Girlfriend. Son and step son coming from Australia.

Hi guys just need some advice. Reading gov immigration website is confusing me. So I am a British citizen and born and bred here. I have just returned from Australia and my Australian girlfriend and my newborn son and her 2 and a half year old son are looking to move over. She has booked a flight over for all of them and currently doesn't have a return flight booked, she doesn't currently have a visa as she can stay for 6 months without one. Will they allow her in without onward flight? Also once she is in how hard is it to get a visa for them all to stay? Will it be easier once my son has a British passport? I am financially stable enough to support them I'm just reading too many conflicting things online to do with the visas. Thanks in advance, jake

Entering without a pre-applied visa requires the visitor to carry with them all the same documented proof of strong ties to their home country that they would have submitted in a visa application. This needs to convince the Immigration Officer at the UK port of entry that your girlfriend and her son won't overstay the maximum permitted 6 month period.
Neither of them will be able to switch from any other category from within the UK. Have you lived together in a relationship 'akin to marriage' for a minimum of 2 years, with the documented evidence to support this? Settlement visas, either for a spouse or an unmarried partner can only be applied for from the home country. Your son's British citizenship still requires your girlfriend and her son to meet all the conditions required. One issue that will also have to be addressed is whether she has sole responsibility for the care of her son and permission from the father to remove him from Australia.
Be aware that there is no boyfriend/girlfriend visa, even though you have a child together.

Without a return ticket, she risks refusal of entry and returned on the next flight as she will obviously not be a 'genuine visitor'. HO/UKVI take a very dim view of people trying this.

As a visitor, she is not able to switch to any other category visa. She has to apply for the relevant visa from Australia. For your step son, she will have to prove sole responsibility.

Edit : #Casa - speedy fingers

CR001 wrote:Without a return ticket, she risks refusal of entry and returned on the next flight as she will obviously not be a 'genuine visitor'. HO/UKVI take a very dim view of people trying this.

As a visitor, she is not able to switch to any other category visa. She has to apply for the relevant visa from Australia. For your step son, she will have to prove sole responsibility.

Edit : #Casa - speedy fingers

Edit: And I've added some more while you were typing.

One additional question. What passport will your baby son travel on to enter the UK?

Casa wrote:Entering without a pre-applied visa requires the visitor to carry with them all the same documented proof of strong ties to their home country that they would have submitted in a visa application. This needs to convince the Immigration Officer at the UK port of entry that your girlfriend and her son won't overstay the maximum permitted 6 month period.
Neither of them will be able to switch from any other category from within the UK. Have you lived together in a relationship 'akin to marriage' for a minimum of 2 years, with the documented evidence to support this? Settlement visas, either for a spouse or an unmarried partner can only be applied for from the home country. Your son's British citizenship still requires your girlfriend and her son to meet all the conditions required. One issue that will also have to be addressed is whether she has sole responsibility for the care of her son and permission from the father to remove him from Australia.
Be aware that there is no boyfriend/girlfriend visa, even though you have a child together.

Hi casa, she would be travelling with enough funds to purchase a return ticket or a ticket out of the UK at short notice. We just booked the flight over as soon as possible so they could just get over here asap. Would flights over to Ireland count as leaving uk? I have family there and also an irish passport.
It would be approaching 2 years in June, she has sole care of her son his father isn't on the birth certificate and has never met him. So that isn't an issue (I hope). My son will be coming on a Australian Passport.

What would be gained by her leaving the UK for Ireland? She will only qualify for an Unmarried Partner visa once you can show a full 2 years of co-habitation and the application can only be applied for from her home country. There are other important issues to consider:
1. Her son is not considered as a member of your family and therefore can't be included in a settlement application. It's late now and I need to give more thought to this as it's not straightforward. Perhaps in the meantime someone else will come up with a solution. apart from the obvious one of marriage.
2. If your girlfriend was previously married, has this been legally dissolved?
3. You write that you have recently returned from Australia. Are you employed in the UK and if so, for how long and how much are your annual earnings?
4. The Immigration Officer will expect to see return tickets to Australia, even if via Ireland. The fact that you are living in the UK will raise suspicion that she will overstay unless she can present strong evidence of reasons for her return (as mentioned previously).

