My Father’s general visitor visa to UK refused!

My father is 71 years old. He is a widower. My mum passed away in Dec 2013. My dad visited my brother in Ireland on a 3 months Visitor Visa in Feb 2014. My brother is an Irish Citizen.
I am living in UK since last 4 years and not a British Citizen. As my Dad was alone in India, no children to look after him. My brother being an Irish Citizen tried to apply for a long term residence visa for our Dad while, my dad’s stay in Ireland. He applied with all his details and my dad’s details in April 2014, before the expiry of my dad’s visitor visa. And it took 9 more months to do all the correspondence with the Irish government and after being refused for the long term visa, my dad voluntarily returned to India in Jan2015.
Now, he applied for his UK general visitor visa in Aug 2015 from India, to visit his daughter here in UK.
We didn’t mention anything in his application about his extended stay at Ireland. We just filled the form normally with all the correct details as questioned and just added a sentence in the covering letter that he(dad) visited UK in 2003, when my brother resided in UK and though he had a 6 months visitor visa, he went back in a month.
So, he has no intentions to stay longer with her daughter now in UK and will go back within the visa time period. And, we also mentioned that my brother is an Irish citizen and gave his passport number.
Now in Sep 2015, we got the refusal letter mentioning the reason as, the authority is not convinced that my father will go back to India as he has not shown that he had any extension granted in Ireland for his extended stay and he has overstayed by 9 months and also he is a widower.
And, along with this, we have not shown any social connections of him back in India. So, the authority is assuming that his daughter and son in law have decided to accommodate him and the authority is not sure about his intentions of going back to India.
He did mention that he has no objection on the financial side of my father and his son in law.
We are planning to reapply again and support the application with addresses and electricity bills of my dad’s brothers, sisters and in laws, to prove his social connections back in India.
And, we are thinking to attach the correspondence letters done with the Irish government. Though I can’t attach all the letters because my brother had to show that my dad is dependent on him, he wrote in the letter that my dad has no one to look after him back in India and he has cardiac problem and didn’t mention about any sibling. He had to do all this, because he had to prove that my dad was now dependent on him, not financially but, he needed family to look after him.
My dad was not deported from Ireland, he went back voluntarily.

I am attaching the paragraph from the refusal letter from the UK authority here,

I have refused your application for a visit visa because I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of Appendix V immigration rules for visitors.

You state you wish to enter the UK for a period of six months to visit your daughter.
Whilst I understand the importance of family visits under the UK immigration rules, you must show that you qualify for a visa by explaining your own circumstances and the plans you have for your visit. I acknowledge that your sponsor in the UK has offered to accommodate you during your proposed trip and I acknowledge the documents you provide from them along with your application. I also acknowledge that you submit a bank statement in your own name. However, your sponsor is only one element of the application and it is your own circumstances in India I must also take into consideration.

• Your passport is endorsed with an Irish visa issued on Janaury 2014. You subsequently entered Ireland on 4th February 2014. Your passport was endorsed with a manual stamp indicating you had permission to be in Ireland only until May 2014 and you have not submitted evidence that you had any form of visa extension during your time in Ireland. You re-entered India in Janaury 2015. It appears that you overstayed your visa in Ireland for a period of nine months.
• I note that you propose to fund your own trip and have the funds to do so, but I am obliged to consider your intentions whilst you are in the UK. I note that you are a widower and you have a son in Ireland and your daughter in the UK. Your bank statement indicates that you have an income from sources other than your children but you have not submitted any evidence of having ties or commitments, particularly social ones in India which indicate that you would leave the UK before the expiry of your visa. This is of particular importance in your case, given you previously overstayed your visa in Ireland. I am therefore not satisfied that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit.
• After having considered the above, I am not satisfied that you have shown that you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit, that you are genuinely seeking entry for a purpose that is permitted by the visitor routes and that u will not undertake any of the prohibited activities set out in v4.5-v4.10 (v4.2 (a) (c) and (d)). Your application for a visit visa has been refused under paragraph v4.2 (a).


Future applications

Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered on their individual merits, but they may be refused unless:

• Your personal circumstances change significantly between now and your next application.
• You provide compelling new evidence with your next application.
In relation to this decision there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.


This is the exact letter from the authority.

And I am posting a letter paragraph from Irish government which mentions that if my dad left the country voluntarily, he will be allowed to come back to Ireland on a visitor visa again.

You may choose to leave the state voluntarily, before the minister makes a final decision in your case. If you choose this option, and your request is approved, a deportation order will not be made against you. This means that you may apply to come back to Ireland legally in the future, for example on a tourist visa, work permit or study permit.

And my dad did leave the country voluntarily.

So, plzzz plz guide me my next step now.

Should I reapply, with all these above mentioned proofs of social connections in India and showing some proof that he is allowed back in Ireland on a visitor visa.

Plz help, I really want my dad here with me at the time of our festival and during my mum’s death anniversary. We have no intentions of over staying, he will go back when the visa is finishing.

