Accomodation

[IainBusby]

me and my wife want to bring her 2 filipino children to the uk,what is the first step we need to take,ive tried to email and phone the british embassy in manila,but no joy,i would like to know where to start.

my wife has been here since oct 05,and is now settled here,she doesnt have citizenship yet,but does want it asap,we could not bring her children here until now,because she has applied for othing things,and she had to spend some time their because her mum had a stroke,her mum is not well,the children currently stay with her mum and dad in the philippines,her children are 12 and 8.

i would really appreciate it,if anyone can help us with this matter

Firstly do the children have passports? If they don't the first thing you must do is get them some as they can't be issued with visas if they don't even have passports.

It's quite difficult to apply for visas from this end because the applications must be made to the British Embassy in the Philippines. In our case we downloaded the settlement visa form and filled it in, then compiled all of the evidence required, ie salary slips, bank/savings/mortgage statements, letters of support, accomodation info, evidence of relationship, financial support and regular contact.

Up to that point things are relatively simple. Then you have to send money and get someone in the Philippines to get you a managers cheque for the visa fee made out to the British Embassy Manila and drawn on a Philippine bank (we used the PNB). Then they must send it to you by a reliable courier such as DHL. When they send it they should put it in an A4 envelope amongst lots of blank sheets of A4 and tell the courier company that it contains documents...... if they tell them that it contains a cheque they will refuse to carry it.

Once you get the cheque (which should be within 2 of weeks of it being issued as it may only be valid for a month) you just add it to the completed application pack and send it by courier (we used Interparcel http://www.interparcel.com ) to the British Embassy in Manila.

You should find out the exact fee and include the courier fee for them to return the application pack when the visas have been issued, otherwise it will have to collected from Manila....... The application pack will be returned to the address of the applicants, ie the children, not to your wife in the UK.

Just to make sure that all that I have told you is still relevant today, If I were you I would send an email to the British Embassy in Manila using the following address as they usually reply to to emails addressed to here with a week or so: ManilaVisaEnquiries.Manila@fco.gov.uk , I would give the email the subject "Making a visa application from the UK to Manila".

Iain.

[IainBusby]

I just had a thought, I can't remember if we sent the visa applicatoin to the British Embassy in Manila or the VFS who normally handle all visa applications initially, anyway their address is:

VFS Services Philippines Private Inc.
Phil-Axa Building, 2501-02,
1286 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Corner Tindalo Street,
Makati City, Manila
Philippines.

It might be an idea to email VFS as well and ask them about it. One thing that has changed since we went through this process that might affect how you proceed with this is that visa applications are usually made in person to VFS because they now use biometrics (fingerscans and digital photographs) for all visa applications, but with regard to children, I don't know from what age this is required.

Something else that I just thought of is that when we had the visa fee managers cheque sent to us, we also had 2 passport type photos of my step-daughter sent at the same time because these need to be fixed to the application form.
Iain.