Will my mother-in-law be eligible for a 'Family of a Settled Person Visa' if my wife has EU Settled Status?

See the title, but I'll go into it in more detail.

I'm a Brit. My wife and son both have Ukrainian citizenship, and currently are in the UK via the Surinder Singh route after we lived together in Germany and Cyprus as a family before arriving. They both should be receiving their pre-settled status any day now.

We tried twice to get my mother-in-law over on a Standard Visitor Visa over the Christmas period with no success – unfortunately they rejected her based on a lack of evidence she would return home at the end of her stay. She isn't in the best of health, she's a widow, has no other children, and doesn't work an official job, so the 'ties' that she has in her home country aren't the strongest – hence the rejection.

This is obviously very upsetting and difficult – my wife, who currently doesn't work, feels as if she can't start working on a career because she's concerned about her mother's health, given that my MIL doesn't really look after herself and the job she has is physically demanding but literally the only thing she can get right now. She feels exceptionally torn between the UK and Ukraine, knowing that if we went back, we wouldn't be able to give our son the childhood that we want to give him, but also knowing that if we stay in the UK, she'll only be able to see her mother during whatever holidays from work she can get.

Tonight I read this article and it gave me some hope: https://workpermit.com/immigration/unit ... erson-visa. It's not something I had read about before, but it seems to suggest that once my wife has been in the UK long enough to get Indefinite Leave to Remain (which I believe is the equivalent to Settled Status, please correct me if I'm wrong), then we could invite my MIL over on a Family of a Settled Person Visa for two and a half years, which we could then extend.

So is my understanding of this situation correct? And will our two rejections have an impact on whether she can get this visa in the future?

Any advice would be welcome. My wife is really struggling to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and if there is hope, we'd like to have it, even if it is five years down the line.

Thanks in advance.

Hello

I think you are taking that visa description in a very broad terms. It's about Family Visa:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

A parent established in the UK, can bring his kids
A kid established in the UK can bring parents
A person established in the UK can bring a spouse (wife or husband)... etc.

But except from the spouse case, it doesn't work just like that between adults. For instance, it doesn't work if a parent wants to bring his major son or daughter; it works only for minors.

For high dependency situation, there is the Adult Dependent Relative (ADR) Visa:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/adult ... t-relative

But most applications for ADR fail. You have nothing to lose by trying as she has been already refused for visitor visas and she is unlikely to qualify for a visitor visa in the future. Usually, if an applicant is declined on an ADR visa, that applicant cannot pretend to a visitor visa in the future. But in this case, it doesn't mater.

The chances of a successful ADR are very low/slim. Search about it in this forum. Most application fails because you have to demonstrate that the person is in strict need of your constant care and that care is not available where she lives.

I don't see a good solution for this one really.

You may see in the forum people talking about bringing in-laws but these are EU passports holders. When it comes to that, an EU passport holder has more rights in the UK than a British citizen. This is true even after the Brexit. If yourself or your wife were EU, the application of the MIL would've been a mere formality. But not in this case as your are British.

But to be honest with you, I feel like you are driven by your generosity and willingness to help your wife to feel better, but you don't know what you are signing-up for. An Adult Relative is a very expensive endeavour and most people can't afford that. Please see with a financial adviser to compare your disposable income to the projected costs of an adult under your responsibility. An old person, not working, highly dependent, may cost more than a mortgage and there is no way out of it. So you really need to do some maths before pursuing this.