Unraveling Slowly, Part 2
Refusal, Costs, and the Two Roads Forward
The emotional shock did not get time to settle before the logistics came rushing in.
Because this is not just a disappointment. It is paperwork, deadlines, payments, timelines, and the harsh reality that a refusal letter can erase months of preparation in one paragraph.
We applied for four Religious Worker visas for our family. We had a Certificate of Sponsorship. We completed biometrics. We paid fees. We did what we were told to do.
But even that process was a fight.
The biometrics and the payment fight
Our biometrics appointment was November 24, 2025.
We could not make the payments online because our bank and credit cards kept flagging them as fraud. We sat at the temporary office setup for five hours trying to get the payments to go through. Each time it failed, we had to wait another forty five minutes before the system would allow us to resubmit. Our bank would lift the temporary freeze for one attempt, and then immediately block it again. Over and over.
We came prepared. We brought the documents we needed. We were told during that appointment that those documents were not necessary to submit then, that they were superfluous.
The documents they said we did not need
Then on December 2, we were notified by the UK government that those documents were in fact necessary to process our applications, and that we needed to complete an additional step.
They gave specific instructions to send the requested documents to a specific email address.
That email address returned as undeliverable each time we tried to submit. Even trying to message them through that route resulted in the same bounce back. We searched. We read forum posts. We combed through Reddit threads. We tried every common fix people suggested. Nothing worked.
We tried to call. After twenty minutes on hold and twenty minutes of international charges, we were disconnected. That happened several times.
We emailed their support line. The response said to expect a reply in five working days. We only had ten working days to submit everything, so that response time ate up a huge portion of our deadline.
Our deadline to submit was December 15.
That date was also tied in our minds to the timeline we thought we were on. The answer we expected, the approvals we had been bracing our whole lives around, were supposed to be coming in that window. Instead, the whole process became a locked door we could not even knock on correctly, because the email address bounced back like an accusation.
The refusal letter and the exact wording
Then came the refusal. The denial struck hard, not because it questioned our calling, our character, or the legitimacy of sponsorship, but because it hinged entirely on how the role was categorized and described.
The letter stated:
You have applied with the Certificate of Sponsorship reference number: XXXXXXXX, which confirms you are applying to work for the sponsor Overtoun House as a Maintenance/Carer. I am not satisfied that the job title and duties listed on your Certificate of Sponsorship are appropriate under the Minister of Religion route. The work described in your Certificate of Sponsorship states ‘“Maintenance for the charity facilities and working with the men, both in the church and in the community using Christian based programs’”, which does not confirm you will perform religious duties within the organisation. I am therefore not satisfied the appropriate job title has been used.
Due to this, I refuse your application under MOR 5.1 (g) of the Immigration Rules.
That was it. The entire refusal condensed to the conclusion that the title and duties, as stated, did not confirm religious duties within the organization.
Months of prayer. Months of preparation. Months of sacrifice. Reduced to a classification.
The two options in front of us
We now have two options:
Administrative Review
Reapply entirely
We have 28 days from December 19 to respond.
Administrative Review means paying another fee and waiting, possibly up to a year. It also means the burden of proof is on us. We would need to show that the Home Office made a case working error. Not that we disagree. Not that we feel misunderstood. That they made an error in decision making based on the evidence they had.
Reapplying is starting the entire process over and it means losing the $5,036 in visa fees and biometrics from this application and paying them again. It means Bob and Melissa having to pay the $1534 to submit another Certificate of Sponsorship to us.
The cost to us to reapply
If we reapply, this is what it looks like:
Visa fees: $1,053 per person
$1,053 x 4 = $4,212Biometric appointments: £84.50 per person
Approximately $107 USD per person
$107 x 4 = $428Document scanning: $99 per person
$99 x 4 = $396
Total to reapply:
$4,212 + $428 + $396 = $5,036
That does not include the Immigration Health Surcharge fees, which we are told will be refunded six weeks after refusal, or six weeks after administrative review is complete if we go that route.
It also does not include the $140 we have spent trying to get answers after the official email address bounced repeatedly, through international calls and attempts to communicate.
This is not theoretical cost. This is real money leaving the house. It is the kind of expense that forces choices, delays other plans, and turns a calling into a spreadsheet.
And yet we are still here, still believing God is not absent from bureaucracy. Still trying to decide which path is wise, which path is faithful, which path is both.
-to be continued.
