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SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES FOR STUDENT VISA
APPLICANT : MS A
[A] EVENTS LEADING TO THIS APPLICATION
In Apr 1999, Ms A attended a seminar hosted by xxx Girls High School and us in Zhengzhou, Henan. She and her parents were later interviewed by Mrs xxx, the Deputy Principal of xxx Girls.
She was considered a suitable student and was given a Letter of Offer. . Her application was lodged on 29 Apr 1999 and was given an application reference number xxx. Her request was refused on 16 Jul 1999 and the
reasons for the refusal was given as:
"Although you have provided funds in support of your application, based on your family's combined income, it is considered that you have insufficient means to maintain long term studies in New Zealand."
Her second application was lodged on 14 Sep 1999 and was given an application reference number xxx. The application was again refused and Schedule 14A contains the official reasons in the second refusal. As can be seen, the reasons given were non-specific and the letter was couched in general terms. Schedule 15A is the copy of the Decision Notes that you were kind enough to provide me in our subsequent meetings.
According to the Notes, the visa officer based her decision on the following points:
(1) Result of her telephone enquiry indicated that the parents did not go to work at the furniture store regularly.
(2) The wages figure contained in the balance sheet provided by the father were not consistent with the salary sheets. She therefore came to the conclusion that one of the two documents must have been falsified.
(3) Name cards of the father's partners and price lists submitted were considered irrelevant to the case. The visa officer indicated that the parents did not produce their own name cards and the employer's letter was not written on proper letterheads.
The visa officer considered that the bank deposit books should be stamped by two employees from the bank, but one book had only one stamp. The officer also discovered that a person by the name of B who is supposed to work at the bank was on the list of employees of the company.
[B] OUR BRIEF REPLY
Going through the various documents contained in the file and looking at the second visa officer's rejection, I have to admit that the documentation produced together with some of the findings of the visa officer, do lead one to conclude that there are certain aspects of doubtful circumstances.
We would however, like to address the various points raised by the visa officer to clarify matters and to demonstrate that our client satisfies the present requirements and should be eligible for the issue of a student visa. We shall now proceed to deal with the various points one by one as follows.
[C] THE CASE OF THE ABSENT BOSS
In reply to the query from the visa officer handling our first application, we had submitted an Organisation Chart of the father's business; a copy is enclosed at Schedule 4A. As can be seen, the furniture store is the retail arm of the trading company of which the father is the Legal Representative. Apart from the furniture business the company is also involved in other trading activities. As the furniture business has been reasonably well established, the father does not report to the retail store on a daily basis.
There are quite a number of sales personnel in the retail store and given the relatively quick staff turnover, which is the norm of the sales industry and the difference in age, sex, cultural standards and individual personalities of the staff, it is possible that the telephone enquiry was received by a relatively new member who did not know too much about the organisational structure of the company and who was not a proper person to answer such an enquiry.
We do admit that the father does not go to the retail shop everyday, but that does not mean that he is not involved with the business. In this regard, we have already given you a copy of the company's Trading License confirming that the father is the Legal Representative of the organization.
[D] THE CASE OF FALSIFIED INFORMATION
Schedule 5A contains copies of balance sheets of the company, which you were kind enough to provide when I visited your office. According to the visa officer, the wages figure for 1997 and 1998 were $ 31,000 and $ 48,000 respectively but they were at variance with salaries records because there were 13 employees and the amounts indicated in the balance sheets were much too low. I am afraid it is a bit embarrassing for me to say this, but I believe the visa officer has little accounting training because one does not extract expenses from Balance Sheets. One looks for expenses in Profit and Loss Statements. The figures given in the balance sheets were accruals; in other words, they were amounts outstanding at the date of the balance sheets as unpaid wages. They are not total amount of wages for the year. I am a professional accountant, a qualified CPA in Australia and I would request that you accept my explanations.
[E] THE CASE OF THE BUSINESS CARDS
The visa officer considered that production of business cards of the father's partners and price lists of the company were irrelevant to the application. We wish to advise that the business cards and the price lists were some of the additional documents required by the first visa officer; Schedule 16A refers. Our submission might not have indicated this and I do not blame the second visa officer for feeling a bit puzzled upon receiving those documents with no attached explanations.
The father of the student, being the Legal Representative of the business is of course in possession of business cards. The company, being a trading company in nature, also has its own letterheads. We apologise that our previous documents issued by the company were not printed on proper letterheads. I believe their office staff must have been a bit hard pressed for time in meeting lodgment deadlines with the result that some of the details regarding the company were not sent to you on proper company letterheads. I would venture to suggest that the mere fact of such an omission should not be used as a reason for rejection.
[F] THE MYSTERY OF THE TWO "BC's"
I must commend on the alertness of the visa officer in picking up the fact that the company bookkeeper's name was BC and one of the two bank officials is also called BC.
Life is full of surprises and coincidences and this is certainly a case in point. I do not for a moment question the wisdom of the visa officer in doubting that the two BC's are in fact one and the same person. The reason is quite simple. There are just too many coincidences.
Admittedly, given the large population in China there are bound to be numerous examples of people with the same names particularly if we are talking about people with one surname and one given name, as in our case. But the surname of "B" is quite an uncommon one, so is the forename of "C". For two persons with the same names are a coincidence but it is not unlikely, even for rare names like BC.
Upon investigations, we noticed that both ladies are living at the same address! Now this will trigger alarm bells, but we have been advised that the address is apparently a compound housing over 100 people. For two different persons with the same names living in the same compound is surely a coincidence that may create doubts on the part of a suspecting visa officer.
We have been assured by our associates in Henan that the two ladies concerned are two different persons, and in support of this claim, they have produced the 2 ladies' respective identity cards at Schedule 7A & 9A. Also enclosed at Schedule 8A, is copy of a letter from the bank providing further details regarding their BC. We would suggest that our client's claim be given the benefit of the doubt.
As regards the query that only one stamp is used in one of the bankbooks, we have been advised that while there are two columns printed on the bankbook, some branches of the bank use only one column. And it is the practice of that particular branch, whose bankbook was questioned by the visa officer, to use only one column.
[G] OUR SUBMISSION
We hope we have demonstrated that through some misunderstanding and certain unusual coincidences, our client has been the victim of two rejections, which have significantly delayed her proposed departure for studies in New Zealand.
We enclose updated Summary of Deposits of the parents together with copies of bankbooks and deposits. As can be seen at Schedule 11A to 13A, the family has liquid funds in excess of RMB 771,600 and USD 21,197. The young lady is going to study in New Zealand for 5 1/2 years. Working on an average of RMB 100,000 per annum, she will require RMB 550,000. The family is in possession of enough funds for the purpose.
As this is the third application, and given the interesting nature of the case, we would request that the student and her parents be afforded an opportunity of an interview in case you still require any further explanations.
[H] PREPARATION OF THIS SUBMISSION
This submission is prepared by Preston Chow & Associates after consultation with the parents and the student's father. We have explained the contents of this submission to the father in Chinese and requested him to sign below to certify that he agrees to the various points advanced above.