hello...from new user Tim

[tim365uk]

Hi all,

I will have a look through your site later but just wanted to introduce myself.

My name is Tim and I live in the UK with my filipino girlfriend. Together we are trying to sort out a schedule comprising of what we are required to do for securing her ongoing annulment and bringing her children to the UK so that we can enjoy our life together.

At this early posting stage if anyone is able to offer some info regarding the above - particularly whether it is useful to try and engage a UK lawyer and perhaps point out any particularly important stages/issues in the process I would be very grateful.

I look forward to getting you know you all in the future.

Tim

[Pepe n Pilar]

Hi Tim365uk, welcome to the forum

[A_flyer]

Hello Tim, welcome to the forum.

For the annulment which is a Philipppines process, a UK lawyer is of no use. It has to be done in the Philippines and will require her to go there. It's a long process... be both patient (search in the forum, you will find useful infos). In not done yet, you will need to hire a good attorney in the Philippines for this (and carefully follow his/her work, it's not easy from the UK).

Then for your girlfriend, it depends what is her status in the UK (regarding immigration and visa).

[kimmi]

hello Tim, welcome to the forum...

[aug06_2006]

Hi Tim, welcome to this informative site.

[jonnijon]

Hi Tim,expect to part with about £2000 for annulment.

[tim365uk]

Hi all, thanks for the welcome and I am looking forward to reading through the site.

The annulment is actually already underway - and at a cost of about 2k as mentioned by jonnijon

Today I visited the IAS in Liverpool..it seems we qualify for some free legal assistance so hopefully the forthcoming appointment will be helpful.

The annulment as I guess some of you are aware is key to everything else...so assuming the right result is granted (particularly sole responsibility for the kids)...we intend to bring my g/f's kids to the UK in 2008....one criteria is of 'adequate accomodation' naturally we want to make sure that we fulfil all requirements - does anybody have any experience of this? I can't seem to discover exactly who/what organisation is responsible for specifying the criteria and also presumably checking and confirming.

This is important to me as I imagine it'll require a house move as we'll need at least 3 bedrooms as opposed to our current 2...and if we have to move - at what point should we do it?....
......presumably the person responsible for checking this will want documents to confirm but do they require us to be in possession of the 'adequate accomodation' for a certain period of time prior to application for the kids?

thanks for any comments on this....have a good weekend

[joebloggs]

people actually work for IAS , a year ago, after phoning them 50 times and no answer , even sent them emails no reply , i gave up , anyway didn't need them in the end

everyone who applies for a fiancee or spouse visa has to have 'adequate accomodation'


info supplied by the excellent thai john

The following is an extract from the IND manuals giving guidance to their staff about whether accommodation is overcrowded or not. If accommodation is indeed overcrowded then is is not classed as "suitable" and that fact would tend to mean that an application for a visa would not succeed.

Guidance on overcrowding
The Housing Act 1985 contains statutory definitions of overcrowding in "dwelling houses". Dwelling houses covers both privately owned houses and those owned by local authorities. A house is overcrowded if 2 persons of 10 years old or more of opposite sexes (other than husband and wife) have to sleep in the same room, or if the number sleeping in the house exceeds that permitted in the Act.

The Act specifies the numbers permitted for a given number of rooms or given floor area. For our purposes we adopt the room number yardstick. Account is only taken of rooms with a floor area larger that 50 sq feet and rooms of a type used either as a living-room or bedroom; kitchens or bathrooms etc are not included.

Using the above noted yardstick, the following table provides guidance as to the acceptable (for our purposes) number of persons occupying a house with a stated number of rooms:

NO OF ROOMS ..... PERMITTED NO OF PERSONS
.......... 1 ................................. 2
.......... 2 ................................. 3
.......... 3 ................................. 5
.......... 4 ................................. 7.5
.......... 5 ............................... 10

with an additional 2 persons for each room in excess of 5.

A child under the age of one does not count as a person. A child aged 1 - 10 years will count as only half a person.

There are separate overcrowding provisions for a house in multiple occupation (HMO), which is defined as "a house, which is occupied by persons who do not form a single household". This very wide definition covers hotels and hostels, as well as houses lived in by 2 or more couples of different generations where they do not share common facilities. The most common occurrence of this is likely to be a man seeking entry to join his wife and intending to live with her independently in a house also occupied by her family. The definition therefore includes a house lived in by 2 or more couples (even if related) excluding dependent children of the couple.

There are no hard and fast rules concerning overcrowding HMOs. Local authorities have the power to serve an overcrowding notice in relation to a house in multiple occupation specifying the maximum number of people permitted in a house, or serve a notice to prevent any further residents. Where an overcrowding notice renders an occupier homeless the council may be obliged to provide accommodation under the Housing Act 1985 - if for example the occupier has dependent children, or is old or infirm. Such accommodation would, of course, count under the Rules as recourse to public funds. In the case of HMOs it may be necessary to obtain written confirmation from the local authority that there is no objection to an additional resident moving in but see paragraph 6.2 above.

NB It should be noted that under the Act local authorities have the power to licence temporary overcrowding.

so depending on the sex of your g/f's children, you might not have a problem with 2 bedrooms .
if you own the house evidence can be land reg docs, deeds, photos of the rooms, etc..

as for sole responsibility of her children, is the father named on their birth certs? and is she on talking terms with the father still ?

good luck thou

[gracia143]

Welcome to the forum Tim! You've stated in your post that the Annulment is already ongoing so I reckon you've done all your research about the Annulment beforehand. All I can now say is Goodluck...it is going to be a rough ride but somehow I am positive that she will get it. Again, Welcome to the forum.

[tim365uk]

thanks again folks for your contributions.......'Joe Bloggs' please excuse my ignorance...what is the IND manual? and what is HMO?

the sole responsibility part is being done as part of the annulment (as far as I understand) and yes she's on talking terms with the father - problem is he is not consistent....so it's difficult to be clear with his views....