Help - questions on long term family visit visa for mother

[shomoo]

Hello
Have a few questions and advice to seek please regarding long term visitor visa for my mother. Background as follows:
- I am a British citizen with my mother currently living in India She is 65 yrs old.
- My mother has traveled several times to UK earlier in visitor/ family visit visa, always staying within stipulated limit
- But in most cases staying close to the 6 months allowed.
- She had generally applied for 6 months visa with the last time being a 2 yr multiple entry visa
- Her travels to UK are broadly as follows:
1st visit: 2005 Sep - 2006 Feb ; approx 5 months 28 days
2nd visit: 2011 Jun - 2011 Nov ; approx 4.5 months
3rd visit: 2012 Feb - 2012 Aug; approx 5 months 28 days; This was after my father's death;
4th visit: 2013 Dec - 2014 June; approx 5 months 20 days
5th Visit: 2015 Apr - 2015 Oct ; approx 5 months 10 days
Last 2 visits in a 2 yr multiple entry visit visa.
She has enough assets to show tie back to home country and bank balance supported by me regularly.

Questions on applying for a long term visa (preferably for 10 yrs):
1. Will the above travel history be deemed as misuse or making UK main home as per paragraph 4.2b guidelines?
2. She has stayed in UK for approx 27-28 months in last 10 yrs; but in last 5 yrs she has stayed 22 months. Can this be used against her to reject long term visa?
2a. Her travel had only increased since my father's demise and since I'm the only child. Does that help or unhelp for the application?
3. Is it better to apply for 5 yr visa i.e. less risk?
4. Her passport currently expires in 2021. Do I need to renew it for 10 yrs first, in case I apply for 10 yr visa?

[secret.simon]

See this similar case and this one.

1 - Yes. It can be deemed residing, not visiting.
2 - It can be. Depends on the case worker.
2a - Very unhelpful. Your mother will have to prove that she has stronger ties to her country of normal residence than to the UK. If you are the only member of her immediate family, that makes it much tougher, not easier.
3 - Would recommend a 5 year visa application to a 10 year visa application. Cases like the above seem to suggest that they are tightening the interpretations of the rules.

On the balance of probabilities, given her travel history, the lack of strong ties to the country of normal residence and the tightening of the rules, I would not be too optimistic about the chances of her getting a five year visit visa either.

[shomoo]

See this similar case and this one.

1 - Yes. It can be deemed residing, not visiting.
2 - It can be. Depends on the case worker.
2a - Very unhelpful. Your mother will have to prove that she has stronger ties to her country of normal residence than to the UK. If you are the only member of her immediate family, that makes it much tougher, not easier.
3 - Would recommend a 5 year visa application to a 10 year visa application. Cases like the above seem to suggest that they are tightening the interpretations of the rules.

On the balance of probabilities, given her travel history, the lack of strong ties to the country of normal residence and the tightening of the rules, I would not be too optimistic about the chances of her getting a five year visit visa either.

Thanks for the reply. A few follow up question then.
A. Will i have a better chance if I apply after a gap of say 1 year? She last traveled b/w Apr - Oct 2015. So if she applies say in Nov-2016 or Jan 2017?
B. What will constitute as strong ties to home country? In terms of assets she can show enough bank balance/property asset. Is that enough? Having single child cannot be deemed as disadvantage for both a visitor visa or Leave to remain (which is now next to impossible in current rules anyway!)
C. Does it all boil down to the Case worker on the day? if that's the case one might be tempted to use the SS route. Although all I want is flexibility of travel.
D. And lastly what is a reasonable amount of visit stay? 2 months? 3 months?

[secret.simon]

A. - Is there an urgency to travel? I would minimise the amount of travel to the UK that your mother does, so as to reduce the chances of a visa refusal. Remember that even if the ECO in India issues a visa, the IO at the UK airport could cancel it and send her back if he deems her repeat visists to amount to residence.

The key test is - is she visiting or in effect staying with you in the UK? The former is legal, the latter will get her a ban.

B. - Having an only child in the UK and no family in the home country would likely be a disadvantage when it comes to a visit visa. It is of course a requirement for ADR, which is difficult to get because of other requirements.

The UK does not do chain migration. Simply and very directly put, your mother is not welcome to stay in the UK. And the Rules are designed to make it difficult for her to do so.

C. - A lot of people in your position have gone down the SS Route. Remember that the SS route requires you to move the center of your life to another EEA country. If you have a spouse and children, they will need to move too. And that may be disruptive for the studies for any children affected.

But, very soon, the UK may either be out of the EU or may have got significant concessions on immigration for staying within the EU. if you are looking at the SS route, you may wish to start making a move sooner rather than later.

D. - As fwd079, a veteran on these forums, says in his signature, being British is a state of mind.

A lot of English law (not Scots law) is based on the concept of the reasonable person, the metaphorical "man on the Clapham omnibus".

How often does a British born person visit his parents after moving away from home? Typically, a week or two around Christmas and the odd special occasion (graduation, birth of a child, etc). Those are visits; short, brief and memorable.

In the past six years, I have had my parents visit me twice in the UK, both times for periods of two weeks to a month. I do meet them in Europe or in their home country more often.