. For now it is simply unfair.

Ian

[joebloggs]

Firstly, 90% of visotor visas succeed. Thats a fact
Ian

90% of visitor visa's succeed, maybe for thai's , where you getting your facts from Ian ? depending on what country your applying from, failure rate can be very high, like more than 50%+

check the facts Ian in this post i did in June

http://filipinaroses.com/showthread.php?t=3547

i cannot say how high the VV abuse is, as i don't think the gov publishes figures, but the lady who scouser keith mentioned the other day, has cancer and got deported back to africa first came on a VV.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7178416.stm

as for VV refusals for filipino's its nearly double the rate as for thai's. but thai's suffer the same problems as filipinos, maybe even worse from some of the thai posts i've read

[KeithD]

Eh!! According to UK official stats for refusals, it is higher for bf/gf, around 80%, lower for business/education, only 15%. Around 8% vanish!!! 37% from Ghana

Stats from the Audit office.

Successful visitor visa's make up only 12% of all visa's. Students have the highest with 29%.

Here are the refusal reason:

Reason Percentage
of cases

1 Doubts over intention to return to home 65%
country/insufficient economic or family
ties in home country
2 Inadequate funds for trip 54%
3 Doubts over credibility of applicant 47%
4 No evidence of financial circumstances 33%
5 Lack of knowledge of United Kingdom/course 22%

6 Forged documentation 14%



45% of Appeals are successful.

[Jay&Zobel]

visit visa will never work, it has always been the fiancee/spouse visa

[vbkelly]

visit visa will never work, it has always been the fiancee/spouse visa

i don't think so its depend how you handed it,i've never had a problem on my visit visa at all,thanks GOD

[kimmi]

visit visa might work if the applicant can prove that she/he can support her visit and will go home as stated..

[vbkelly]

visit visa might work if the applicant can prove that she/he can support her visit and will go home as stated..

yeah thats true kimmi

[LadyJ]

I believed that most of visit visa are given to old people like YOUR parents because they can show that they have stable life and have properties in Phils.. I know quite a lot of people like that in here, they are just in and out of this country.