And plz advice on any more proofs to show for social connections other than addresses and their electricity bills. How many months electricity bill should be enough?

My dad is a retired employee of a government undertaking company in India. So, he has free medical after retirement too.
Shall we show that too, as a main reason to go back to India, as he gets free medical treatment for the rest of his life? So, from the health point of view too, it is better for him to stay in India only permanently, not in UK.

Thanks in advance, and all the guidance would be truly appreciated. Plz reply asap.

One of the important requirements for a visitor visa is showing close ties to home country. Overstaying in Ireland does not help him.

chsakr wrote:My father is 71 years old. He is a widower. My mum passed away in Dec 2013. My dad visited my brother in Ireland on a 3 months Visitor Visa in Feb 2014. My brother is an Irish Citizen.
I am living in UK since last 4 years and not a British Citizen. As my Dad was alone in India, no children to look after him. My brother being an Irish Citizen tried to apply for a long term residence visa for our Dad while, my dad’s stay in Ireland. He applied with all his details and my dad’s details in April 2014, before the expiry of my dad’s visitor visa. And it took 9 more months to do all the correspondence with the Irish government and after being refused for the long term visa, my dad voluntarily returned to India in Jan2015.
Now, he applied for his UK general visitor visa in Aug 2015 from India, to visit his daughter here in UK.

...
Future applications

Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered on their individual merits, but they may be refused unless:

• Your personal circumstances change significantly between now and your next application.
• You provide compelling new evidence with your next application.
In relation to this decision there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.
[/b]

...

So, plzzz plz guide me my next step now.

Should I reapply, with all these above mentioned proofs of social connections in India and showing some proof that he is allowed back in Ireland on a visitor visa.

Plz help, I really want my dad here with me at the time of our festival and during my mum’s death anniversary. We have no intentions of over staying, he will go back when the visa is finishing.

And plz advice on any more proofs to show for social connections other than addresses and their electricity bills. How many months electricity bill should be enough?

My dad is a retired employee of a government undertaking company in India. So, he has free medical after retirement too.
Shall we show that too, as a main reason to go back to India, as he gets free medical treatment for the rest of his life? So, from the health point of view too, it is better for him to stay in India only permanently, not in UK.

Thanks in advance, and all the guidance would be truly appreciated. Plz reply asap.

HO tend to make decisions based on 'evidence' of past behaviour rather than on someone's stated 'good' intentions (which might & clearly do change).
The track record they will have for this applicant includes some sort of overstay on a visit visa.

This kind of mindset doesn't help your case:

And, we are thinking to attach the correspondence letters done with the Irish government. Though I can’t attach all the letters because my brother had to show that my dad is dependent on him, he wrote in the letter that my dad has no one to look after him back in India and he has cardiac problem and didn’t mention about any sibling. He had to do all this, because he had to prove that my dad was now dependent on him, not financially but, he needed family to look after him.

Look at it from HO point of view, he's either dependencies in the home country or he hasn't, it can't change back & forth per visa application (in the space of a few months).

Thanks a lot for such a quick reply.

I am sorry , it is not very clear what is recommended to me by the immigration board.

What I can understand is that, my dad's past history of overstay will be seen as a negative point in the next application again. So, does that mean should I lose the hope of my dad visiting me or what are the chances of a positive reply? Is there no chance at all of getting the visa?

The Irish government did ask my dad to send proof of reaching back to India. And we did send the copies of stamped passport on arriving India.

We received this letter from the Irish Government stating that , they have received evidence of his voluntary return to India.

Letter from the Irish Government

Dear Mr xxxx
>
> Please be advised that our files have now been updated and you have been
> recorded as having voluntary returned to India.
>
> Kind regards
>
> xxxx


If I just show only this letter of correspondence with the Irish Government, as a proof that my dad returned back to India voluntarily and I don't show any other correspondence.


Will this be enough to show that my Dad was not deported from Ireland?

Will this letter work as a plus point for my dad's application?

Plz, it's a humble request, give me a clear picture of the chances of getting a visa for my dad.

Thanks in advance, desperately waiting for a reply with some suggestions on how to proceed further.

Regards,

chsakr

Thanks a lot for such a quick response.

The link was really a similar case as ours. But, they had no overstay before. And some more guidance on the covering letter would be really helpful.

I completely agree that it was a big mistake from our side at Ireland. But, my brother really had no wrong or illegal intentions. We just wanted to support our dad to get over the shock of my mum's sudden death. And my brother being an Irish citizen wanted to exercise his rights and legally get a long term extension for our dad. All the correspondence done with the Irish government was legal, as we were unaware till the end that it is not recommended to apply for an extension within the country and we should have applied for the extension from India.

We would really appreciate more suggestions on how to show social ties from home country and what points in the covering letter should be highlighted so that it would convince the authority, that my dad will go back to india, within the visa period.



Thanks for all the help, we really appreciate it.

Regards,

chsakr

Thanks a lot for your guidance. We really appreciate it. Hoping others will also share valuable information. Awaiting more ideas desperately.

Regards

Chsakr