jimcykhan:
Hi
Please how do the UK border police track immigration history. I noticed passport are stamped and fingerprint is taking on arrival. However, on departure there's no checks by border police and no stamp also on passport.

How do they track individual immigration history?

Thanks

Kunleop:
Happy new year, May this new year bring us a lots of joy and happiness to all of us.
@cashmadam, Giselle237, @newbiein2016 @cbn4main and other gurus in the house.

Kindly assist as i'm applying for my mother and she has lost her husband many years ago, on the application what marriage status can i select?

Also she is 59 years old, A tailor back home and i also send money to her monthly, shes not in any paid employment, when i checked the online application i can only see options of employed, self employed, student, retired and unemployed, please which option can i choose, she had her shop but not registered on CAC no tax payment. but i can provide shop agreement, pictures of her working on the shop, membership id card and her account transaction carries description of cloths

kindly assist with the question and i'm yet to move forward.

Thank you.,

Beautynm1:
Pls I need help
I booked flight through my bank Royal air maroc, when I was filling the information middle name was added to the form now they sent ticket confirmation receipt I only saw first and last name no middle name. Is it an issue because middle name is on my passport and also I got a spousal visa hope It allow to buy one way ticket ?

Newbiein2016:
Here are some of my thoughts:

1. She is a widow. Choose this option if it exists or the closest to it. I don't recall what the options are.

2. She falls under self employment as a tailor but given her age and the host of proof of work you mentioned, you can put those together as employment proof: pictures of her infront and inside her shop, pictures of her working on orders, shop agreement, her ID card etc.

NB: For self employed persons, the general rule of thumb as you already stated is for them to have a dedicated business account/CAC/Tax card as well as a personal account (where their salaries are paid into). This is important as the VO are looking to confirm if the money you claim to have is readily available for your use if needed. For cases where separate accounts don't exist, it is difficult to tell how much is available for the user hence why some folks get rejected i.e. you are not expected to spend business capital on leisure activities

Scroll back some pages to read examples of rejection letters with cases of VO not convinced about applicants financial status

3. Her application must show that she has a reason to come back to Nigeria e.g. does she have parents/children/grandchildren or emotional support animals she takes care of? Does she belong to any religious group or is she an active member in her community?

You can get letters of support from her church/mosque/community stating that she is active in any programme to further aid her application.

4. While I understand you send a monthly stipend into her business/personal account, I am concerned that her bank statement will read a bit chaotic & recommend you take the next 6 months to clean up before applying. All stipends as well as her 'salary' should go into a separate account. This means, if on average she gets paid 70k each month for work, she can pay herself 40k as salary, while your stipend of 30k is also sent into her new account. From this, she can then remove 15k or whatever amount you deem necessary as her monthly expense.

To show further financial ties, she can include properties, pension/insurance from late husband etc. if available.

5. Assuming the actual numbers after step 4 are too low to demonstrate adequate financial ties, you can offer to sponsor her. If you are in the UK and have 5 - 8k pounds in your account, this is very good. This alongside tenancy agreement, proof of employment proof and other ties will be helpful.

If you are in Nigeria and have a savings account of 6 - 10m, that is also a good balance IMO. Include your proof of work, and other ties to support her application.

This is your Christmas gift to your mum. Nothing wrong with doing this.

6. Finally, you can use a cover letter to articulate everything I've described.

That said, I must add/warn that irrespective of you sponsoring her, she will be judged based on her own circumstances as an adult & it is imperative that her complete application clearly shows that she is a genuine traveller who will not access public funds/resources while in the UK & will return after her holiday.

Thank you so much for this write up.

Im actually in UK and im sponsoring the trip. I had over 7k in my account and i covering all the expenses, just looking at home ties to nigeria.
Actually i got all this document ready
Land documents and plan survey of 2plots
Letter from her mosque confirming her role as treasurer and member of the mosque.
Letter of consent from my 2 siblings.
Birth certificate of grand childs.
Pictures of her working in shop
Self introduction letter explain she what she does and where she does it i.e local market
Pictures of the other childrens and grand children
Shop aggreement and identity card, agreement of 10years lease.
Picture of our wedding although we didnt take too much pictures.

