Proposition: The Applicant is 65 years old widow, who has lived in Pakistan all her life and is leading a retired life. The Applicant owns a house, a commercial piece of land and has over PKR 3 million in her bank account. The Applicant had travelled to many countries in the past. The Applicant’s son was studying in the UK and she wanted to visit him for 1 month. The applicant applied for UK entry clearance as family visitor to visit her son and his family temporarily residing in the UK. The first application, which the applicant made on her own, was refused under the Immigration Rules.
We made the 2nd application but the same was refused because the Respondent, on balance of probabilities, concluded that:
a) the Applicant did not address grounds for refusal of her 1st,
b) the Applicant’s sponsor cannot maintain and accommodate her,
c) she is a widow and has no dependent children, does not have sufficient ties to Pakistan,
d) does not have incentive to leave the UK at the end of her proposed visit, and
e) has not accurately presented her circumstances in Pakistan or genuinely seeking entry to the UK as a visitor or intends to leave the UK at the end of her visit or that she has access to sufficient funds etc.
Advice: We endeavor to prepare all UK visa applications keeping in view that if the ECO does not grant the visa, then the applicant should be able to challenge the decision.
Accordingly we advised the Applicant to challenge the decision by way of a JR application. In pre-action correspondence our lawyers persuaded the ECM (Entry Clearance Manager) to reverse the refusal decision on that basis that the ECO had failed to take into account important and relevant information thus the refusal was irrational & perverse and that the applicant, on balance of probabilities, fulfilled all the requirements of relevant UK Immigration Rules.
Outcome: The Applicant was granted 6 months family visit visa.
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