Knowing as I do, my fears are such that the deliberate sabotage of application by visa staff (VFS Global, on behalf of the UK Immigration Department) due to "unwritten" quotas, means that our latest application will probably be returned as refused.
This is a situation that is wrong. If you complete a lengthy application and provide all necessary documentation, it should go through for review and decision and not have some lackey try to find an excuse to reject it.
Yes, it happens. The staff can take out part of the paperwork and tell you that you don't need it, yet upon refusal you find the reason was because the part removed was required. There's no refund of your fees.
In our case the photographs (we had specially made) were given back as not required. After checking it out on the Visa website I discovered the rules had changed for those offering biometrics in their application and photos are no longer needed. Phew.
Other nasty tricks are to ask loaded questions of seemingly naive Thai ladies who may not have experienced the underhanded nature of visa application staff who only have one thing on their mind.
For example, they will ring up the lady and request they answer questions such as who they are visiting (full names and ages), places and distances, where these places are (in terms of time - 2 hours from London), etc. My lady was prepared for this and had a written list of answers, such as the names of my parents, the house address, the layout of the house, what she intended doing while staying with me, etc. We think they did call but luckily it was cut off upon answering.
This time she was asked questions about the visa type and some of the conversation appears to fit the bill of sabotage, simply because all the answers were in the application the purpose of the questioning being to find an excuse for refusal by trickery.
A lot of the visa application companies spend a long time with the ladies coaching them what to say but also what they must not say. Ours has become complacent and disinterested in us and the advice (or lack of it) means I will not be using them again. This time around there was very little coaching and my request for help subsequently has so far been disregarded.
Even with a history of a successful 6 month visit (well actually 5 months because the tight-assed Immigration Department back date the visa to the date of application, which was 3 weeks prior) the next applications are still precarious and treated separately.
This time we'd like to have applied for the 2 year tourist visa however in the space of the Songkran holiday (4 days), the option had been removed from the selection process on the website. It meant that only a one-off 6 month visa was available and also means that further applications would be necessary in the future.
Any non-EEA citizen has to show they have the financial funding (or support) for the duration of the trip, a return ticket and a desire to return to their home country (a job or family ties or both) plus the basics of being a visitor to the UK includes knowledge of the destination.
I despair why foreign people bother coming to the UK, the whole process is humiliating and degrading. Yes, the UK doesn't want every tom dick and harry, but I believe it is a little late for that, when all and sundry can come from Europe with no limits or requirements, such as being able to speak English.
Don't get me started on the settlement visa requirements, that include having an English examination certificate!
Let's also not talk about the sponsor's (e.g. ME) income criteria that stands at £18,600 per year that the government have set. Even as full time employed, I never earned that level of salary. You cannot apply for a visa if the sponsor doesn't have that income. To be fair, the income can be made of separate sources.
Luckily for me there is (at the moment) a get out clause for those such as myself who are on DLA benefit; we don't need to meet this level of income, which you must prove in writing.
So, if you're Non-EEA, the likelihood is English, French and Spanish will not be your first language, although arguably French and Spanish could be for some countries! In the case of Thailand, none of these fit.
My wife is expected to complete this on her own and will be asked if she did it herself or someone else did it for her (not that she would be able to understand the conversation). All the information is available in the passport. To even board the plane she has to show the visa, which gives permission to arrive in the UK, and that shows the duration and other information.
God forbid you tell them you're staying for six months (on a six month visa). No, the advice we got was to tell them 2 weeks maximum. But, logically, if they looked at the return ticket they'd see it wasn't two weeks... Which, would then get you deported because you lied.
On this trip my wife will be coming through UK Border alone. I will be very annoyed if she doesn't make it through without hassle, because they will, it's guaranteed, ask questions such as "how long are you staying?" (it's on the landing card), "where are you staying?" (its on the landing card).
I was at the airport recently and I observed them asking the very same questions of some Australians. Last time I answered for her, because she came through with me and I was able to tell the guy "she doesn't speak English" but I wont be there this time .
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