Please help - Visit visa application for Italian resident (not citizen)

[flann]

I'm helping a friend of mine who lives in the UK and is shortly going to have her first baby. She wants to invite her sister (and maybe her sister's daughter) to visit the UK for 2-3 weeks to be with her directly after the birth.

My friend has lived in the UK for a number of years but is without papers.

Her sister (and sister's daughter - 13 years old) live in Italy. Both have Albanian passports with 2022 expiry dates. The sister travelled to Italy in 2005. I believe that she originally travelled to Italy from Albania by boat without permission. She then succeeded in normalising her situation by marrying an Italian resident (not citizen) though two years later they got divorced and since that time, she has been working in the voluntary sector and (because of lack of tax paperwork from being a volunteer) she has not applied for an Italian passport.

In addition to their passports, they both hold valid ("Illimitata" which I assume means unlimited leave to remain) residence cards (Permesso De Soggiorno). They also both have Tessea Sanitaria - Carta Regionale Dei Servizi cards (with "Provincia = EE" on them which I assume means that they can access healthcare services across the EE - including the UK and other non-Shengen European countries).

The sister also has a Carta Di Identita card (carta d'identità comune di siena) which, on the back says "non valida per l'espatrio" which I believe means not valid for travel.

My understanding is as follows:

1. The sister and her daughter cannot travel to the UK visa-free using her Permesso De Soggiorno because the UK is not in Shengen. I have seen some conflicting views on this so would be interested in confirming it. Could you she travel by plane to the UK without applying for a visa?

2. They will therefore need to apply for a UK visa in Italy and pay the £89 fee per visa.

She is worried that she will be declined a UK visit/tourist visa and that might prejudice her ability to visit the UK in the future.

My instinct is just to advise the sister (without the daughter) to apply for the visit visa and see what happens.

She can demonstrate funds to cover her trip. She can get a letter from her employer and university (she has recently started a university course) and if needs be, she can get her cousin in the UK (a British Citizen) to act as sponsor. Her application will make no reference to visiting her sister for obvious reasons).

Because she work and lives in a religious commune (as a carer) she doesnt have a salary in the normal sense though she owns a property back in Albania and can demonstrate sufficient funds in her savings account.

What do you think? Anything I need to be aware of?