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[umairfinland]

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[umairfinland]

Can the Finnish foreign ministry intervene? could they help in this case?

[umairfinland]

I am a Pakistani citizen, probably that is why the Dutch are treating us like that. In Pakistan due to the prevailing security situation, a personal visit to embassy is not possible to the embassy without an appointment and they are located in heavily fortified diplomatic enclaves. I send them emails or can make a cal, thats all.

@'nagging pattern', sorry but i did not understand this?

[umairfinland]

Since it is Finnish foreign ministry which close Finnish embassy in Pakistan this year, and they have designated Dutch embassy to represent Finland. Therefor they might help? can they? can i copy them in email?

[umairfinland]

"I cant seem to understand your urgency to get the papers back"

-wtf is wrong with the embassy there, as per EU legislation they are bound to give decision of short term visa application within 15 days, and in case of refusal a wriiten refusal letter with resons of refusal mentioned as well as appeal procedure. As per Dutch law an appeal can be filed within four weeks. ref; EU visa code directive 2009

[rinso]

since Ducth embassy represents Finland in Pakistan. They are so arrogant

They act more like a post office. They don't make the decisions themselves, but send everything elsewhere (probably migri in Finland).
It seems that they are informed about the decision and told you so you don't have to wait without knowing. (= good service)
But the paperwork will take a much longer route. Probably by diplomatic post from Finland to the Netherlands and than by diplomatic post from the Netherlands to Pakistan.
A lot of steps in between where people has to do some work. Often it lands on a pile and can stay there for days.

You know the situation; denied. So now you must make a new plan. Anyway it will take a long time whatever you do.

[rinso]

As per Dutch law an appeal can be filed within four weeks. ref; EU visa code directive 2009

I doubt if you can appeal under the Dutch law against a visa refusal for Finland.

[Oombongo]

When embassies of two countries are involved then such process takes way too long even it comes to returning the documents. Diplomatic process is slow everywhere, and it is very slow when it comes to Asian region.
Just keep pinging them, and keep the receipt of your submitted documents so that you have a proof in case if something goes wrong. The forum members might not be able to advise you better as these kind of cases are extremely rare.

[Rara]

your spouse should get her passport back in the same time when they refused her application.
Its her right to get her passport back. No need to wait for long many weeks just to get her passport back.
If they said refused, then they must return the applicant passport immediately.
What the reasons for the embassy to keep her passport?
So you must call them, or call the immigration Dutch...that you need the passport back. Thats it!!

[umairfinland]

Ok so today i sent them an emailagain and they now said we will recieve passpprt and refusal letter this week. Also my wife called them and they have admitted that her file is lost and they cant locate it. What should we do now, how was a decision made on a lost file. Something is definitely wrong, please advise what r the options now.

[Rara]

Great action. They shouldnt treat your spouse application like that. Really UNPROFESSIONAL answer if embassy saying the file was lost.
If lost then they must responsible for it, you must ask them how they made decision if the file was lost. Did they put to the rubbish place after decision made? They cant act like that. Embassy must treat all file or documents with very careful and respect. And they cant through away the file, until the case is done, not appealing from applicant, at least in one month they should keep a copy or whatever for that file. Its unfair treating what u got. So its good point if u want to appeal , you have more reason.

[umairfinland]

Rara

Thanks for your reply, can someone please urgently help me. What should be our next step? can we escalate this to the next level, how should we go about appeal? I am so stressed and confused. Here are the facts:
Date of Application : 24 september 2012
Follow up Call :10 October 2012, informed that passport is not with embassy and name doesnt appear in refusal list, will recieve docs via Fedex
Follow up call 2 : 15 October, informed visa has been refused, no reasons given told u will get papers back soon.
Follow up email : 22 Oct 2012, Replied that documents will be returned this week
Follow up call 3 : 22 Oct 2012, accepted visa file misplaced and passport misplaced, will recieve documents this week.

What shoudl i do now? at time of application they requested additional supporting document, college leave letter. This doc was sent later to embassy, i am sure they misplaced it too and based on incomplete docs they refused visa. This is very unprofessional indeed, but what option do i have? Can i really take them head on or should i request them to reconsider her application? what if we escalate it with Finnish ministry for foreign affairs? ThaNKS

[rinso]

please advise what r the options now.

a- sit and wait. no official action can be taken until you have the paperwork (it was promised this week)
b- start complaining, write letters and so on. (creates confusion -> extra delays -> time wasted)
c- forget about the visa and go and visit your wife in Pakistan.

[interleukin]

I agree with the others. Whether or not you will be able to use their lack of organisation to your advantage at a later stage or not is irrelevant right now. What you need to do now is calm down, be professional, and wait for the papers to get back to you. You can´t do anything without the formal decision anyway, so what you do not want to do until then is get labelled as an irritating, hysterical person (even if you have some reasons to be). A refusal is not an easy thing to get reversed, and you only lose points by trying to act too quickly.

So WAIT, PREPARE, and document your contacts with the embassy to be able to show later (write down dates, what was discussed, etc).

[umairfinland]

Floydfin/Rinso

Thanks guys for your valueable advice, but it is too late, the game is over. I wrote them an appeal and the attache of consular affairs replied,
"we have found the file, it has been here all along but a little confusion, it was always ready for pickup"
We will get an official refusal letter tommorow, but i think my email has backfired, they got some refusal reason from my email.

But they have been so deceptive in this high stakes game, and so cleverly expert on it. I think people can learn a lesson or two from this. They did not have a legitimate reason until my email. But maybe i am paranoid, still I think in this case applicant did not recieve fair assessment. However we await the official refusal letter tommorow. Though our application was made in good faith and genuine intentions but so heartbreaking that it was still refused. Thanks all.