Is that enough for her to proof of her ties.

Thank you

Kunleop:
Happy new year, May this new year bring us a lots of joy and happiness to all of us.
@cashmadam, Giselle237, @newbiein2016 @cbn4main and other gurus in the house.

Kindly assist as i'm applying for my mother and she has lost her husband many years ago, on the application what marriage status can i select?

Also she is 59 years old, A tailor back home and i also send money to her monthly, shes not in any paid employment, when i checked the online application i can only see options of employed, self employed, student, retired and unemployed, please which option can i choose, she had her shop but not registered on CAC no tax payment. but i can provide shop agreement, pictures of her working on the shop, membership id card and her account transaction carries description of cloths

kindly assist with the question and i'm yet to move forward.

Thank you.,

Cashmadam:


Happy new year! If possible, sponsor your Mum's trip. However, ensure she has some money saved in her account.

Provide proof that she is a widow, has a business she runs and has no desire to stay in the UK permanently. if she is very involved with any NGO, religious organization etc, please include proof.

Due to her age and personal circumstance, you must provide adequate information to prove she will not stay in the UK illegally.

Feel free to ask more questions. Good luck!

AmeliaT:
*Visa Alert*
For my husband
Biometrics- Wed 13 Dec
Moved to DMC and received by DMC- Wed 13 Dec
Collection email, Returned and received at VAC- Fri 29 Dec
Picked up- Today, Tuesday 2 Jan 2024.

5 year visa. Only one previous UK Visa held for 6 months which was used twice. But he has a current US Visa (third one) and has travel history to over 20 countries; mainly in North America.

Docs submitted
1. 2 page cover letter explaining what he does for a living, number of staff he employs, his travel history, what I do for a living and why he wants a 5 year visa. He also said, “since my last application the following things have changed and he mentioned the growth of the business in staff strength and revenue, the additional countries he’s been to”. He discussed recently acquired property and the rental income from the property.
2. Business reg docs- CAC etc. Business is active on CAC website.
3. 6 months Business account statement (balance of just 1m but over 60m volume of transactions in the period)
4. 6 months Personal account statements- 2 banks (he has different moneys in and out. We have never cleaned up the account because he’s an entrepreneur so it’s not that easy). I find that they are very strict with this only with people who don’t have solid ties and travel history. Balance of circa 3m.
5. 1 year joint usd savings account and letter from the bank explaining all our holdings and fixed deposits with them.- Over $30k
6. Documentation for the house we own with contract of sale, payment receipts for the home, payment receipts for the deed, change of ownership etc.
7. Copies of previous visas to US, Morocco, UAE etc.
8. Copy of our marriage certificate, a copy of my British passport.

*Application details*
Reason for trip- visit family and visit tourist sites. Duration stated for visit is 15 days with a mention of subsequently visiting multiple times a year.
Budget for the trip- Flight - £1,000 Food- £300 Transport- £225 Entertainment/Shopping- £1000
Total Spend- £ 2,517 (N2,528,150) We used the Oando Converter.
Didn’t include accommodation costs as we’ll be staying with family.
Refusals declared- a UK refusal almost 20 years ago when he just graduated.

Goodluck, guys!

Newbiein2016:
Congrats & absolutely agree re: how thorough the bank account checks are.

I had a very convoluted personal account & I rem Giselle suggesting to wait for 6months. Due to the urgency of the trip, I decided to apply with the chaotic bank statement & got the visa really fast (last year visa TAT was about 2 - 3months).

Cashmadam:


2.5M is fine. You don't need that much per person if accomodation and feeding will be provided by family or friends. Maybe about 2M each.

You can sponsor yourself and your children if you have the money and your statement of account is more straightforward. When my children were younger, I sponsored them because my husband is a businessman while I have a good 8 to 5 job. There is no rule. Either of you can sponsor the children. Just ensure you can explain any money that reflects in your account and you don't have any huge deposit that might appear as "account padding".

Good luck!

Cashmadam:


2.5M is fine. You don't need that much per person if accomodation and feeding will be provided by family or friends. Maybe about 2M each.

