Family Visit visa for my MIL

[Roopa Khanna]

Dear,

My MIL who's 60 and is a widow (my FIL expired last year) has to apply for a UK Family visit visa this month end. We are currently in UK on ILR visa and we have a 2 yr old son.

She was already in UK from Oct 1st 2011 to March 21 2012. Whilst in India this year, she applied for US visa and got a 10 year visitor visa to visit my brother in law (her elder son) who's in US. But she didn't travel as she isn't too keen to sit in a flight for 20+ hours continuously.

Can we apply for a 5 year visit visa for her this month-end, so that she can come here for a couple of months, go to US for 6 months, and then come to UK again to stay here for 3-4 months?

My MIL is financially well-off with lands, house, monthly family pension and fixed deposits on her name.

So can we apply for a 5 year UK visa? and how are the chances for the visa approval? What can we do to make the 5 yr visa application much stronger? Please help. Thank you.

Thanks
Roopa.

[Lucapooka]

She can apply for a long-term visa and it will be granted if it's deemed appropriate to her history and current circumstances and future intentions. To avoid any trouble, she should try to keep her cumulative time in the UK to a max of six months per annual cycle.

A long-term visit visa is valid for 1, 2, 5 or 10 years. The application fee is higher than for a short-term visit visa.

If we grant you a long-term visit visa, you are allowed unlimited entry into the UK for the time that the visa is valid. However, you can only stay in the UK for a maximum of 180 days during any 12-month period. For example, a 2-year visit visa does not entitle you to stay in the UK for 2 years.

We recommend that you limit your stay to the period stated on your visa application. If you spend long periods in the UK as a visitor, our officers may doubt your intentions.

If you breach the conditions of your entry to the UK, we may ban you from returning for up to 10 years.

If you apply for a long-term visit visa, we consider:

whether you can show a frequent and sustained need to come to the UK (such as family links or an established business connection);
whether your personal circumstances are likely to change significantly while the visa is valid - so you should give us as much evidence as possible that your circumstances will remain the same;
whether you have shown that you can support yourself in the UK without public funds, and that you intend to leave the UK at the end of each visit; andyour previous travel history as shown in a current valid passport.
You should think carefully before applying for a long-term visit visa. We may refuse the visa or issue it for a shorter period than you have applied for (if, for example, the evidence that you provide does not support a long-term visit visa application, or does not meet the visa requirements). If we refuse the application or issue the visa for a shorter period, we will not refund your application fee.

If you have not applied for a UK visa before, we advise that you should consider applying for a short-term visit visa first.

[Roopa Khanna]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply.

Annual Cycle, as I understand starts from the day she lands in the UK, isn't it? If she comes here on Oct 1st, then she'll be eligible to stay in UK only for any 6 months from Oct 1 2012 to Sept 30 2013, even she has a two/five year UK visa. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks,
Roopa.

She can apply for a long-term visa and it will be granted if it's deemed appropriate to her history and current circumstances and future intentions. To avoid any trouble, she should try to keep her cumulative time in the UK to a max of six months per annual cycle.

A long-term visit visa is valid for 1, 2, 5 or 10 years. The application fee is higher than for a short-term visit visa.

If we grant you a long-term visit visa, you are allowed unlimited entry into the UK for the time that the visa is valid. However, you can only stay in the UK for a maximum of 180 days during any 12-month period. For example, a 2-year visit visa does not entitle you to stay in the UK for 2 years.

We recommend that you limit your stay to the period stated on your visa application. If you spend long periods in the UK as a visitor, our officers may doubt your intentions.

If you breach the conditions of your entry to the UK, we may ban you from returning for up to 10 years.

If you apply for a long-term visit visa, we consider:

whether you can show a frequent and sustained need to come to the UK (such as family links or an established business connection);
whether your personal circumstances are likely to change significantly while the visa is valid - so you should give us as much evidence as possible that your circumstances will remain the same;
whether you have shown that you can support yourself in the UK without public funds, and that you intend to leave the UK at the end of each visit; andyour previous travel history as shown in a current valid passport.
You should think carefully before applying for a long-term visit visa. We may refuse the visa or issue it for a shorter period than you have applied for (if, for example, the evidence that you provide does not support a long-term visit visa application, or does not meet the visa requirements). If we refuse the application or issue the visa for a shorter period, we will not refund your application fee.

If you have not applied for a UK visa before, we advise that you should consider applying for a short-term visit visa first.

[Lucapooka]

Yes, that's about the scope of it. There is a bit of flexibility (often applied arbitrarily by the officer doing the admitting and depending on the profile of the passenger) and they only really come down hard on people who are effectively using this visa to live or spend the majority of their time in the UK but are breaking up their "residence" with short trips outside.