Page 10
LEGAL SERVICES - IMMIGRATION
with Jennifer Housen
I Appeal To Thee A warm welcome again to Phoenix readers and we want to thank you for your calls and comments since we started the page. Over the last few months, on this page, we have considered settlement (coming to live in the UK) for spouses, partners and children, as well as friends and relatives visiting the UK. We have given you the basic requirements (and the possible approach of the UKBA) for your family and friends making applications from their home country. Of course, things are not always plain sailing, and applications for visas made in your relatives’ home country may be refused. The question then is…Is that
‘the end of the road’? Well it may not be. This month, we explore and give guidance on what you can (or cannot) do when an applicant’s visa application is refused. When an applicant makes a visa application in his/her home country, the decision whether to grant the visa rests on the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) in the applicant’s country, who will consider all the documents and evidence that have been submitted. If the ECO feels that the there is insufficient evidence to support the application, they will refuse the visa. The next step then, is to consider whether or not to appeal. An appeal allows the applicant to ask that his case be reconsidered. The appeal is not heard at the High Commission or the Embassy where the refusal was made. It is heard before a tribunal in England. The considerations are different for visitors than for those seeking to come to the UK to live. If the applicant’s visitor visa application is refused, then he/she can only appeal if the application was to visit close family. If the person intended to visit in
the UK is a friend or distant relative, there is no automatic right of appeal. Regarding settlement visa applicants, they have an automatic right of appeal. Again, it must be that documentary evidence to support the requirements had been submitted with the application. With the new immigration rules, there are some very specific requirements and, as such, if they are not met, there may be little point in spending money to appeal. For example, for spouse visa applicants, if the sponsor (meaning the partner in the UK) is making less than the required minimum salary of £18,600, then if the refusal is based on that, an appeal will fail if there is nothing to show that the sponsor was making that salary at the date of application. In an appeal, an Applicant can only rely on documents and evidence which were submitted in the original application, but there is a small leeway to include new documentation but this is discretionary only, as the ECO would have made the decision based on whatever documents he had at the time of the application. Sometimes mistakes are made by the ECO, for example if documents submitted have
IMMIGRATION MATTERS What we do: l
l
Deportation/Removal Marriage Visa
l
Children
l
Overstaying
l
Indefinite Leave to Remain
l
Student Status
We: Understand the Caribbean Community Office in Jamaica for your convenience Serving the Immigrant Community since 2005
CONTACT THE SPECIALISTS
The Immigration UK Partnership (Registered Office) 373-375 Brixton Road, London SW9 7DE
020 7738 6081 (876) 754-1170 (Jamaica) To make an appointment in Birmingham call
07572 271691
Authorised & Regulated by the
The Phoenix – March 2013
About Jennifer
J been overlooked or misinterpreted. As such, if an Applicant feels that he/she had submitted all documents required and the application is genuine, then an appeal of the decision can be pursued. The cost of the appeal (Court fees) is £140. It must be submitted within 28 days of receiving the decision and it can take approximately 6-8 months for a hearing. It is important to remember that if there is a de-
portation order against the applicant, there can be no appeal (unless it is an error and there is in fact no deportation order). If there is a deportation order, it must be revoked and then a new application (not an appeal) is made. If you have any queries or concerns, contact The Immigration UK Partnership for an appointment in London or Birmingham.
From The Files : A Wife Appellant’s Story
S
am*, a British citizen, married Rukhsana*, a Pakistani citizen in Pakistan, in May 2012. Immediately after the wedding celebrations, Sam returned to England. Sam intended that Rukhsana would be able to make a settlement application to move to the UK to live with him. Unfortunately, because of the new immigration laws, Rukhsana was refused because the ECO did not believe that the marriage was genuine. In her visa application, Rukhsana did not include any photographs or letters to show that she and Sam had been communicating while they lived apart, but did include telephone records showing that there were numerous telephone calls between them. In the statement of support that she had included in her application, Rukhsana made mention of photographs but inadvertently did not include them. In her appeal application, Rukhsana set out the details of her appeal, and completed and signed the IAFT-2 Form and paid the fee. She argued that although the onus of proof was on her to show that her relationship with her husband was genuine and subsisting, the phone records should have been sufficient.
However, as she had mentioned that photographs were included when she made her application, it was clear it was an oversight. In the appeal application, she included the pictures of her and Sam together during his three trips to Pakistan. On a review of the case the decision was reversed before there was even a hearing, as based on the documentation, it was clear the Mission could have requested that she provide the photographs mentioned in her application. As there were no other issues to consider, she was requested to take her passport to the local Mission to have it endorsed with the visa and she was able to join Sam to start their new life as husband and wife. *Not their real names.
Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general information purposes only. Nothing in this column, or associated pages, advertisements, documents, comments, answers, responses or other communications in connection with it should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information in this column and on this page, or viewing of this information does not constitute a legal relationship or legal privilege, nor is it intended to be relied upon, solely or otherwise, as a basis of legal advice for subsequent action.
http://www.facebook.com/immigrationuk
ennifer Housen is a barrister-at-law qualified to practice in England & Wales. Additionally, she is an attorney-at-law qualified to practice in the USA in the state of New York, and also qualified to practice in the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Jennifer was born in Jamaica and moved to Britain as a teenager. Jennifer gained experience in immigration law having been an oversight Director of Programmes on the Immigration & Asylum Accreditation Scheme when the UK government sought to set an assessment framework all for immigration lawyers and advisors. Building on her academic experience in the area, Jennifer’s immigration practice has helped thousands of applicants with their immigration matters including entry clearance, visitor applications, deportations, removals and leave to remain. She has particular associations with the Caribbean community and has a dedicated immigration office, Immigration UK Limited, in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, which has assisted her many clients over the last few years. She has appeared as a guest adviser on immigration law on several radio and television programmes in Jamaica and the UK. With an expanding immigration practice, and conscious of the needs of her clients in the UK who she had assisted with their entry clearance visas, Jennifer opened The Immigration UK Partnership in July 2011, together with Kemesha Lynch, an experienced immigration solicitor. The Immigration UK Partnership has worked intimately with its clients in their immigration matters including detention, indefinite leave to remain, discretionary leave to remain and deportation matters. The firm continues to go from strength to strength as it takes a personal and sensitive approach to its clients and their needs. The firm further supports its clients and the community by delivering free immigration seminars at various locations/times throughout the year. The Immigration UK Partnership’s office is in Brixton, London, however Jennifer is able to see clients in Birmingham by appointment. Questions can be asked through the firm’s Facebook page, but responses are limited as individual circumstances differ and may require an appointment. Jennifer Housen, Barrister-at-law (England & Wales), Attorney-at-law (USANY & Jamaica).