You can sponsor yourself and your children if you have the money and your statement of account is more straightforward. When my children were younger, I sponsored them because my husband is a businessman while I have a good 8 to 5 job. There is no rule. Either of you can sponsor the children. Just ensure you can explain any money that reflects in your account and you don't have any huge deposit that might appear as "account padding".

Good luck!

Nnekkyneks:
Thanks alot for ur response. I am not staying with family or friend so I will stick to 2.5m per person.i don't want to be sole sponsor i don't hv that kind of money.
Pls i also want to know if sponsors bank statementhas to have a cover letter to explsin [s][/s]


funds

BiyiTudors:
I was just refused a UK visa, is there anything else I can do?. There were no other income asides from my salaries in my Naira or Dollar accounts and I included an explanation letter stating my incoming salary transactions each month of 450,000 and 180,000. Yet I got this refusal reply:

“The decision
I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of paragraph(s) 4.2 of Appendix V because:
• You have applied to visit the UK for 11 days for tourism.
• In support of your application you have provided your employer letter, pay slip, bank
statements and hotel booking.
• You state you are employed and self-employed with earning monthly income of 450000.00 NGN (£391.25 exchange rate at £1 = 1,150.16 @ www.oanda.com on 27/12/2023) and with annual income of 2160000.00 NGN (£1,878.00), you declare monthly expenditure of 90000.00 NGN (£78.2501). You state your trip to the UK will cost you 2000000.00 NGN (£1,738.89).
• I note you have provided personal statement from First Bank with account ending 3762. I note that your salary reflects in your bank statement. I note other than your salary there is unexplained transactions going through the account. The origin of these fund is unknown. Therefore I am not satisfied you have sufficiently demonstrated your financial circumstance or this funds will be available for the purpose of your trip.
• I acknowledge you have provided your personal bank statement in support of your application. However, the information provided that not demonstrate level of income your business generates or the level of income the business receives. I am therefore not satisfied that you have demonstrated your own personal circumstances or that they meet the requirements of entry clearance as a visitor.
• I note you have provided personal statement in USD from First Bank with account ending 8945. There are several unexplained transactions going through the account. The origin of these funds are unknown. Therefore I am not satisfied you have sufficiently demonstrated your financial circumstance or this funds will be available for the purpose of your trip.
• You also state in your visa application that you have savings of £9243.35. The information you have provided does not demonstrate the source of these funds and I am not satisfied that they are available to you.
• The documents you have provided do not demonstrate you hold any, assets or property in your country of residence. Nor, have not demonstrated strong family, social or economic ties to your country of residence which would satisfy me that you intend to leave the United Kingdom on completion of a short visit. On the evidence before me,
OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE
and the balance of probabilities, I am not satisfied that you have accurately presented your circumstances or intentions in wishing to enter the UK.
• Given the above I am therefore not satisfied that you have demonstrated your circumstances are as declared, which leads me to doubt your intentions in travelling to the UK. I am not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry for a purpose that is permitted under the visitor route and that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit. Your application is therefore refused under paragraph V 4.2 (a) and (c) of the immigration rules.

AmeliaT:
*Visa Alert*
For my husband
Biometrics- Wed 13 Dec
Moved to DMC and received by DMC- Wed 13 Dec
Collection email, Returned and received at VAC- Fri 29 Dec
Picked up- Today, Tuesday 2 Jan 2024.

5 year visa. Only one previous UK Visa held for 6 months which was used twice. But he has a current US Visa (third one) and has travel history to over 20 countries; mainly in North America.

Docs submitted
1. 2 page cover letter explaining what he does for a living, number of staff he employs, his travel history, what I do for a living and why he wants a 5 year visa. He also said, “since my last application the following things have changed and he mentioned the growth of the business in staff strength and revenue, the additional countries he’s been to”. He discussed recently acquired property and the rental income from the property.
2. Business reg docs- CAC etc. Business is active on CAC website.
3. 6 months Business account statement (balance of just 1m but over 60m volume of transactions in the period)
4. 6 months Personal account statements- 2 banks (he has different moneys in and out. We have never cleaned up the account because he’s an entrepreneur so it’s not that easy). I find that they are very strict with this only with people who don’t have solid ties and travel history. Balance of circa 3m.
5. 1 year joint usd savings account and letter from the bank explaining all our holdings and fixed deposits with them.- Over $30k
6. Documentation for the house we own with contract of sale, payment receipts for the home, payment receipts for the deed, change of ownership etc.
7. Copies of previous visas to US, Morocco, UAE etc.
8. Copy of our marriage certificate, a copy of my British passport.

