# Mother's Dependent Visa Refused



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

Hi

My mother's family settlement visa was refused today. I will be appealing against this decision using Form IAFT-2, and would appreciate and guidance/support the forum members can provide. 

Mother's Circumstance
Recently retired teacher, single woman, with disability caused by arthritis. I am her only son, and have supported her financially for the past 3 years, sending her money every month. Now that she has retired, and her health is getting worse, I want her to join me in the UK and live with me. 

My Circumstance
I am a British citizen, in a stable job and mortgage. 

Reasons for Refusal
1) She receives financial support from me and she since retirement she has received a large some of money from her employer as a severance package - However, this fund is not enough for her to sustain her living 
2) She has a brother and sister living in the same city - However, my mother has no contact with them, and moreover they are both very old and disabled. 
3) She has traveled to the UK in 2008, 2009, and 2010 with her arthritis - However, since 2010, her condition has severely deteriorated, and she cannot even walk anymore and needs wheelchair. 
4) She can get a domestic worker to help her with her day to day activities - However, she is getting very old now, and is always taken advantage by people who work for her. 

Any advice will be very much appreciated, as my mother's condition is very bad, and today's news has left her heartbroken. I need to get her here ASAP. 

Thanks in advance
Ni****


----------



## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

The rejection is not surprising and from what you have written there wont be much chance of winning. Adult dependents have a lot to prove and old age a fraility in itself does not make her dependent.


----------



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

Thanks for the prompt reply. 

But ff a 60 year old, single, disabled woman cannot have the rights to settle with her only son, then what luck does anyone else has!

What if anything I can do to support my application?


----------



## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

The UK doesnt want or encourage anything other than immediate family ie spouse and u18 children or skilled workers. There may be family options for other adults but they are mostly rejected when people post on here. 

The type of applications that could be successful would be if you were living with and caring for her in India for a substantial period then applied for her to come as she would be left alone. You having proved she needs care by having done it for a year. 

Or adult children with learning difficulties etc coming with people migrating. 

You can't prove she is your dependent requiring your care and attentive when you live in different countries and she hasn't needed it thus far.


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

I don't know if it's relevant, but I've just read a story on website of someone in a similar situation using Surinder Singh route to enable their mother to move to the UK 

I've read somewhere a while ago that there were only a couple of cases where the particular visa your were hoping to get for your mother was issued in the entire year, I don't know if that's true.


----------



## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Sorry to the OP, but if you have been in UK long enough, you must realise that NHS and social care services for the elderly are stretched to the limits already, some elderly people become too frail with various 'illness's' of aging such as strokes, arthritis and Altzeimers, and become too difficult for their family or carers to look after in their own homes, so inevitably they end up stretching already limited resources, without adding others to it. The NHS is not a free service, it is paid for by many genrations of UK tax payers, and is struggling under the rapidly increasing UK population. This will have been taken into account with your mums refusal, they have to draw a line somewhere, yours won't have been the only refusal of this kind.
You could go back to your country of origin and care for your mum, as I did for mine until she died.


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

fergie said:


> Sorry to the OP, but if you have been in UK long enough, you must realise that NHS and social care services for the elderly are stretched to the limits already, some elderly people become too frail with various 'illness's' of aging such as strokes, arthritis and Altzeimers, and become too difficult for their family or carers to look after in their own homes, so inevitably they end up stretching already limited resources, without adding others to it. The NHS is not a free service, it is paid for by many genrations of UK tax payers, and is struggling under the rapidly increasing UK population. This will have been taken into account with your mums refusal, they have to draw a line somewhere, yours won't have been the only refusal of this kind.
> You could go back to your country of origin and care for your mum, as I did for mine until she died.


I agree with everything you've said but it's still a bit harsh. Maybe the solution would be to require such people to have private medical insurance so as not to be a burden on the NHS.


----------



## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

ashkevron said:


> I agree with everything you've said but it's still a bit harsh. Maybe the solution would be to require such people to have private medical insurance so as not to be a burden on the NHS.


Getting private health insurance, when a person already is classed as elderly, or even a younger person with pre existing conditions is very difficult, if not impossible, I can vouch for that.


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

fergie said:


> Getting private health insurance, when a person already is classed as elderly, or even a younger person with pre existing conditions is very difficult, if not impossible, I can vouch for that.


I can imagine but some solution other than the fabled Surinder Singh route should exist, it's not really humane otherwise...


----------



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

fergie said:


> Sorry to the OP, but if you have been in UK long enough, you must realise that NHS and social care services for the elderly are stretched to the limits already, some elderly people become too frail with various 'illness's' of aging such as strokes, arthritis and Altzeimers, and become too difficult for their family or carers to look after in their own homes, so inevitably they end up stretching already limited resources, without adding others to it. The NHS is not a free service, it is paid for by many genrations of UK tax payers, and is struggling under the rapidly increasing UK population. This will have been taken into account with your mums refusal, they have to draw a line somewhere, yours won't have been the only refusal of this kind.
> You could go back to your country of origin and care for your mum, as I did for mine until she died.


I take your point Fergie, and I couldn't agree more with NHS funding and resource challenges. I get private health insurance from my employers that covers my family, so using public resources is not one we would explore. Also, I signed a declaration that I will cover all costs for my mother for the initial 5 year period.


----------



## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

nni**** said:


> Thanks for the prompt reply.
> 
> But ff a 60 year old, single, disabled woman cannot have the rights to settle with her only son, then what luck does anyone else has!
> 
> What if anything I can do to support my application?


