Retired Australian citizen seeking to extend stay in UK

[Mellin]

Hi,

I am hoping some knowledgeable person/s on this forum may be able to advise me on the following situation regarding my Australian mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law, who is an Australian citizen is currently visiting us in the UK. She arrived in Nov 2009 as a general visitor, and has a stamp in her passport granting leave to remain for 6 months.

We are trying to determine if there is any possibility of her extending her stay to remain in the UK for 9-12 months in total. I have looked at the UK Border Agency website and it appears that is next to impossible to extend your stay as a general visitor beyond 6 months.

So I am trying to determine if there is another visa category that she may be eligible for, which is proving difficult. She does not want to settle in the UK, she is here to visit her grandchildren for the first time.

I saw on the Workpermit.com website a category called Independent Means/Retirement....."Retirement to the UK is an option for foreign nationals over sixty who can demonstrate an income of £25,000 per year "without working", and a close connection with the UK". I am wondering if she may be eligible under this category.

So, I guess my questions are (and thanks to those who have read this far!)


1) Is there any way to extend your stay as a general visitor to the UK beyond 6 months?
2) Is the 6 in 12 month rule for a general visit visa stringently applied - would she be refused entry if she left the country after a 6 month stay and tried to re-enter within 6 months?
3) Is it difficult to get a Independent Means visa? She can prove superannuation income in Australia for the required amount, would close family be considered a "close connection to the UK"? Would it matter that she didn't intend to settle long-term?

Thanks

PS. In case it is relevant, my husband, children and myself are British citizens.

[newperson]

1) Generally no. They will only extend the general visitor visa for reasons of an exceptional, compassionate nature (e.g., hospital stay, sudden death in the family, etc.).

2) The six months in twelve is not written in stone, per se. It is a general guideline for the Immigration Officer to use in assessing whether or not a purported visitor is in fact acting in a way that implies "living" in the UK. An IO is well within his/her rights to refuse entry to any visitor whom s/he suspects is living in the UK, which is assumed to be spending more than six months in any rolling twelve.

3) The retired person of independent means was abolished in November 2008. Workpermit.com must not have got around yet to deleting that entry. This is no longer an option for your mother-in-law to pursue.

Info on the abolition of that visa category:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... rsonsroute

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... rsonsqanda

I would suggest that you keep to the six-months-in-twelve route. It is quite generous. If at any point your mother becomes incapable of caring for herself in Australia and there is absolutely no one there able to do so, you may consider bringing her over as a dependent family member. However, there is a difficult burden of proof to demonstrate her exceptional needs in order to obtain this visa, which is also now becoming increasingly expensive (from April 2010: £1,680).

[andyb123]

you cannot extend the visit visa or switch to a settlement category, unless she can show extenuating circumstances such as being critically ill and moving her back to her own country would be potentially fatal

1) No
2) Yes it is stringently applied
3) it's no more difficult than any other visa as long as she meets the criteria, yes your family should fulfill the connection to the UK criteria

in any case, she will need to return home before applying

[newperson]

3) it's no more difficult than any other visa as long as she meets the criteria, yes your family should fulfill the connection to the UK criteria

in any case, she will need to return home before applying

This is not true, unfortunately. The retired person's visa has been obsoleted (see links above).

[Mellin]

Thank you for taking the time to reply newperson and andyb123.

Oh crap, yes I can see from your links that the retired person option has now been ceased, thanks for the update.

And I agree that 6 months stay for a visitor is quite generous in general, if there is no lawful way of extending this then so be it.

From an objective point of view, I guess the reasons for wanting to extend her visa are rather vague - to spend more time with her grandchildren. There is no intention for her to settle here and she certainly isn't a depedent family member as she has close family in Australia and we do not support her financially.

Thanks again....

[newperson]

I just thought of this small loophole that might apply to your mother-in-law.

If your Australian mother-in-law was married to a British citizen with right of abode in the UK on or before the 31st of December 1982, she also has right of abode in the UK. This is because:

Additionally, right of abode is also conferred on Commonwealth citizens and British subjects who:

were married before 1983 to a man who had right of abode (therefore this particular provision applies to women only).

If that's the case, she is able to come and go to and from the UK as she likes free of any immigration control. They would just place a Certificate of Entitlement in her current Australian passport.

For more information on how to apply, see here.