Via Electronic Mail
and Express Mail
UK Border Agency
British Consulate-General Shanghai
Suite 301, Shanghai Centre,
1376 Nanjing Xi Lu,
Shanghai 200040 China

Dear Sir/Madam:

Linchang Shen, Attorney at Law with Shanghai Promise Law Firm hereby officially sends you a lawyer’s letter on behalf of Ms. Mary Chen with respect to Notice of Immigration Decision (hereinafter referred to as”Decision”) issued to her; your prompt response is highly appreciated.

UK Border Agency refused the general visitor visa application of Ms. Chen on March ××, 201×. However, we are of opinion that UK Border Agency made such a decision just because of mechanically applying Paragraph 320(7A),320(7B) and 320(7C) of the UK Immigration Rules to the case, and the Decision violates Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights and deprives Ms. Chen of parental rights. We hope you could reexamine the visa application of Ms. Chen and repeal the Decision.

1.Ms.Chen was a victim of malpractice of an unprofessional travel agency; unfortunately, she has once again become a victim of improper application of UK Immigration Rules by UK Border Agency.　　
(a)As UK Border Agency knows well, Helen Chen, the minor daughter of Ms. Chen has been studying at Beechwood Sacred Heart School in Kent, UK. Actually, the main purpose of Ms. Chen to apply the visa is to visit her daughter. By the reason that Helen Chen can not provide the student card, the travel agency alleged that Ms. Chen could only apply general visitor visa. What is more, the travel agency threatened that the visa application would be refused except Ms. Chen provided documents and answered questions of visa officers as instructed. For the first time in her life Mr. Chen applied for visa, and she was so eager to see her daughter, Ms. Chen did make false representation and hide relevant information during the visa application. Hereby we sincerely apologize to you and UK Border Agency; and we also wish you could feel the eagerness that a mother wants to see her daughter as soon as possible.
(b)UK Border Agency states in the Decision “You signed the declaration on your application form that the information you gave was complete and true and that the statements you made with the application were truthful”. However, Ms. Chen has never filled in any application form nor signed any declaration, even she has never seen the application form or declaration mentioned above.
(c) It was the case Ms. Chen did not answer the questions truthfully at the beginning when the visa office interviewed her by telephone on March 22 this year. However, when asked where her daughter is located, Ms. Chen began to answer questions truthfully.Furthermore, Ms. Chen explained the reason why she made false presentation and hid relevant information; and she also confessed how she had been instigated by the travel agency. We sincerely hope the visa officer could understand the nervous and mixed feelings of Ms. Chen during the interview.
(d) It is well understandable that UK Border Agency suspected Ms. Chen’s intentions for entry to the UK.However, if the visa officer who carried out the interview by telephone had continued to patiently and kindly investigate Ms. Chen, it could have been easy to get to know the real intention of Ms. Chen for entry to the UK.In fact, Ms. Chen is a full-time housewife,her husband is a successful entrepreneur and her family economic situation is good.(Please see the attachments: 1.Property Valuation Report; 2.Bank Deposit Receipt ). In addition, Ms. Chen highly appreciates education quality of UK. Besides her daughter has already been sent to UK,Ms. Chen is also planning to send George Chen,her seven-years-old son to UK for complete and systematic UK education.Furthermore, Ms. Chen has been preparing for application for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migration since last November, and she has been granted City & Guilds Entry Level Certificates in International ESOL Diploma(Please see the attachment 3).
Considering the reasons and background why Ms. Chen made false presentation during the visa application, we believe that it is improper for UK Border Agency to apply Paragraph 320(7A),320(7B) and 320(7C) of the UK Immigration Rules to the case and then make the Decision.

2.The Decision ignores the tenet of European Convention on Human Rights
UK Border Agency had known well that the minor daughter of Ms. Chen is studying in UK, however, not only has this visa application of Ms. Chen been refused, but she has been banned from entering UK in at least 10 years. Such a decision is inhumane to a mother who desires to visit her minor daughter in a foreign country,and it also fails to protect parental rights which are basic human rights stipulated by Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights.Particularly, the starting date of automatic refusal period determined by the Decision (March ××, 20××) is incorrect. Ms. Chen can not enter UK in at least 20 years in accordance with the Decision,which obviously violates Paragraph 320(7B) of the UK Immigration Rules.
As the representing lawyer, I myself studied in SOAS, Uni. of London and have been granted master degree;and I have been much impressed by the rule of law, democracy and human rights protection in UK. We kindly request you reexamine the visa application and repeal the Decision.

Ms. Chen is available for a meeting with visa officers at any time; if necessary, the representing lawyer would accompany her.

Thanks for your anticipated cooperation.
　                      
                       

                                                                                          Linchang Shen,Attorney at Law
                                                                                          Shanghai Promise Law Firm
                                                                                          April ××, 201×