Somtimes life is not so good

[Arthur Little]

I'm a Scot based in England my family is in Las Pinas Manila and life right now is absolutley desparate :(

Apparently I joined this forum some time ago but I had forgotten so this is my first post.

Software developer, own business, business died as a result of the credit crunch and recession, very sudden, main customer withdrew verbal contract with no notice, not their fault just life.

I met my partner nearly 5 years ago, we have two wonderful kids and I love my family and my extended family dearly.

I'll try and find a relevant thread to tell our story but basically we are still stuck, British Embassy is putting hurdle after hurdle in our path, not all their fault but a lot of it is unreasonable given our cirumstances :(

Regards
Jim

Ahhh, Jim ... as an "exiled Jock" domiciled south of the Border, you have good reason to feel a bit depressed. Mind you, at least you've HAD some "summery" weather, so things can't be ALL bad!

But seriously, my friend, you've clearly gone through a rough time business-wise. We're truly sorry to learn this, and would dearly like to offer guidance in whatever way we can. First though, we really need to know more about your circumstances and how they relate to the problems you're currently experiencing with the British Embassy.

So, if you'd be prepared to provide us with some backgound information as regards your story - either on THIS thread, or posted under the section entitled 'Your Blog' - then perhaps we can "set the ball rolling" ...

[Tawi2]

Depressed south of the border Arthur?Surely you jest

[Arthur Little]

Depressed south of the border Arthur?Surely you jest

I kid you NOT, mate! What with the "Freedom of the Whole of Scotland" at my bidding ... thanks to the [again FREE] Bus Pass ... courtesy of the Scottish Parliament ... why should I complain?

Pity this privilege is marred by the ing awful Perth weather (from which the rest of the country has SEEMINGLY - for the most part - managed to escape) though!

[Arthur Little]

... if you'd be prepared to provide us with some backgound information as regards your story - either on THIS thread, or posted under the section entitled 'Your Blog' - then perhaps we can "set the ball rolling" ...

... in the meantime, I should like to extend a personal Welcome on your return to the forum.

[JimOttley]

... in the mentime, I should like to extend a personal Welcome on your return to the forum.

Thanks Arthur

It is particularly hard to be living in England when I had lived my entire life in Scotland and for the last 10 years had a lovely house in Langbank and got to look over the Clyde at Dumbarton Rock every time I set off to visit a customer and every time I came home.

I really miss that these days.

Anyway I posted my story above and it appears to be visible now (I'm restricted because I'm a newbie here)

Jim.

[joebloggs]

Thanks Arthur

Anyway I posted my story above and it appears to be visible now (I'm restricted because I'm a newbie here)

Jim.

yes your right there, if by magic..

i'm not so sure they would have noticed that your not the bio father, you could have said you had lost your passport, honestly is not always the best policy, especially when you dug yourself in a hole. but you did the right thing telling them, specially in your g/f circumstances.

did you tell them about your son, then try to register for your daughter and then they asked for a DNA test for her?

why register your daughter, you should have applied for a passport

[JimOttley]

yes your right there, if by magic..

i'm not so sure they would have noticed that your not the bio father, you could have said you had lost your passport, honestly is not always the best policy, especially when you dug yourself in a hole. but you did the right thing telling them, specially in your g/f circumstances.

did you tell them about your son, then try to register for your daughter and then they asked for a DNA test for her?

why register your daughter, you should have applied for a passport

They require to see all passports and they specifically wanted to see James' birth certificate as it's one of the things they check for as it can show up cases where a woman is already married or still married to someone in the Phils, they do this to weed out the cases where the Filipina is really just using some guy to try to get a free pass to work overseas.

Also remember that you need to be able to establish proof of relationship and your passport is one of the main documents that will support that. Plus I was in Manila in person so it was pretty obvious I had my passport Although I had to supply my old one as it had just expired as well as my new passport.

Also it is my understanding that to apply for a British passport for my daughter I had to register her birth first so that they would acknowlege her rights as a British citizen.

In our case when they asked for James birth certificate as well as my daughters I did not want to take the chance of being found out so I had to explain our true circumstances.

[JimOttley]

yes your right there, if by magic..

i'm not so sure they would have noticed that your not the bio father, you could have said you had lost your passport, honestly is not always the best policy, especially when you dug yourself in a hole. but you did the right thing telling them, specially in your g/f circumstances.

did you tell them about your son, then try to register for your daughter and then they asked for a DNA test for her?

why register your daughter, you should have applied for a passport

Sorry I meant to add, we applied to register our daughter and applied for a passport for her at the same time that's why they took a couple of hundred unrefundable quid off us.

The application was all for our daughter we were not even looking to apply for a visa for James at that point and we could not apply for a fiancee visa because of the missing orignal notorised copy of the divorce certificate.

If we had gotten the passport for our daughter then all we needed was a visa for James and then we could have had the whole of the summer together in the UK while still waiting for the copy of the divorce document to come back from Korea, there is still a load of legal process that we have to go through in Manila to get my partners marriage annuled by the Philippine authorities that is going to take a fair while before we can apply for a fiancee visa to get married in the UK.

My partner can get into the UK for up to 6 months at a time on her Korean passport and if our daughter had her British passport then all we needed was a visa for my son, at least we would have been together while we wait for all the other stuff to get processed.


