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As mentioned in my previous question, my France long-stay visa was refused (the reason for refusal was "risk to public order/public security/health") in Dec, 2022. My immigration consultant filed an appeal in Feb 2023 to CRRV commission but we did not receive any response for two months, which typically means a refusal of the appeal.

We lodged a fast track appeal to the administrative court, but it has been rejected and court will process it as a standard appeal. However the standard appeal process may take 8-12 months, or even more, and my UK visa will expire in Oct 2023 and my now UK employer would like to apply for my skilled work visa in May/June. In addition we have a written a letter to the French ministry to check they have any record of me in the Schengen integrated system (SIS II) - still no response.

My French immigration consultant gave me the idea to apply for a France tourist visa. If it gets approved, then I can write the UK visa application that my refusal was due to "French regulations regarding foreign workers and not particularly to me". If it gets refused again, then denial would be instructive and we’ll know where we stand. My concern is if my France tourist visa gets refused, which I think is very likely due to my long stay visa refusal reason, then I'll have to mention both refusals in the UK visa application.

Please suggest to me what should I do as I only have a few months to resolve the French visa refusal before I apply for a UK skilled work visa. Worth mentioning that I don't need a France long stay visa as the French employer withdrew their job and I now have a job in the UK.

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    A refusal from France doesn’t automatically harm an application to the UK. If I were you I’d apply for the UK visa and explain the circumstances regarding the French refusal. UK Immigration can likely check such things out with the French authorities.
    – Traveller
    Apr 29 at 22:19
  • @Traveller thank you for your comment.I understand French refusal does not automatically harm UK visa application but French refusal reason is it self not a good one.If there is any other refusal reason I would have not bother to appeal against the decision.Irony is I do not have any criminal record not even a traffic violation.
    – Stark
    Apr 29 at 23:06
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    Why does your immigration consultant think that a refusal for "risk to public order/public security/health" can be explained as “due to "French regulations regarding foreign workers and not particularly to me"? Have you considered asking a British immigration consultant for advice, given that it is actually the UK visa application you’re concerned about
    – Traveller
    Apr 30 at 21:40
  • @Traveller we have no further details about refusal then just a tick on this reason on refusal letter where there are 11 other reasons. My French immigration consultant had no idea why I have been refused on these basis and he is an experienced person and he tried to reach different ministries to find out if they have anything about me in SIS II but no response. I checked with one UK immigration lawyer and he said that don't mention much details (especially not the reason of refusal) and mention refusal due to visa officer wasn't satisfied but I think this may not satisfy UKVI.
    – Stark
    Apr 30 at 22:02
  • "My French immigration consultant had no idea why I have been refused on this basis...." Speeding tickets? Unpaid parking fines or bus/train fines? A loud argument where the police were called - though nobody was arrested? Nothing rings a bell? You might be surprised. I've known of people who were refused a UK visa because they didn't pay their TV license. It happens.
    – ouflak ♦
    May 2 at 13:37

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My French immigration consultant gave me the idea to apply for a France tourist visa. If it gets approved, then I can write the UK visa application that my refusal was due to "French regulations regarding foreign workers and not particularly to me". If it gets refused again, then denial would be instructive and we’ll know where we stand. My concern is if my France tourist visa gets refused, which I think is very likely due to my long stay visa refusal reason, then I'll have to mention both refusals in the UK visa application.

This is a very puzzling suggestion and a very valid concern. Even if you get the short-stay visa, you still have to disclose the earlier long-stay visa refusal and will have very little hard evidence that the decision wasn't about you. And there is a high risk it would be refused again, which I wouldn't expect to be very instructive (mostly they have to check a box and can pick the exact same reason without providing any justification).

None of this seems consistent with the original "risk to public order/public security/health" reason for the refusal.

Please suggest to me what should I do as I only have a few months to resolve the French visa refusal before I apply for a UK skilled work visa. Worth mentioning that I don't need a France long stay visa as the French employer withdrew their job and I now have a job in the UK.

There may not be any easy solution besides hoping the French refusal doesn't override your record in the UK. As far as I can tell, the best you can do is to let the French appeals run their course and get help from a local consultant on the British side of things.

I know very little about British practices in this respect but I assume a single refusal in another country shouldn't lead to an automatic refusal for someone who is already present in the country and otherwise in good standing? It may also be possible to explain your situation in more details and point out that appeals are running but could not be processed in time (I expect a consultant or solicitor could advise you on that).

I don't want to give you any false hopes however. The risk that the French decision weights negatively is still there. If you really cannot think of any way you could have come to the attention of the French authorities, it's also not inconceivable that this is a case of a mistaken identity, maybe confusion with someone having a similar name and unfortunately those can be very difficult to clear up.

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  • Thank you for your answer.Yes I am going to discuss with a barrister who is specialized in British immigration. But meanwhile my efforts are on french side as well and trying to get anything positive for me like if they can share the record about me Schenghen integrated system (SIS II).Am also requesting their visa department to mediate outside the court as I don't need visa anymore.
    – Stark
    May 6 at 18:24
  • Through this platform am trying to find anything which I should do as I don't want to leave no stone unturned.
    – Stark
    May 6 at 18:25
  • @Stark I wouldn't assume there is anything in the SIS.
    – Relaxed
    May 7 at 9:34
  • More generally it seems to me that you are already doing everything you could be doing (recours gracieux, recours contentieux first in front of the commission and then the courts, information request regarding any SIS entry) and you already know a lot more about this very specific issue than anybody you can hope to find here. You should still push and might in fact prevail but there is very little you can do to speed things up and match the timeline of your British visa renewal.
    – Relaxed
    May 7 at 9:38
  • should I request SAR (detail) from UK home office to see if UK has anything about me but I got my police character certificate from UK after refusal and it is clear.Although my French immigration consultant say that France only checks data within EU countries and not with UK but as per EU PNR directive I am not sure UK/EU shares data with each other.
    – Stark
    May 7 at 11:45

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