UK BORDER AGENCY Press Release about NIKKAH KHUWANI CERTIFICATES for Pakistani Spouse Visas

Further to reports about refusal of visa applications submitted with new Azad Jammu and Kashmir Nikkah Khuwani certificates, the UK Border Agency has said:

"The UK Border Agency operation at the British High Commission in Islamabad conducts robust checks on visa applications. These checks are not specific to Pakistan and the UK Border Agency has a duty to remain vigilant to guard against the risk of false documents being submitted with visa applications.

UK Border Agency has checked the validity of new Nikkah Khuwani certificates now being issued in AJK with the regional Ministry of Religious Affairs. It was right that the Agency took the time to check the validity and features of the new document.

"UK Border Agency can confirm that these checks have now been made and that genuine Nikkah Khuwani and Nikkah Nama forms from AJK submitted with marriage visa applications will be accepted as evidence of marriage for the purposes of a UK visa application. Visa applicants who have previously submitted the new Nikkah Khuwani forms and were refused solely on the basis of the validity of marriage certificate should submit an appeal to the UK Border Agency in London directly. Please note the following address for the UK Visa Section in London: UK Visa Section, 7th Floor Apollo House, Croydon CR9 3RR. On receipt of this appeal their application will be re-considered."
   UK lawyers' body concerned over Spouse visas Refusals

LONDON – The Association of Pakistani Lawyers UK in a letter sent to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has expressed its deep concern at the refusal of spouse visas for the applicants who have contracted a valid marriage in AJK under the law of the land.

APL Chairman Barrister Amjad Malik wrote a letter to UK foreign secretary complaining that the British High Commission in Islamabad has recently started refusing applicants with proper marriage certificates issued in the AJK on the basis that these certificates do not prove that a valid marriage has been contracted. He wrote that a proclamation was made in May 1988 to amend the form of marriage certificate issued in the AJK to a ‘Nikah Khawan’ but this change was not actually implemented until recently and our clients and service users though they have contracted a valid marriage could not get visas for their spouses on technical misunderstanding of the law and procedural change at the hands of BHC.

The APL has requested Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson to clear the situation and asked for a legal opinion into the procedural changes taken place in AJK. It suggested that a circular be issued to remove the misunderstanding

The APL has also suggested since there is little information available in this regard, the British High Commission at Islamabad and other missions in the country and abroad must inform the applicants about changes in the application forms so that their visa applications for spouses won’t be refused.
The APL Chairman said the BHC must facilitate the applicants as how a British citizen could register his marriage in Pakistan. He also requested the British foreign and home secretaries that all the affected cases must be reviewed forthwith so that spouses of British citizens could join their families who are prevented due to technical misunderstanding. He warned the BHC Islamabad that this practice is against the spirit of Articles 8 & 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950.