*Application details*
Reason for trip- visit family and visit tourist sites. Duration stated for visit is 15 days with a mention of subsequently visiting multiple times a year.
Budget for the trip- Flight - £1,000 Food- £300 Transport- £225 Entertainment/Shopping- £1000
Total Spend- £ 2,517 (N2,528,150) We used the Oando Converter. *Only just noticing there was even an error in the summing of about £ 8. Please be more careful
Didn’t include accommodation costs as we’ll be staying with family.
Refusals declared- a UK refusal almost 20 years ago when he just graduated.

Goodluck, guys!

Baba19:
Amelia the oracle!!! Thank you sis. You still dey this market 😂😂😂😂

Nah your guidance and format I use that 2021 whey they give us visa after delaying us for more than 50 working days. Chai!!!

I used that visa twice that time. First time for one week and from London, I ja go Bahamas and then I returned again for another week and commot. I’m back for renewal now and hoping for the best.

That time, I had been to 14 countries. I’ve gone to more now. It’s now 21 so my travel history stand well. Business is still going well. I added all my documents- my previous visas, personal and business statements, savings statement which my wife keeps, documents for the home we own etc.

My downsides:
money for account no too dey.
Secondly, remember in the first application I made the mistake of thinking visa refusal question was about the last 10 years so I only declared cyprus refusal and didn’t declare the UK. but this time it is clear and I put the first and only Uk visa refusal I got there which is 17 years old. You can check my former posts as a reminder.

Abeg, advise a brother!

AmeliaT:
Hiya,

Sorry about your refusal. A few thoughts.

1. If you are claiming to run a business, include business reg documents, ensure it is active on CAC, Include the business bank statement and pay yourself a fixed salary from the business into another account. You can submit a personal account where your employers pays you and another where your business pays you. There should be no other deposits whatsoever.

2. Your USD account is not clean, they said. Ensure it is clean. They also want to know the source of your funds. If you think they've made a mistake, write back.

3. You also stated almost 10k in GBP savings. Did you provide proof of this? You also need to explain this as you earn N630k a month so saving up over 10m is a herculean task and you need to explain the source of funds for this and perhaps include a longer duration statement. Whenever, we add our forex savings statements to applications, we always ensure we provide at least a 12 month statement to show that the funds have been there for ages and not just banked there to deceive them.

4. Provide evidence of ties- Family, dependents etc.

A Nigerian colleague of mine was refused about 7 months ago for two reasons- She didn't provide evidence of a relationship with the person who invited her and her employer was inactive on CAC. Employer being a huge British multinational that even has a partnership with the UK Government. She wrote back to contest it and so did the company secretary and the decision overturned and visa granted. So, if you are sure of yourself and the below, please write in to indicate they made mistakes.

BiyiTudors:
Thank you so much Amelia for your taking time out to offer your most valuable contributions. Interestingly I did everything you mentioned about the accounts but I provided just 6 months bank statements.

How do I go about writing back to the embassy for a reconsideration?

Trichia:
I received a collection mail from TLS on the 29th Dec and i went for my passport and there was no visa on my passport. I have also checked my inbox/spam repeatedly and there is no refusal mail either. please what does it mean or what should I do immediately ? Has anyone experienced this situation. Please help

brainhack201:
Hello everyone, My mum visit visa was just refused yesterday. I stated on the application me and wife are the one sponsoring her and we attached our bank statements with savings of £3k for her needs.
She's a petty trader though, she sell in a very small scale which I mentioned in the cover letter attached.
The money in her bank statement is mainly money I sent her every month or weekly for upkeep and other allowance.
Please we want to put in another application for her as soon as possible, if you anybody can point me to what I need to do correctly to avoid another refusal please.
We really need her to come because my wife as to resume work as her maternity leave is coming to end very soon.
Any help will be appreciated guys.
Thank you. I attached the refusal screenshot In the post.