Jim

[joebloggs]

i'm sure registration of a child is not a requirement, but optional.
and as for the DNA test , that's only used as a last resort
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/set...ldren#18165823

If it appears that an illegitimate child has been brought up as a child of the family, it will normally be appropriate to admit the child under paragraph 297(i)(f). The fact that the sponsor may not be aware that the child is not his natural child should not preclude entry clearance.

but like you said, they would want to see your passport, but would they have noticed, the date ?, or if you had lost or had it stolen. maybe the birth cert would have been enough, but far better if you was married to her.

have you had legal advice yet ? your local law centre and http://www.iasuk.org/home.aspx

i would have thought first thing to do would be getting your daughter her passport, seek legal advice from the above, and contact your MP, i've never heard anything so stupid, that you've had a DNA test and proved its your daughter, they are refusing to give her a passport.

wait for your g/f annulment to come thru, wed in the phils and apply for a settlement visa for your wife and son, you would be legally his stepfather, so really no need to adopt him, the only thing is you mention that your g/f has left her kids in the phils? to work in Korea, be careful of 'sole responsibility' that your g/f needs to prove with regards to her kids.

also if your g/f can come here for 6 months, is it not possible she can extend her stay, apply for a student visa? it would cost you money, but if you lived together and if no annulment yet, after 2yrs maybe you could apply for a unmarried partner visa.

or even if you could go and live in a european country exercise your treaty rights ( employed or self employed) after 3 months see if you can apply for a family permit for your g/f as a 'extended family member' then take her back to that european country with you,as different countries interpret the meaning of a 'durable relationship' differently (uk i think its 2yrs living together)

just waffling on, you need legal advice which is the best way forward for you..

[JimOttley]

i'm sure registration of a child is not a requirement, but optional.
and as for the DNA test , that's only used as a last resort
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/set...ldren#18165823

If it appears that an illegitimate child has been brought up as a child of the family, it will normally be appropriate to admit the child under paragraph 297(i)(f). The fact that the sponsor may not be aware that the child is not his natural child should not preclude entry clearance.

but like you said, they would want to see your passport, but would they have noticed, the date ?, or if you had lost or had it stolen. maybe the birth cert would have been enough, but far better if you was married to her.

have you had legal advice yet ? your local law centre and http://www.iasuk.org/home.aspx

i would have thought first thing to do would be getting your daughter her passport, seek legal advice from the above, and contact your MP, i've never heard anything so stupid, that you've had a DNA test and proved its your daughter, they are refusing to give her a passport.

wait for your g/f annulment to come thru, wed in the phils and apply for a settlement visa for your wife and son, you would be legally his stepfather, so really no need to adopt him, the only thing is you mention that your g/f has left her kids in the phils? to work in Korea, be careful of 'sole responsibility' that your g/f needs to prove with regards to her kids.

also if your g/f can come here for 6 months, is it not possible she can extend her stay, apply for a student visa? it would cost you money, but if you lived together and if no annulment yet, after 2yrs maybe you could apply for a unmarried partner visa.

or even if you could go and live in a european country exercise your treaty rights ( employed or self employed) after 3 months see if you can apply for a family permit for your g/f as a 'extended family member' then take her back to that european country with you,as different countries interpret the meaning of a 'durable relationship' differently (uk i think its 2yrs living together)

just waffling on, you need legal advice which is the best way forward for you..

Yes I agree, I think I really need legal advice.

My partner is 36 years old but while she is an incredibly sweet and loving woman she is not the smartest lassie in the world, chances of getting a student Visa would be somewhere around zero

I had wondered about marrying in the Phils versus marrying in the UK I had always thought that getting a fiancee visa to get married in the UK would be easier long term.

I should explain that the reason my partner is abroad in Korea just now is to secure the remaining documents that we need in order to get her marriage annulled in the Phils, she is also trying to earn money to help me support the kids.

At 36 years of age in the Phils she has close to zero chance of getting any paid work, they almost ask for a college degree for working at supermarket checkout these days and it certainly is not easy to get that kind of job if you are over 30.

If anything happened to me, the entire family would be destitute, I have provided all of the financial support for my partner, our kids, granny and one of my partners sisters who lives with us, for the last 5 years.

So to me, we have already been living together as husband and wife for 5 years my partner and my kids have been fully financially dependant on me for all of that time.

She has been in Korea since April as it turned out she had to have a Korean Residential ID ie. a Korean address to get the copies of the documents we need but although she is working as a waitress and earning reasonable money, she is horribly depressed just now and really missing the kids.

We just secured the divorce document a couple of weeks ago at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul and have had that processed by the Philippine embassy in Seoul but we need additional notorised copies for the British Embassy in Manila and for our own laywer (a good friend) in Manila. But we are out of cash just now and it's going to cost another 200 pounds to get those documents in Korea so we just have to wait another few weeks till we get some money, once she has those documents I've told her she can go back to Manila so she should be back home with the kids by mid September hopefully.

We have plenty of proof of a durable relationship I have all the receipts for support money I have sent, copies of all our bills rent, electric etc. copies of communications my Skype call logs, you name it I've got it

Thanks for that link I will check it out in detail later tonight and thanks for the various options that does help me think about things from a different angle as I've been very focused on a particular approach for a long time.

My biggest problem right now is that with the cut in income resulting from me losing my business is that I just don't have the money anymore, I need to feed my kids and keep a roof over their heads and while I do send a lot more than many Filipino families have to get by on, I am really only sending barely enough for a decent standard of living for my kids.

The fiancee visa or spouse visa costs in the region of 500 quid I think while that was easy for me to get once upon a time, it's going to take a load of saving now, that's why I am getting desparate now as I just feel I have run out of time.

The only other thing I havent already mentioned is I've been back in touch with the British embassy in Manila to ask for an update as they were supposed to have been referring our case to London and I had no reply from them for several months, hopefully they will get back to me.

So I suppose if I still get no response from the embassy I will have to find out who my MP is and write to them as you are dead right it's a disgrace that they are refusing to acknowlege my daughters citizenship.

Thanks again sir!


Jim