CR001 wrote:Without a return ticket, she risks refusal of entry and returned on the next flight as she will obviously not be a 'genuine visitor'......

:

Well not so easily, especially when accompanied by a British Child.

Obie wrote:

CR001 wrote:Without a return ticket, she risks refusal of entry and returned on the next flight as she will obviously not be a 'genuine visitor'......

:

Well not so easily, especially when accompanied by a British Child.

I admire your optimism Obie. There is a third scenario, where the IO believes she isn't a genuine visitor and allows a compassionate entry for a few days. Bear in mind that the 'British' child will be travelling on an Australian passport. Being fortunate on entry still doesn't solve the issue that her visit is with the intention to apply for a settlement visa from within the UK. Neither can I see yet how the OP can sponsor her son from a previous relationship under an Unmarried Partner application.

Jakethemuss wrote: Also once she is in how hard is it to get a visa for them all to stay? Will it be easier once my son has a British passport? I am financially stable enough to support them I'm just reading too many conflicting things online to do with the visas. Thanks in advance, jake

Marry the mother of your child. Or apply for her as a fiance and marry in the UK within 6 months. Bring her and her child from a previous relationship, over on a correct visa so they can be British citizens too in the shortest possible time. Make them safe.

Being on the correct visas from the day they arrive, also means they can use the NHS for free for all their treatment. Australia will only pay for limited treatments/emergency care, while they are a visitor in the UK.

If you are quick with either a marriage or fiance visa, you can avoid paying the Immigration Health Surcharge that Australians will have to pay from 6th April, so that they won't be billed at point of use with the NHS (for things Australia won't pay for). Remember too that Australia won't keep paying their health bills.

In the time you have been away, the UK has changed who can have free NHS and now the NHS staff check and can refuse treatment if they don't show they can pay. They won't refuse life saving treatment but it still has to be paid for and under the changes NHS England seem to be making, if your girlfriend doesn't pay then you will have to pay the bills; with 50-% added to the bill for not having insurance.

Trying to save a few quid now for many years of stress, pain and poverty, really isn't worth it.

Obie wrote:

CR001 wrote:Without a return ticket, she risks refusal of entry and returned on the next flight as she will obviously not be a 'genuine visitor'......

:

Well not so easily, especially when accompanied by a British Child.

The new born will be traveling in on an Australian passport, which is why I have responded as I have. As the parents are not married, to get the child a British passport will likely now involve DNA testing to prove paternity.

Casa wrote:1. Her son is not considered as a member of your family and therefore can't be included in a settlement application. It's late now and I need to give more thought to this as it's not straightforward. Perhaps in the meantime someone else will come up with a solution. apart from the obvious one of marriage.

Casa, the stepson will definitely be considered part of the family in a settlement application. There is no reason he cannot be included with the mother's application and has she clearly has sole responsibility, there would be no issue at all.

CR001 wrote:

Casa wrote:1. Her son is not considered as a member of your family and therefore can't be included in a settlement application. It's late now and I need to give more thought to this as it's not straightforward. Perhaps in the meantime someone else will come up with a solution. apart from the obvious one of marriage.

Casa, the stepson will definitely be considered part of the family in a settlement application. There is no reason he cannot be included with the mother's application and has she clearly has sole responsibility, there would be no issue at all.

Except for the problem that he's not the OPs stepson as they're not married? Awaiting response from the OP to confirm whether his girlfriend is free to marry...they haven't yet clocked up 2 years of living together.

Casa wrote:

CR001 wrote:

Casa wrote:1. Her son is not considered as a member of your family and therefore can't be included in a settlement application. It's late now and I need to give more thought to this as it's not straightforward. Perhaps in the meantime someone else will come up with a solution. apart from the obvious one of marriage.

Casa, the stepson will definitely be considered part of the family in a settlement application. There is no reason he cannot be included with the mother's application and has she clearly has sole responsibility, there would be no issue at all.

Except for the problem that he's not the OPs stepson as they're not married? Awaiting response from the OP to confirm whether his girlfriend is free to marry...they haven't yet clocked up 2 years of living together.

As a child dependent on the mother who has sole responsibility, there should be no issue.