Skilled Worker Child dependant visa - sole responsibility refusal

Hi All,

I have been in the UK with a skilled worker visa since Feb 2023. I applied for a dependent visa for my child as the sole responsible parent and provided the following evidence to display my sole responsibility in addition to others:

1.) School letter: Confirms that I have been solely responsible for my child's care and education, including paying fees and overseeing her progress and solely attending Parent teacher meetings. They only have my details on school record.

2.) Hospital letter: Confirms they only hold information about me and contact only me for any health matters concerning my child.

3.) Church Sunday School Letter: Confirm that I am solely involved in directing my child's religious upbringing, pay fees, with no involvement from the biological father.

4.) Handwritten Letter from my child: States her relationship with me, expresses her wish to join me in the UK, and confirms her lack of contact/relationship with her biological father.

5.) Certified Document from the Court: Confirms my sole responsibility/custody over her and my full responsibility for my welfare and overall care.

6.) Signed Letter from the Biological Father: Confirms his lack of custody or involvement in my child's life since her birth and expresses no objection to her joining me in the UK.

7.) School Fees Receipts Paid by me, Money Remittance, WhatsApp Correspondence and family photos from childhood to now

8.) Letter from Grandmother and Hospital: Confirming her current health condition and that she can not take care of my child long term, supporting the need for her to be reunited with me in the UK.

Unfortunately, I have now received a refusal letter with the following 2 reasons:

1. Firstly, I note that you submitted affidavits from family and friends however affidavits
are self-serving documents and when submitted in isolation, carry no official weight
to determine the credibility of its contents, given that the people giving those
statements have a vested interest in the positive outcome of your application. There
is no evidence to corroborate the contents of the affidavits and I am therefore not
satisfied that they can be relied upon as evidence that a genuine transfer of parental
responsibility has taken place.

2. I note that in your application you have submitted a Statutory declaration which
confirms sole custody to your mother. I also note that this order was granted in
February 2024. I am satisfied this document was obtained only to be submitted to
facilitate you being granted entry clearance to the UK.

In regard to the second point, yes I obtained it for the purpose of the application as in every day life, it is not a document I previously needed and given the high thresholds set by the Home Office, I obtained it to add weight to my child's application.

Has the application been unfairly refused and do I stand a good chance if I submit an admin review application against the decision, I still have a lot of time to submit it.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

AR will not overturn the decision.
Unless you are able to convince the Home Office that sole responsibility was not solely documented for the purpose of obtaining a dependent visa… which it was, it is going to be incredibly difficult and challenging appeal process through the courts.
Other individuals have been successful after protracted court cases, others not.
Points not in your favour - you did not apply for the dependent visa at the same time. (from my reason of the post)
You then travelled leaving the child behind- abandonment by default.
There is no compulsion to come to work in the UK and it was your choice.

Thank you very much for your response.

So in theory, I would have been better off not applying for court documentation even if it accurately portrays my sole custody and responsibility of the child. I’d assume Court orders for single parents are not common practice even in the UK and very pricy to obtain so I’m just confused as to why a legal document, albeit recent, has so much emphasis to go against the application and what seems like an outright ignorance of all other evidence provided from the caseworker e.g school, hospital, Sunday school, photos and money evidences.

Given the unlikeliness of success with an AR application, if I submitted a fresh application without the court documentation and just with the rest of the evidences which largely align with what the Home Office consider as constituting sole responsibility in their guidance, would I stand more of a chance or would they still consider evidence from previous applications?

Also, if I had the funds and the accommodation at the time I would have also applied for my child but I needed to start working in the UK to accumulate the necessary funds and obtain adequate accommodation before applying for my child.

Again, any responses would be greatly appreciated as I really wish for my only child to join me. Thank you in advance

The court document was and is needed to show that you are legally and verifiably holding sole responsibility. The issue is that in the absence of other documentation that is the only document the Home Office can rely on.
Do you have a divorce certificate or something to show the relationship with the father ceased?

I was never in a marriage with the father of my child and I am currently married to my current partner who has been granted a dependant visa.

My child's father wrote a signed letter confirming he abdicated parental responsibility since birth alongside his ID and that he has no objection to me taking our child to the UK.

And when you say the absence of other documentation that the Home Office could rely upon, could you clarify what else I could have possibly provided?

Home Office guidance states, In assessing whether the applicant has sole parental responsibility for a child, you must consider any evidence provided to show that:
• decisions have been taken and actions performed in relation to the upbringing of the child under the sole direction of one parent
• only one parent is responsible for the child’s welfare and for what happens to them in key areas of the child’s life, and the other parent does not share this responsibility for the child
• one parent has sole responsibility for: making decisions regarding the child’s education, health and medical treatment, religion, residence, holidays and recreation, protecting the child and providing them with appropriate direction and guidance

As mentioned, letters from the School, Hospital/Doctor, Church sunday school all confirmed I have the only say in my child's matter, solely fund my child and they only contact me in any matter etc. My child also currently lives with my mother temporarily and for any important matters/decisions regarding the child always contacts me and she also has a letter from the Hospital which outlines her current health problems and confirms she would not be suitable to look after the child long-term, which surely amounts to serious and compelling considerations. I feel as if the Entry clearance officer simply disregarded all this evidence when coming to the refusal decision.

Sorry I was not aware of your spouse - that should be taken into consideration and should add to your claim for your child's visa.

Has your spouse formally adopted your daughter? Is it something that your home country routinely does or gets involved with?
Did your spouse apply for their dependent visa at the same time as your child?
Has your spouse joined you in the Uk - I have assumed no but just confirming?

As for more documents - to be fair you have provided a reasonable amount from what you have outlined. The Home Office is obviously irked by the date on the confirmation of sole responsibility and have thrown in the "self-serving" which I get - but that was before I understood that there is a family group and it was not just you as a single parent trying to bring your child.

The decision is strange in that you have are a confirmed family group and the grant of your husband's dependent visa in effect confirms the break up of your family group. So I think it is worth going for AR.

The other glitch in the matrix might be why would you have sole responsibility if you are in a family group - and the better route may have been formal adoption of your child by the father. It really depends on the local laws in force in your home country.

Maybe you should consult advisor. In my opinion a court order is a public document that should be sufficient and currently the case worker disputes court decision (albeit of a foreign country).

As for serious and compelling evidence I suggest you don't go down that route as your case is not serious nor compelling. You are in the UK at your own will, if you wish to be with your daughter from the UKVI point of view you are free to travel back. So it won't hold.

Thank you both for your replies. I will focus more on the sole responsibility aspect rather than the serious and compelling facet moving forward.

And yes, we were living together as a family (my current partner and child) for almost 3 years before I arrived in the UK and provided evidence of our cohabitation. My spouse has not formally adopted my child (very long-winded, expensive and onerous process) but has provided financial assistance for her, family photos of us together and the school and church are aware of his involvement in our family.

My spouse applied a couple of months earlier which was swiftly granted. The initial plan was to apply at the same time and for them to come together but given the high threshold of sole responsibility, I wanted to obtain as much evidence as possible to prove to the Home Office of SR. Spouse is now in the UK due to time limit on EC vignette and my mother is currently taking care of my child but as said she has provided independent medical evidence, that this is not a long term arrangement.

I will try go for AR and if possible raise Human Right grounds in the application against the refusal.

Thank you so much for your help.

I suggest you really push hard with the fact you are a family unit and make it beyond clear that the family all bar the child is in the UK - and I mean explanation for dummy volume 1 type stuff.

Good luck