giselle237:

1. Over 4 months can not work. If she gets the visa then you can think about a longer stay. Her stay on her application must significantly reduce to 1 month and below.
2. You padded her account. ECO noticed. Then self employed with 100k a year. Which is so low. Why call this self employed. So no savings. What other things does she have as ties?
3. Overall 3k pounds for extra mouth and yourselves for me is not making sense for over a 4 month period.

Please can you stop with the reapply immediately notion first and try to identify her ties to Nigeria and what will bring her back? No visa officer will grant her a visa if you go back the same way you just came. It was a poorly done app.

babylawyr:
Good morning, please how do I cancel or reschedule my IOM appointment. I have an emergency and will not be able to attend my appointment. I have been calling them all morning

directonpc:
send their support a mail.

iomabujamedicalbooking@iom.int for Abuja

jimcykhan:
Hi
Please how do the UK border police track immigration history. I noticed passport are stamped and fingerprint is taking on arrival. However, on departure there's no checks by border police and no stamp also on passport.

How do they track individual immigration history?

Thanks

obynocute:
Greetings house, does IOM medicals take this long to update payment status? It's been 2hrs plus and payment status has not been updated.

brainhack201:



Hi, thank you for the response. I totally agreed it's a poorly done app.
The bank statements we printed was for 4 month, so the total lodgement for the whole 4 month was around 330k. Which was me send money back and forth for her upkeep and feeding allowance.
How much do you think we should show as proof of sponsoring her in pounds ?
She as a strong tie to home. She as a 3 bedroom flat built for her by my late dad and she stays with my two younger sister. Both are 26 & 22 yrs old.

Please what can I do to package a strong application for her

Also, the issue is that I really don't know how to go about the self employed part cos she really do not earn a lot from what she sells.
She's a petty trader and she only accept cash.
I just want to know what to do to improve the next application.
Your help will be really appreciated

giselle237:
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing petty trading as there are such people here who also declare to HMRC that they are making so little profit on their business ie. Less than 1000 pounds and should not pay tax.
The onus is to prove the business exists and to provide more insight into the personal circumstances of the applicant and why they would come back
1. Reduce trip duration to 3 weeks and tie it to her coming to see her grandchild that was recently birthed. Establish a lovely up to date relationship between yourselves.. include vide or phone calls, chats, money transfers etc
You must connect the ECO to seeing how important this trip is to you
2. Provide a 6 month to 1 year bank statement to give them an idea of her TRUE circumstances.
3. Personally I would not provide a 3000 pounds statement from a family to sponsor another individual, it looks small to me. You can make it up to 5k.
4. She has a 3 bedroom flat, provide enough documentation to prove ownership and how she is in authority of this property and can not leave it and also would not manage it from abroad if she illegally stays back.
5. Her petty business, provide receipts , shop rents from 1900, pictures in the shop, pictures of outside the shop, pictures with her customers, pictures from f her going to purchase her wares and any other information to substantiate that this business building does exist.
6. Show that she is only going for a short visit and would be back because of all of the above.
7. Although your sisters are full blown adults she can still say since the death of your father herself and the girls have become inseparable and they all live together and she is still providing emotional and financial support to them. That she can not abandon them. You can look for evidence of these to add.
8. Any church, mosque or organisations she belongs to in the community? Any leadership position? Even sub market leader, provide letters from them as well as pictorial evidence where possible
9. Acknowledge the initial application and address all points on the vis refusal letter.
You can also tell them there were multiple credits during that time as maybe she had so many business purchases or a health challenge or a domestic need that was been addressed at that time.. you need to provide an explanation for what they saw as multiple accounts padding.
Lastly please read the last 3 pages and the information people were asked to provide it would help especially on BUDGET.
Write cover letters from the applicant and the sponsor to UKVI explaining each party’s side. Goodluck

giselle237:

Send them an email