Cliff & Dinusha

Sri Lanka

“We are deeply thankful to you all, you have changed our lives

~ Cliff Edwards

 

 

Cliff Edwards, who is a British citizen, was in Sri Lanka on holiday when he became friendly with Dinusha Wijerathna, who worked at the hotel where Cliff was staying.  As the relationship progressed, the couple decided that it would be nice for Dinusha to come to the UK to visit Cliff in his home and to meet his family, and so Dinusha applied for a visit visa.

Though she disclosed her relationship with Cliff in her application, Dinusha was refused a visa because the Entry Clearance Officer was not satisfied that she was a genuine visitor, considering her plans too “vague”, and also stating that he was not satisfied that Dinusha had enough resources to maintain herself in the UK.

When Dinusha was refused a visa to come to the UK Cliff went to see her in Sri Lanka, but they had not put the idea of Dinusha visiting the UK out of their minds, and when he got back to the UK Cliff contacted us, and asked us to help them. And, of course, he and Dinusha wanted the application ready as soon as possible, because Dinusha had to get back to work by a certain date.

We read through the refusal and a copy of the previous application, which Dinusha happened to have saved, and advised Cliff and Dinusha on the shortcomings, and what was needed to strengthen a new application.  We prepared this application,  drafting very detailed legal representations that set out the history of Cliff and Dinusha’s relationship and their plans for the future.  We also addressed all the reasons why Dinusha’s previous application had been refused, and then went through all the different requirements of the Immigration Rules for visitors, showing how Dinusha met all the requirements.

Dinusha was able to lodge a new application three days after she and Cliff instructed us to act for them, and five days after that, Dinusha was issued with a visa and was able to come to the UK.

This is what Cliff had to say when we asked him for a testimonial:

“Dear Asha, Robin and Keith, 

It is with great pleasure that I send you thanks for enabling me to gain a UK General Entry Visa for Dinusha. 

I met in Dinusha in Sri Lanka for a few days whilst on holiday and continued to develop a friendship with her, her children and family via Skype. Two months later we applied for a UK visa for her but were refused, a devastating experience; so immediately I went back to Sri Lanka to explore our friendship and meet her family in person, and despite age and cultural differences, we developed a deep friendship and understanding. Following my return to the UK we asked for your help in a second application for a UK visa for Dinusha, which was successful. We spent a wonderful two weeks together in my home, meeting with my friends and family, exploring London and the possibilities of a new life together. 

I found your advice highly personal and professional, suggesting approaches and documentation to submit that we would not have thought of ourselves and which was clearly successful. You were always at the end of the phone whenever we called and were totally supportive and generous with your time. I cannot recommend you highly enough. 

Dinusha will return to spend a longer time over Christmas here in the UK, then we hope to bring both families together in the sunshine of Sri Lanka later next year. 

We are deeply thankful to you all, you have changed our lives. 

Cliff and Dinusha” 

Cliff is an artist.  You can visit his website here.