Visitor Visa Question for mother in law

[xabovem]

Hi,

I and my wife are shortly expecting our first baby and wanted to apply for a visitor visa for her mother (who is Indian) to visit us. We wanted to apply for a 2-year visitor visa, because we plan to have her visit for short periods, over the coming few years as the baby grows, etc.

We were planning for my wife to sponsor her as she is in full-time employment with a sufficient salary - but we are worried that as she is going on maternity leave soon if we mention the baby as part of the reason why we are applying for a 2-year multi-visit visa, that they may question her financial situation and her ability to support her mothers trip here.

So in that case I would also co-sponsor - but as a contractor, I would have to get a letter from my account, proof of directorship, bank statements, and dividend slips - which seems overly complicated.

So I am here asking the advice of the people here -

1) Should we mention that my wife is having a child on the visa application
2) if we do, will they take the maternity leave into account in her capacity to sponsor?
3) if they do, are the documents above I mention sufficient for me to co-sponsor (my company has been operating since October 2020 so almost 4 years of accounts now).

Thank you for your time.

[secret.simon]

1) Should we mention that my wife is having a child on the visa application

No. That may be seen as working (childcare), which is not allowed under the visitor rules. I would advise against mentioning it.

Keep in mind that for a visit visa, they will give great weightage to her connections to her country of habitual residence i.e. what proof is there that she will leave the UK at the end of the visit visa? That is more important than her sponsorship by your spouse or you.

Indeed, a strong sponsorship case and mention of a grandchild may suggest that she may be able to overstay easily and may lead to a refusal of a visit visa without strong countervailing connections to her country of habitual residence.

Also, the odds of her getting a multi-year visa in the first go are slim. The normal course of action is to build up a history of short term visit visas (kind of like a credit score), all where the person as returned back within (ideally with a lot of time to spare) the duration of their visit visa.

Also see this post and the links within it.

[mohanverma123]

Similar situation - applied for 6 months visit visa for my mother in law 2 weeks back and just shown that she would be visiting us to attend the house warming as we have bought a new house here in the UK. Wife is pregnant but we didn't mention this. I would just go for 6 months - apply for a normal visit and take it from there

[xabovem]

1) Should we mention that my wife is having a child on the visa application

No. That may be seen as working (childcare), which is not allowed under the visitor rules. I would advise against mentioning it.

Keep in mind that for a visit visa, they will give great weightage to her connections to her country of habitual residence i.e. what proof is there that she will leave the UK at the end of the visit visa? That is more important than her sponsorship by your spouse or you.

Indeed, a strong sponsorship case and mention of a grandchild may suggest that she may be able to overstay easily and may lead to a refusal of a visit visa without strong countervailing connections to her country of habitual residence.

Also, the odds of her getting a multi-year visa in the first go are slim. The normal course of action is to build up a history of short term visit visas (kind of like a credit score), all where the person as returned back within (ideally with a lot of time to spare) the duration of their visit visa.

Also see this post and the links within it.

thank you so much for your suggestion

[xabovem]

Similar situation - applied for 6 months visit visa for my mother in law 2 weeks back and just shown that she would be visiting us to attend the house warming as we have bought a new house here in the UK. Wife is pregnant but we didn't mention this. I would just go for 6 months - apply for a normal visit and take it from there moi qatar visa check

also thank you for your suggestion