The UK government has rejected six time wrestling champion and professional fighter Muhammad Mokaev’s wife’s visa for the second time. He now has no rights to appeal.
Muhammad tweeted about this and wrote, “Thanks for refusing my wife’s visa, after representing UK for 9 years. 2nd time they refused it , with no rights to appeal.”
Mokaev received a lot of support on social media, to which he responded and said, “I manage to accomplish many goals I've set for myself since arriving in the UK. This country has helped me through my journey in life and in MMA. Therefore, no matter what the Home Office decides against me or my family, I will never stop raising the flag of England. Thank you so much for your support.”
‘It’s not just me, it’s many people they do this to. I don’t like to say it but the Home Office is treating people badly,’ a 20 year old Muhammad Mokaev told The Independent.
His wife’s first visa application was rejected because the UK visa office felt that she didn’t have enough evidence to prove that she belonged to Russia. Their applications have so far cost £2500 and without a right to appeal, they may have to spend more money for a third one. It was also reported that the money that was shown in her accounts didn’t declare the source and could have been inflated for the purpose of entry clearance.
“It’s not a lot of money to hold on an account. It’s not criminal. We have no criminal record. She’s not going to stay in the UK illegally. We showed everything on the papers. And there was exactly the same amount of money in her bank account the first time but they didn’t include it in that refusal, only the second time it was an issue. Why didn’t they include it the first time?” he said.
Muhammad also told The Indpendent that, “The immigration rules are awful and Priti Patel’s Home Office enforces them in an even worse way. Solidarity with Muhammad and the thousands of perfectly decent, law-abiding families needlessly separated by the Tories.”
