inquiry about a niece

[jbt]

Hello everyone..

got married in the philippines to a british national and i am already here in UK on a settlement visa....been here for less than a month now...

ive been planning to get my daughter in the philippines and hopefully, it will be easy to apply a visa for her ...my only worry is my 4 yr.old niece, whom from the day she was born till now, i treated and supported like my own child and she knows that im her mom...to make the story short, she's the daughter of my sis who has her own life now and will be getting married not to the father of her child...her daughter knows that she's the auntie and im the mom...my sister would like me to adopt her daughter, she has her own reasons and i would be very glad to adopt my niece..i love her so much...

i would like to ask for some advice on whats the best way to do, so i can bring my niece to live with me here in UK...do i really need to adopt her, so i can get her here or can i get her here as my niece.....

Thank you and i hope someone can give me an advice on whats the best thing to do....

jbt

[KeithD]

Where about are you??

Niece! No idea, but as you've only been here a month I'd doubt it. For your daughter, the father has to agree, unless he is not mentioned on the birth certificate......which could make you the Virgin Mary

From my experience with Filipino nurses, they can usually only bring other family members over once they have indefinite leave to remain, which is 2 years.

[jbt]

im here at oxfordshire.....and the father of my daughter's not mentioned on her b-certificate, so hopefully, i will not need his approval.

actually, ive asked about my niece, coz im sure, the process to get her here will be too long....so, i have to start gathering some advice and tips on what to do...

[KeithD]

Not wanting to sound nasty here, but we get a number of questions along these line. Surely you should have all the information about all this sorted BEFORE you even consider a Fiancee visa. If your daughter and niece are so important too you, why would you get yourself to the UK without even finding out first if they can come with you? Seems either naive or selfish to me.

[fontain]

I've no doubt you love your kids but surely these should have been key issues to get resolved before leaving for the UK for good.

I wish you luck

[IainBusby]

I have some info in the form of emails and replies that may help with regard to your daughter, but I dont think the same would apply to your niece. This is the text of the 2 emails I sent and the replies I got from UKVACS when I enquired about this process with regard to bringing my wife's daughter to the UK, although I sent the email to the British Embassy, the replies came from UKVACS:

Original Email 1:
My wife recently applied and was granted a settlement visa to join me in the UK and thankfully, she is living here with me now in the UK.
My wife has an eight years old daughter still living in the Philippines and we would like, in the not too distant future, to bring her here to live with us.
Can you tell me the procedure for doing this. I assume that we would have to make another complete visa application and submit it to you there in Manila, but we are unclear about what documents we would have to submit to support the application, or even if we would use the same application form (VAF NOV 2005) for this purpose.

PS: There will be no paternity or custody issues involved with regard to this, as there is no father named on the birth certificate, there is no contact between the child and the father and there never has been any contact between them in the past.

Reply 1:
Greetings from UK VACS!
Your wife's daughter should fill out VAF2 Settlement form Nov 2005. The
child's guardian may fill out and sign the application form. We have
attached the list of requirements for Settlement visa.

You have two (2) options when lodging your UK visa application:
First, you may send your application via mail or any courier company of your
choice. You may contact 2GO Aboitiz and arrange for the pick-up of your visa
application by calling their Manila office at this number 02-8540858 or 54.
Simply inform them that you would like your UK visa picked-up and they will
coordinate with their nearest office in your area for pick-up. However, we
would like to emphasize you are free to choose any courier convenient to
you.

Follow Up Email:
Good Day,
Thank you for your prompt reply, which has however, raised additional queries. the first of which is regarding sponsorship and in particular, to the questions in section 4 of the VAF2 NOV 2005 form. As my wife is the child's parent and I am not in any legal sense and my wife is here on a two year spousal settlement visa, will she be the one who is sponsoring the application or will I. Also, regardless of which one is deemed to be the sponsor, would we have to send both of our passports in support of this application.

Secondly, with regard to addresses, as we will be making the application from our address in the UK and we would like the documents, passport and hopefully also the visa returned to this address, is it O.K. to use only this address with regard to questions 2.13 and 2.14 on the VAF2 NOV 2005 form.

My third query is with regard to the visa fee and handing charge, will a cheque from a UK bank be acceptable and if not what other forms of payment could be arranged from here in the UK that would be acceptable for this purpose.

Reply 2:
Greetings from UK VACS!

You and your wife can be her sponsor. Photocopy of your passport and your wife’s passport is required. Under section 2.13 and 2.14, the address should be her present home address. We will return all the original documents that she will submit together with the result of her application on her home address in the Philippines, you cannot use your address in UK as her mailing address.

We will only accept Manager’s cheque issued form any bank here in the Philippines. Visa fee of Php 26,000 is acceptable only in a Managers’ cheque. For the handling fee, she can pay it cash if she or her guardian will lodge the application personally, if they will send it via courier, the handling fee should also be in a Manager’s cheque.

Reply 3:
Further to our earlier email, the British Embassy only requires photocopies of the sponsor’s passports; sponsor’s original passports are not required.

Furthermore, if you or your wife is unable to travel to the Philippines to lodge the child’s application, you may request a relative or friend to lodge the application on your behalf. The address of this relative or friend must be in the Philippines. All original documents and the child passports will be returned to this address. You may also send the funds necessary for the visa fee to this proxy who in turn can go to any bank in the Philippines to purchase a Manager’s check payable to the British Embassy Manila.

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Hope this helps,

Iain.

[jbt]

Thank you very much for your time and for sharing with me the procedures and requirements for the visa application...

Have a nice evening............

[jbt]

i had finally spoken to a lawyer re. the adoption of my niece...and according to her, a petition for adoption must be filed and it may take at least between 6 months to a year.....i must have at least Php 200,000 cash on hand or more for this case.....seems like i really, really need to work hard....

[KeithD]

That sounds about the right money going from folk who done it in the past. If you have more dosh, you can get it done quicker, although there goverment isn't as corrupt as the Europeans.