You said she was "very old" ......... 60 is not very old - in fact it's regarded as quite young by most people


----------



## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

nni**** said:


> I take your point Fergie, and I couldn't agree more with NHS funding and resource challenges. I get private health insurance from my employers that covers my family, so using public resources is not one we would explore. Also, I signed a declaration that I will cover all costs for my mother for the initial 5 year period.


 There is no legal basis for the Government to force you as sponsor to pay for her healthcare. NHS is a free service for all who are eligible which is most of the people legally in the UK. 

The sponsorship undertaking is to provide her with food and accommodation so she does not need the Government to do it. 

There is also no legal basis to force someone on a settlement visa to take out private health insurance. That in itself would be discriminatory as many people are excluded from being able to take it out without bankrupting themselves such as the elderly or those with pre existing conditions. 

Humanity doesn't come into it if the person is not a refugee or in need of protection. If person already has a home, the ability to get care and attention and the funds they need to pay for such they are not being left in dire straits to die or otherwise severely suffer through the lack of a visa.


----------



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

_shel said:


> There is no legal basis for the Government to force you as sponsor to pay for her healthcare. NHS is a free service for all who are eligible which is most of the people legally in the UK.
> 
> The sponsorship undertaking is to provide her with food and accommodation so she does not need the Government to do it.
> 
> ...


I'm afraid I will need to disagree with you that NHS is a free service for people legally in the UK. I have numerous examples of non-EU visitors to my friends in the UK, who have had health related issues, for which they were charged by the NHS. In one instance, a friend of mine was slapped with almost £10k bill, when his mother had an unexpected issue with her appendix. He couldn't afford to pay the full amount up-front, which lead to him being pursued by debt collectors. 

I will also like to correct you on the health insurance point, as my employers offer that benefit very explicitly to me. 

In relation to your last paragraph, I will not get into a debate of what warrants a visa and what doesn't. But I will request you to be more considerate of others situation and stay away from making such sweeping statements. 

Thank you.


----------



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

Crawford said:


> You said she was "very old" ......... 60 is not very old - in fact it's regarded as quite young by most people


The quality of life is different in UK than India, and quite different even there depending on where you live. Her retirement age takes this into consideration and the average lifespan of folks from that part of the world.


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

_shel said:


> There is no legal basis for the Government to force you as sponsor to pay for her healthcare. NHS is a free service for all who are eligible which is most of the people legally in the UK.
> 
> The sponsorship undertaking is to provide her with food and accommodation so she does not need the Government to do it.
> 
> ...


That being said, I feel quite sorry both for the NHS and for people who can't bring their surviving parents to the UK and burden on the NHS being one of the main reasons for it, as I see it. NHS feels like a great service and even though, being on a spouse visa and now the ILR, I am entitled to it, I've never registered and went private instead because I did feel it's a bit unfair, as I've only been paying taxes for two years and I would hate to contribute to the downfall of NHS as an immigrant. I do not earn much but I would not have problems with being required to pay extra for my health insurance. Of all the money spent on the visa fees themselves, the English language test and all the other supporting documents required for the visa application, at least this money would go to a really worthy cause, I think. 

But I think, just living with your child rather than alone and on your own, must be beneficial for the surviving parent. The irony is, that whereas humanity is not considered, the current rules are, and it's apparently more likely to get your surviving parent to live with you in the UK by using the SS rules more than anything else, which is kinda sad, me thinks.


----------



## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

I would like to correct you, I said *MOST* legally in the UK ie a resident, not all. Visitors are not resident and dont get health care, residents on student, work, settlement, working holiday, EU citizens with residence or an EHIC card. 

Regardless of what your employer offers *MOST* trying to get insurance for the first time with pre existing condition or due to old age would struggle. Hence why it can not and would not be made a legal requirement of the visa. 

May well be a a sweeping statement but it is a fact that I would sooner those in genuine need of protection and refugee from war, famine, dictators and the likes to be supported than issuing visas to every family member who may be overseas.


----------



## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

You must have thought about this very situation when you decided to move to the UK to live and work - leaving your parent to live alone; and what might be the situation as she grew older.

I know I did when I moved to the US. 

Fortunately, I had a brother and sister both of whom lived close by to whom she could turn in times of need, and, following discussions with them, I moved with their blessing. I don't think I could have moved if she had had no family to rely on. (Moving elderly parents to the US in not usually an option based on the cost of health care in this country).

I'm sorry you are in this predicament but it's one a lot of people find themselves in.


----------



## lovestravel (Apr 9, 2012)

We were going to apply for an adult dependent visa for our daughter. She had been hospitalised twice in two years in the USA and will require lifetime treatment.

My husbands company was going to extend his visa for another three years but decided they were going to offer him a 67% paycut which of course we could not take so we turned it down. We were in process of working with a solicitor at Kingsley napley located in London. She said it is one of the most difficult visas to get but we had pages and pages of documents relating to her illnesses and multiple doctors confirming her need for full time care. She said we had a fairly good case but it was still going to be tough. We nearly got to the application process but never completed it due to the fact we weren't staying. If we have the opportunity to return to the UK we will have to go through this process as our daughter will need to live with us or a care giver long term.

I would highly recommend the solicitor we were using. They are very good and can give you good advice on your chances of getting a visa.


----------



## nnishit (Dec 19, 2014)

Thanks for the comments everyone. They all have been useful in varying capacity. 

I cannot leave my mother alone, and will pursue an appeal for what it's worth. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. 

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone


----------

