Visa and immigration

Sorry to disappoint you but one just needs to look at history as well as the present, the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and Julian Assange. There is no one who has a right on a moral code, just because they rule a country. I am sorry to hear of your predicament but perhaps you could get your daughter to go to Ireland or France for a short time and visit there.

Hello Peter,
There's nothing I can say that makes the situation better, We work all our lives and pay our taxes serve our country, but it counts for nothing! Some jumped up jobs worth (entry clearance officer) not a Consul or a Vice Consul, Decides that we can't return to visit our families because THEY DON'T THINK we and our spouses will return to Ukraine. What do they know we are here because we love our wives and we CHOSE to live in Ukraine, it is our home. And we live comfortable lives here.
As I said I can't change your situation but I can let you know your not the only one with this problem.
I am also retired married and living happily in Ukraine, I want to visit my grown up children and sisters next year with my wife and her daughter, and reading your story I despair!!
We are Expats, NOT EXILES. And it appears we have less rights than asylum seekers.

Get in touch if you would like to have a chat.

hello thanks for the reply , I and my Ukrainian wife have lived in Ukraine for almost eight years now, I would very much like to have a chat sometime my ew-mail is [email protected] , and I also have a skype account name ,sanatory11 . We have applied for a visa four times now and every one has been refused , and the first three refusal decisions were overturned, once by Judge Froome of the appeal court , once by Liegh Turner the previous ambassador and once by the intervention of one of The Queen's Secretary. I have again written to Simon Smith the present ambassador but who knows . by the way my name is Colin. regards

Hi Colin
has this situation of Visa refusal become worse this last 18 months ??
The reason I ask - is it because of a clamp down on Ukrainian citz trying to migrate (or get entry for reason to stay)

If this is the case - why did the Ukraine people fall for the "hope" of becoming EU members - to have now destroyed their country and its democratically elected government for what ??
They now have a governance - without ANY doubt, with a USA influenced foundation.
Again for what - just to be used as a Trojan Horse to erode Russia's rebuild after the last USA/CIA concocted destruction of 1989/91

Good luck - but if you can - get out whilst you can

Regards Peter
from New Zealand with Ukraine wife and a mother still there and property there (for what is now worth :-((

Thanks for the blog but no we have lived here since 2007 and our situation was identific when we applied for a visa in 2008, we certainly do not want to live in UK we live in a small town which for us is good.and only want to visit UK to see our family there I think that it is the embassy staff in Kiev being bloody minded. Regards Наджеда and Colin

Understand
Yes - small town Ukraine is great - if you not solely dependent on retirement fund.
Small towns have a nice feel to them :-))
Good luck and enjoy.

regards
Peter & Lena

sempei.ray, thanks for the blog I would like to have a chat when You hve time life in Ukraine is not all bad it is mostly our own country that causes us problems, I have had a Ukrainian residency certificate for five years . Do not have to renew it and do not  have to get a visa every six months also have Ukrainian driving licence , UK will not renew Yours if You do not reside in UK . Cheers for now enjoy this country. Наджеда and Colin .Skype sanatory11

Colin I really can't understand what is going on here.

I met my Ukrainian wife 5 years ago. Her first visit visa was refused, but after that it was all pretty easy. We were married 3 years ago and she will have her UK passport within the next few months. During that time we have spent a lot of time outside the UK traveling - you are allowed to be outside the UK for quite a long time and still qualify for residency.

Maybe your problem is that you live in Ukraine, not the UK.

I think your problem is that you are applying for visit visas - and there is no right of appeal for refusal of a visit visa.

However, you do have certain rights - under EU law you have a right to family.

But the best thing I ever did after the first refusal was to get a lawyer - as soon as I employed a good immigration lawyer in the UK, all our problems went away. The rules are very complicated, the system is overstretched because of the EU immigrant situation the only immigration they can control is non EU. ECO's will refuse any application that is not perfect.

So my advice to you is to get a good lawyer - you just can't fight the system alone.

All the best

Ron

Thanks for Your reply Ron ,  ireally believe that the embassy here in Ukraine for some reason is victimising myself and my Wife we  , we have been married for eight years this September, we married in King's Lynn In Norfolk, we left UK in  November 2007 to live in Ukraine. We have applied for a visa four times in almost eight years and each one has been refused and the previous three refusals have all been overturned , one by the intervention of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth , one by Judge Froome of the appeal court and one by the then Ambassador to Ukraine , Leigh Turner. On each application we have pointed out that we own two houses here in Верхноднепровск our lifestyle s far in excess of  the life we could expect n my pension in UK, and still the idiots think we do not intend to return to Ukraine we have been back to visit twice , one visa we could not use because the embassy delayed telling us until too late in that particular year , cannot they see that we would have stayed in UK on  one of those occassions if that was our intention. We do not wish to live in UK , but  we would like to visit my Daughter sometimes without some chinless wonder , who hides behind anonimity preventing us. We wish You and Your wife all the best and hope that You are as happy as us. Colin and Надижда.

I take your point.....but the embassy staff change too often to harbour a grudge. They may have flagged you up in the computer, but there are very strict rules about that as well. Thousands of Ukrainians get visas, and the rules are set to be relaxed quite soon - you may even get visa free travel to the UK within your lifetime. I hope so.

The default answer is "no" - that's what my lawyer told me. The ECO's have strict guidelines - they are just clerks who tick boxes. Your application has to fulfil every criteria, exactly. It is the lawyers job to know the criteria, and make the application accordingly, and the ECO has no choice but to approve. It also is a great help to have an application submitted by a lawyer, as the ECO knows immediately that every reason for refusal will be scrutinised professionally.

Try it next time - the cost is worth it - I think mine charges about £500 for a visit visa application. I know that's a lot, but you also have to take into consideration that once you have succeeded, a precedent is set. The next one is easier, and there is no reason why your wife should not eventually get a long visa that allows multiple visits.

Good luck

Thanks again but as You can see from my reply my Wife has already had Four visas granted how can these clerks, who must have access to records refuse. All the very best Colin.

Because you are doing the applications on your own, and probably making mistakes - this makes it easy for them to refuse.