Second UK visa refusal under V4.2(a) and (b); what can I change?

Question

My visa application to visit for training and taking exams has been refused twice, on grounds that the cost of my trip represents three times more my stated disposable income. This is the information U had provided on the application form:

Salary: £964
Monthly expenditures: £535 (I actually don't spend it all, unless it's an emergency)
Disposable income: £428 as per the ECO calculation after deducting my expenses from my income
Stated trip cost: £1500

However, I wrote £535 as a rough estimate. I send money home to my family sometimes, and I normally save all my salary. I earn extra income from tips and allowances, and receive a food allowance, too, which I did mention. I don't think that this was considered, although it's evident on my pay slips which show £200 food allowance and service charge, and £220 per week in tips.

I want to visit for 4 days in July to attend a training, and 2 days in Septmeber to sit an exam. The cost of the trip came to be £1500 and includes flights, hotel, and food. I have already paid in advance for flights, accommodation, and training fees, and I attached the receipts.

1. In my next application, should I reduce my monthly expenditures?
2. Should I reduce the cost of the trip to only food and ground transportation, and state that the flights and hotel are paid for, attaching receipts as evidence?
3. Will this be enough proof to show that I am not planning to spend more than I can afford?

Note that I have £4500 accessible through my debit card and £4000 available on my credit card. I can obviously afford this trip but how can I correct how I appear financially?

Answer 1

1. with my next application, should i reduce my monthly spend?

Obviously the monthly spending you report on the visa application must accurately reflect your real monthly spending. You should be able to attach supporting evidence for this that matches your real expenditure. Your aim is to give the ECO a clear understanding of your real expenditure.

Taking your question literally: If you could, from now on, reduce your actual expenditure and thereby save more money from your income - then in some months time you would be able to produce bank statements and so on that show this real reduced expenditure. This might help a little with a future visa application.

2. Should i reduce my cost of the trip to only food and transport

As above, apportioning the cost of your trip between pre-paid and future expenditure is not helpful to you. The question concerning the ECO is whether you have demonstrated that you can afford the overall total expenditure for the sake of 4-days training.

I believe that advice to visa applicants is to NOT buy tickets and accommodation until after you have succeeded in obtaining a visa. If I am right, ignoring this advice is likely to harm your application.

4. Will this be enough proof to show that am planning to spend more than i can afford

(what happened to point 3?)

I think you need to more clearly and accurately set out the overall picture of your real financial situation. Its not really a case of moving numbers from one place to another, it is necessary to be both clear and ideally to do so in a way that isn't contradictory or inconsistent with previous applications - or to provide evidence that adequately explains such apparent discrepancies.

This may now be hard to do without expert advice (which usually means from a registered UK lawyer with experience in the field)

However, you also need to address the other issues raised by the ECO.

• Provide evidence of strong ties to your home country.
• Deal with any other points raised in both recent refusals.