Child joining mother who has Spouse residence permit (married to British National)

Hi there.

I helped a friend of mine (originally from Kosovo but with British Passport) apply for his wife to join him in the UK on a Spouse visa. This was successful in late 2018. When we made the application, we also included in section 55 details of her dependent child who is 10 years old. In section 80 we included a statement that whilst the daughter was named in the application, she was going to remain in Kosovo living with her grandparent until the end of the academic year and then seek to bring her in to the UK to join her mother.

My friend's wife is now happily living in the UK with her husband (my friend) and we are unclear what the next step is to get the daughter to join her mother.

Important context: The 10 year old girl is the offspring of another man - since divorced from the applicant. The genetic father has had no recent involvement in the upbringing of the child. The applicant has sole custody of the child and a court order signed by the child's genetic father (a notorised transaltion of a legal Power of Attorney). This PoA is explicit in consenting to the child applying for visa and emigrate overseas to live with the mother.

The applicant's intention is to now bring her daughted to live in the UK to live with her and complete her primary school education in London. They are already speaking with potential schools locally.

My questions are:

1. By naming the child as a dependent on the mother's application, have we effectively already applied for the child's visa? We had no follow-up from the HO in relation to issuance of visa or biometrics for the child.

2. What is the correct application we need to make now? Do you know what the charge is for this? Will my friend need to resubmit all of the financial and other evidence (of the sponsor) or will the previous application for the mother (which named the dependent child) suffice in this regard?

3. Are there any other 'gotchas' I should be aware of?

Thanks,

Flann

1. No you have not applied for a visa. The child needs to apply and the sponsors must meet the financial requirement of £22,400pa.

Mother obvs has to prove sole responsibility.

immigration-for-family-members/sole-res ... 13087.html

2. Same visa and process as the mother. VAF4A and Appendix 2. IHS has doubled and will be £1200 instead of £600 that the mother paid and current visa fee is £1523. Previous application by mother is not sufficient. All supporting documents, financial and accommodation etc, must be recent, ie you cannot use what was used for mother.

Thank you. That is very clear. Out of interest (ignoring the recent uplift in charges) would it have been most cost-effective to make both applications at the same time?

The mother is now also in full-time employment in the UK. Can both she and her husband act as sponsors from a financial requirement perspective?

Thanks again,

Flann.

Out of interest (ignoring the recent uplift in charges) would it have been most cost-effective to make both applications at the same time?

Yes, the child could have come during the initial 30 day visa for a short visit to get her brp card and could have returned to home country if necessary.

The mother is now also in full-time employment in the UK. Can both she and her husband act as sponsors from a financial requirement perspective?

Yes

Thanks again.

re: your comment about "Yes, the child could have come during the initial 30 day visa for a short visit to get her brp card and could have returned to home country if necessary."

Do you mean that the daughter could have avoided the visa fee and IHS fee totally if she had come during the initial 30-day visa with her mum? If so, I'll be kicking myself!

No, that is not what I meant. The child still would have had to apply for a visa and pay the visa fee and reduced IHS before it increased.

thanks. The sponsor would have never forgiven me if I'd cost him thousands!

Take care and thank you again for your advice on this.

flann wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:14 am

thanks. The sponsor would have never forgiven me if I'd cost him thousands!

Also tell her/him that she/he got free advice for which solicitors charge thousands.