Visiting my spouse in UK [closed]

I am a Jordanian citizen working as a civil engineer in Jordan. I met my British wife in Jordan whilst she was studying Arabic in my country. We travelled to 5 countries together - including Schengen area. We are not planning to settle in the UK. Her family has visited me in Jordan.

Now I want to apply to visit her and her family for Christmas as it is really hard for her to travel because she is in her last year at university.

I will provide them with these papers-

Employment letter

Company registration to show that the company is genuine

NOC

Marriage certificate/family book

Invitation letter to stay at her accommodation

Paper to show that her family own the place and they have a room for me

A cover letter

old travel history (USA, Mexico, Cyprus, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,Hungary, Italy)

planned itinerary

6 months bank statement that has enough to fund my stay but I get paid in cash so I can’t provide pay slips. I deposit the money into my account monthly and there are transactions always.

I already have a previous US visa rejection for not providing enough documents to show ties to my country. Do I have a good chance of getting a visa or is it better not to risk a rejection?

Best Answer

The job of immigration control is to presume you intend to immigrate (stay extended/indefinitely), and then allow you to show otherwise. It's not just you; this is how all immigration agencies treat all visitors.

So you have lots of evidence of ability to afford the trip. That would appear to fend off one of their concerns. That being that a person who lands, and then runs out of money, and now stuck in the UK finds themselves obliged to either rely on public services (the dole) or get a job. Those two things are highly undesired.

You are also showing a lot of paperwork to the effect that you are invited. That's a fairly common trope among countries with a high number of illegal immigrants trying to get into the country to illegally seek employ. It would never dawn on an American to try to prove to UKVI that he's "been invited". I would think if an American did, it would cast shade on their motivations/mindset - and thus, the accuracy of their application.

There's an adage in American law, "if the facts are with you, argue the facts, if the law is with you, argue the law, and if nothing is with you, just argue". In other words, lacking necessary arguments, they argue unnecessary ones. I see you making unnecessary cases, because perhaps you know you are falling short on necessary ones.

The big one you're falling short on is "Why will you return to Jordan at the end of your planned trip?" I mean it's obvious. Your wife is in the UK, she has an abode there, you could live very inexpensively with her, UK is an affluent country where you can easily work illegally to support yourself... why go back to Jordan at all? Well, why would you go back to Jordan?

You need to show why. Show home-ties, show an owned house, a solid job that's better than the typical illegal jobs like dishwashing or farm work (a civil engineer couldn't get a government license), family ties, community ties, charitable organization involvement, local political office, etc.

It would also help if immigration could understand what the endgame of this marriage is (i.e. the point at which you're actually together.) Again the assumption is that your ultimate plan is to settle with her in the UK. To rebut that assumption, you need to have a credible alternative plan that makes sense.