Advise on my wife's short term visa application

[fortunate]

Hi All,

First off I'm very happy I found this site, it has a lot of useful information. I appreciate the dedication of all you fellows.

I'm a former Chinese citizen who acquired Danish citizenship in december 2016. After I got my passport in February 2017, I went home to China to meet my girlfriend which I knew since june 2016. We got married in March 2017 and a few days later we applied for a short-term visa for her through the Danish embassy in China. The next day we got a telephone investigation from the embassy, asking my wife questions like "why don't you apply for a visa of longer period?" "what's your occupation?" "What is your plan in the future?" I also got questions like sharing apartments and such. Since we were totally unprepared for the call, my wife mentioned she just quit her job and wants to see how Denmark is like and decide later if she wants to stay for longer period and so on.

Generally a short term (90 days max) family visit visa does not take long to process (roughly 5 days) - both of my parents have applied before and it's quite easy and fast. However this time my wife's application has been put off for quite some time, until 14 days later we got a call from the embassy saying that our case has been moved to the Danish immigration office due to the visa officer at the embassy cannot make a decision (I'm curious if this kind of situation happens in other countries as well?). Now our case is at the Danish immigration office and the max process time is increased to 2 months.

We have been thinking, could it be that the date we got our marriage certificate is too close to the date of visa application and it may rise some suspicion of fake marriage? I am currently actively job-seeking and I'm on Akasse, could this also be a factor that prolong the decision?

I'm curious to know does this happen to some of you as well? How did it end up for you guys? I hope to know something about our situation: how possible is it to get a rejection? and if so, what should we do?

(Thanks in advance for all kinds of suggestions, analysis, discussions and such. I am also happy to provide more information if you guys are interested).

[skaanebo]

It has nothing to do with you being on a-kasse and everything to do with your wife's answer that she might consider moving to Denmark. Such an answer will raise suspicion that the visa she has applied for is not the appropriate one and that she will not return to China afterwards as she is supposed to do on a visa. Plus her quitting her job only makes that suspicion stronger.

[fortunate]

It has nothing to do with you being on a-kasse and everything to do with your wife's answer that she might consider moving to Denmark. Such an answer will raise suspicion that the visa she has applied for is not the appropriate one and that she will not return to China afterwards as she is supposed to do on a visa. Plus her quitting her job only makes that suspicion stronger.

Thanks for the thunderous reply . May I ask what is your opinion on the outcome for our case?

[mh1]

There is a real risk that the answer will be that they refuse visa, and advice her to apply directly for family reunion - which will then be denied, because she never has been to DK, and the two of you then have a stronger relation to China than to DK. Others have ended in this catch 22 for the exact same reason.

[fortunate]

There is a real risk that the answer will be that they refuse visa, and advice her to apply directly for family reunion - which will then be denied, because she never has been to DK, and the two of you then have a stronger relation to China than to DK. Others have ended in this catch 22 for the exact same reason.

Thanks for the post. The thing is, before we submit the visa application for my wife, she asked for a 90 days leave of absence and her company said it's too long, so she decided to quit the job. However after some discussion by the company she is able to get this "vacation" and continue to work when she comes back to China. I was thinking she could have a employment statement from the company now, should i provide this document to the immigration office?

[mh1]

Yes, you absolutely should. It would be helpful, and support her statement that she just wants to see DK, and then would return to her job. After all, it IS a smart move to see a country so far away from home, before you decide whether you want to move there!

[fortunate]

Yes, you absolutely should. It would be helpful, and support her statement that she just wants to see DK, and then would return to her job. After all, it IS a smart move to see a country so far away from home, before you decide whether you want to move there!

Thanks again, mh. My I kindly ask is there any other actions we may take that could get the odds into our favor?

[mh1]

Proof that your relationship is real, and your wife did not marry you out of convenience, i.e. in order to obtain visa to DK.

Show all communication you have had since you met (e-mails, sms etc.), pictures of you together, and bear in mind that she and you will probably be called for a new interview, where you will be asked how you met (did anyone arrange it (bad), did money change hands in order to arrange it (even worse)), how frequently you have seen each other, questioned about your knowledge of each other's family and past (name of parents, number of siblings, where you went to school, previous marriage if any, all that sort of things lovers talk about when getting to know each other). If you have not yet, then get to know such facts about each other, as preparation. But do not rehearse together, if you answer all questions exactly similar, it will be seen as suspicious. Just learn the important facts about each other.

[fortunate]

Proof that your relationship is real, and your wife did not marry you out of convenience, i.e. in order to obtain visa to DK.

Show all communication you have had since you met (e-mails, sms etc.), pictures of you together, and bear in mind that she and you will probably be called for a new interview, where you will be asked how you met (did anyone arrange it (bad), did money change hands in order to arrange it (even worse)), how frequently you have seen each other, questioned about your knowledge of each other's family and past (name of parents, number of siblings, where you went to school, previous marriage if any, all that sort of things lovers talk about when getting to know each other). If you have not yet, then get to know such facts about each other, as preparation. But do not rehearse together, if you answer all questions exactly similar, it will be seen as suspicious. Just learn the important facts about each other.

I think it's a bad idea to take initiative on this matter, because our marriage is true. If I call them and discuss the issue of marriage out of convenience, it seems a bit pretentious, isn't it? In my opinion the best way to deal with it is if the immigration office thinks there is something fishy, they can contact us and we can respond.

[skaanebo]

Once the authorities have already made a decision, it will be too late to show any evidence. Rather be proactive than to act too late and in vain.

[mh1]

YOU don't mention the 'convenience'- matter, you just send all the info mentioned with your appeal of the decision. Do not explain why, just attach it.

[fortunate]

YOU don't mention the 'convenience'- matter, you just send all the info mentioned with your appeal of the decision. Do not explain why, just attach it.

I checked online for some suggestions, some say it's only if the applicant is not married to the inviter (in our case, if we were not married and applying as just boyfriend and girlfriend) we need the materials you mentioned, but once we can provide the marriage certificate, this whole matter is not relevant. What do you think? Thanks again for your patience.

[fortunate]

Once the authorities have already made a decision, it will be too late to show any evidence. Rather be proactive than to act too late and in vain.

Thanks, skaanebo. I was discussing this issue with a Dane yesterday, he said it's better to trust the system that the visa officer won't think bad of you... things like that. I'm really confused with the whole thing now.

[skaanebo]

That's an old-fashioned naive way of thinking from the times of the good old days and a view from before Denmark introduced strict laws on immigration and visits from foreigners.

But if the outcome doesn't really matter to you, then just sit back and watch and do nothing further.

Authorities today simply follow the laws and regulations rather than think.

[mh1]

When one appeals a decision, it is ALWAYS prudent to supply additional info, if at all possible. And why the heck would you not?