ILR catch-22. Is there any way through?!

[Obie]

I suppose so.

The ebay business should be fine, added to her circumstances.

[kafuffle]

Thank you again Obie and Vinny. Your input has been so helpful, particularly links that I can read.

I have only one more question...hopefully....before I can put this post to sleep, at least until I come back to announce good news!

My question:
If I apply in one category, FLR(FP) or UK Ancestry and my application fails, am I allowed to apply in the other category? And if so, will my failure in the former affect my new application?

Oops, sorry. That was two questions.

Thanks again.

[Obie]

You will not be able to apply for Ancestry visa from inside the UK.

If you are your husband's carer, then a Zambrano application could succeed.

If you are unsuccessful under FLR(FP), nothing precludes you from making other applications.

[kafuffle]

Thank you Obie,

If I'm not mistaken, Zambrano would only be applicable as long as my husband is alive and not in a care home. His prognosis is 2 years at best and possibly a care home within 6 months if he does not succumb to another massive stroke before that. Once I am not his primary carer I will have no right to be here, even to visit him in care.

I think I will try for FLR(FP) and keep UK Ancestry on the back burner in case it's needed.

I worry because I would like to make application as soon as the paperwork is ready...in a month or so...rather than wait 'til near the expiration of my six month visit visa. That's partly because I find it distasteful to become an overstayer on purpose as I would have to do to be eligible for appeal rights. And partly because of my husband's precarious health.

Everything else aside, my husband cannot manage the 10 hour flight to my home in Canada without serious risk to his life. We have letters from doctors to that effect. The entire trip is 26 hours. He cannot do it. There is a wealth of other obstacles as well but risk to life is ample, I would think.

Is it remotely possible that Home Office will find our circumstances not to be exceptional or to refuse me FLR(FP) because I am a visitor without even considering the circumstances? What are your views please.

[vinny]

I think that the UKVI may just refuse, if they maintain that EX. 1 isn't applicable to visitors.

Moreover, even at a time when visitors switched into a category that didn't prohibit it, they may still refuse under 322(7) because of 41(i) & (ii), unless there was a change of circumstances.

As I have stated visitors have to prove that circumstances have changed since their arrival in the UK as one condition for a visitor visa is that they leave the UK after their visit. The rules for elderly dependents do not explicitly prohibit in country applications and through experience I have seen them successful. But I clearly state, before I get jumped on, that the evidence for not being able to leave the UK has to be strong and circumstances must have changed since the person has been in the UK.

If they accuse you of deception when entering as a visitor, then applying for entry clearance under UK Ancestry would be difficult.

Do explain more about your UK ancestry history.

[kafuffle]

Thank you Vinny,

So much to consider. I have been feeling very uncomfortable about making a FLR(FP) application but not sure why...just a gut feeling. Then it occurred to me that with having to renew every 2 1/2 years, I would have to qualify each time. At some time during that ten year period my husband will surely die. Then my circumstances will instantly change. There would no longer be exceptional circumstances to allow me to remain.

So I think maybe to have a better chance of staying indefinitely, I should return to Canada at the end of my visit and make my UK Ancestry Visa application.

I was born in Canada (1945), my father was born in Canada (1909), my grandfather (my father's father) was born in West Derby, Lancashire (1881).

I have my short-form birth certificate and have sent for my long-form birth certificate, I have just received my father's death certificate which I need to submit in order to get his long-form birth certificate and I have sent for but not yet received my grandfather's long-form birth certificate. I don't foresee any difficulty getting any of the above.

I'm even wondering if I should cut my visit short and return to Canada to make my application as soon as all the birth certificates arrive. I'm a bit paranoid that the UK Ancestry Visa will be discontinued at any time.

[kafuffle]

I can certainly see that I may be accused of deception. My plan while still in Canada was to come for a visit to see how my husband is faring and to help him through the winter as he is quite housebound during winter without my help. Before I left Canada, I applied for all the relevant birth certificates so as to apply for UK Ancestry when I got back to Canada. I had not heard of FLR(FP) nor the provision of exceptional circumstances until I arrived here and started to read the forums. That's the truth of the matter but I have no wish to be accused of deception nor to try to prove otherwise.

UK Ancestry seems quite straight-forward on the surface. I have/will have proof of ancestry, I have no savings but do have a guaranteed income through pensions which I can live on frugally. (I have already arranged a room to rent with all bills included so that I can live comfortably). I will set up shops on eBay and Etsy which I have been successful at in the past, with an income of £200-300 at least. That, it seems, would fulfill the requirement of this 'work' visa.

I would have 5 years before jumping through the hoops again.

I'm afraid of any application failing but this route seems the most promising.

[Wanderer]

Also don't forget to declare all income to HMRC for tax purposes, UKVI do check.....

[vinny]

Longshot: Did you (ever) marry, prior to 31 Dec 1982, a British citizen or someone with a right of abode?

[kafuffle]

Nope. Previously married to a Canadian with Canadian parents and grandparents. Not 'til 2010.

Thanks for the thought though, Vinny.

[kafuffle]

And thanks to you too, Wanderer. I won't forget!