Ady
27th October 2008, 19:03
Hi all,
I recently spent some time with a solicitor at the immigration advisory service. I went there with a lot of questions from reading this forum, but also my own personal questions.
I will post when I get the full report back from them, but I just wanted to add one thing here for anyone applying that has a dependant child. The solicitor told me that the main thing to prove when bringing a child over, is that the applying parent moving to the UK has sole responsibility. This can take the form of a letter from the second parent, or it can take the form of bills/receipts showing that the moving parent has been the one taking full responsibility in terms of education and health.
The solicitor told me that, if the applying parent worked away from home, and the child was left in the custody of her grandparents, for example, then the ECO could argue against the case of sole responsibility. The solicitor also told me that, in my case, it is better to apply for this as part of a fiancee visa, since my fiancee leaving her daughter behind could be deemed as forgoing her claim as having sole responsibility for her daughter. Just to recap - I was querying whether to apply for her daughter after the marriage.
I am still waiting for the summary, most of what she told me was already posted here in many forms. I just wanted to share the information here. The solicitor said that the ECO are generally quite cynical (I suppose that is a requirement) so you have to review your application cynically too. She has dealt with many appeals (I hope to God I don't need her help in that), but she said that we have a strong case. She has dealt with a few cases that she has thought were ridiculous, but they have been successful.
The only negative thing she mentioned to me was that, because our Visit Visa was refused previously, they will look into it. The fact that, when we applied for a visit visa 2 years ago, we put our relationship as friends (not boyfriend/girlfriend). She said it is common for people to apply in this way, at the time we applied a VV my fiance was not yet annulled hence the reason we described it as friends.
What the visit confirms, though (AND A BIG PAT ON THE BACK), is that this forum is genuinely spot on in it's advice to people making these applications. Hats off to all contributors, you are doing a great job here.
One thing she added, maybe in South East Asia some people in some countries will have to travel to Manila or Bangkok to make an application, as the VFS are closing in some nations. Making it very hard for skilled people with poor finances to apply. Very unfair, but it is a costly business for the Government (but the £500 application fee makes it a bit sweeter).
I recently spent some time with a solicitor at the immigration advisory service. I went there with a lot of questions from reading this forum, but also my own personal questions.
I will post when I get the full report back from them, but I just wanted to add one thing here for anyone applying that has a dependant child. The solicitor told me that the main thing to prove when bringing a child over, is that the applying parent moving to the UK has sole responsibility. This can take the form of a letter from the second parent, or it can take the form of bills/receipts showing that the moving parent has been the one taking full responsibility in terms of education and health.
The solicitor told me that, if the applying parent worked away from home, and the child was left in the custody of her grandparents, for example, then the ECO could argue against the case of sole responsibility. The solicitor also told me that, in my case, it is better to apply for this as part of a fiancee visa, since my fiancee leaving her daughter behind could be deemed as forgoing her claim as having sole responsibility for her daughter. Just to recap - I was querying whether to apply for her daughter after the marriage.
I am still waiting for the summary, most of what she told me was already posted here in many forms. I just wanted to share the information here. The solicitor said that the ECO are generally quite cynical (I suppose that is a requirement) so you have to review your application cynically too. She has dealt with many appeals (I hope to God I don't need her help in that), but she said that we have a strong case. She has dealt with a few cases that she has thought were ridiculous, but they have been successful.
The only negative thing she mentioned to me was that, because our Visit Visa was refused previously, they will look into it. The fact that, when we applied for a visit visa 2 years ago, we put our relationship as friends (not boyfriend/girlfriend). She said it is common for people to apply in this way, at the time we applied a VV my fiance was not yet annulled hence the reason we described it as friends.
What the visit confirms, though (AND A BIG PAT ON THE BACK), is that this forum is genuinely spot on in it's advice to people making these applications. Hats off to all contributors, you are doing a great job here.
One thing she added, maybe in South East Asia some people in some countries will have to travel to Manila or Bangkok to make an application, as the VFS are closing in some nations. Making it very hard for skilled people with poor finances to apply. Very unfair, but it is a costly business for the Government (but the £500 application fee makes it a bit sweeter).