My mother-in-law (US citizen) was refused a UK visa to visit her grandson. What are my options?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 1 Aug, 2023
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Your mother-in-law (American) applied for entry clearance as a visitor and was refused. In her previous visit she applied to live here permanently {FLR(O)} and was refused and likely was issued removal paperwork.
Her current refusal cites 4.2 (b), they use this if someone has spent more time in the UK than in their own country…
will not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or
successive visits, or make the UK their main home
They don’t like it when people do this because when the person builds up a private life in the EU they can make a claim under Article 8 to live there permanently. The ‘buzzword’ for your particular type of case is called ‘chain migration’.
Is there anything else she can do to prove that she is not trying to
live here?
But that’s what she’s doing. The ECO wrote that she visits on the average of every three months and last year she was here more than in her own country. And although it may have been bad advice (I’m not sure it actually was bad advice), it can be said that genuine visitors do not file for FLR(O).
Once a visitor tries to settle, it basically ‘tips their hand’ that there’s a secondary agenda at work and the person loses credibility. And that’s what has happened… “I am not satisfied you are seeking entry to the UK in the spirit of conditions of a genuine visitor.” Or to put it directly it reads: “I don't believe you“.
What’s left to be done is for your wife to arrange a consultation with a solicitor who specialises in family immigration. Kingsley Napley or Laura Devine or Bates Wells (disclaimer: I know them) or any of the others listed at ILPA to see if the visitor routes make sense going forward. I don’t think they do, but it’s really a solicitor’s call.
Also can she still visit even though her visa was denied, or will she
be turned away at the border?
There is no requirement for an American to get an entry clearance to visit, but they can refuse to admit her. People in your mother-in-law’s situation get entry clearances voluntarily because they want to avoid the distress of wasted airfares and port side removals. Her history shows she is a big-time risk so she’s emphatically advised not to travel without an entry clearance.
On the plus side, once a non-visa national successfully applies for entry clearance, it basically wipes the record clean and gives the person a “fresh slate” (or at least a claim to one). They can stop applying each time they want to visit.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