August last year, I decided to bring my 2 children aged 8 and 12 (duel nationality) to England for their education!

My Thai wife followed very soon after on a settlement visa! We rented a house, found schools and my wife even managed to find work fairly quickly.

We all agree the move was a great success and the right thing to do!

Unfortunately, we had to leave behind my wife's son aged 17 years this April (Thai, from a previous marriage)

And the daughter of her niece aged 10 years!

At that time we promised they could join us this coming March and they of course have been telling all their school friends etc, that they'll be off soon!

I am now ready to admit that perhaps this was a little naive of us to say the least!

Can anyone please advise me of the difficulties involved?

• Would I have to for example, enrol him a private school before applying for a visa, or can I apply merely because we are here and they are separated from us?
  

• What is the best way foreword?I see the visa regulations are changing at the end of March?
  

• And what about the daughter of my wife's niece, how difficult will that be?
  

What are my chances of success?

My head is in a spin here and would really appreciate any advice or insights anyone may have on the subject!

Many thanks in advance, Sam

In a more complex situation as yours (one of the kids not being legally one of either of yours & one nearing the age of cut off for joining his mother as a minor) I would contact Davis Khan (see banner at top of page) for proper advice & not mess around getting bits of info from here. Just mho. Good luck.

Unless you and your wife are the only living relatives of the daughter of your wife's neice and therefore she has absolutley no other relatives in Thailand or elswhere who can take care of her then I'm afraid there is no way that she will get a visa to live in the UK with you.

As regards your step-son, then there is every possibility, but considering his age it may be difficult to satisfy the sole responsibility question.

See this thread and the links therein.

Thanks you guys for your response!

I found the link very useful and realise from your comments that time is of the essence!

So, I'm off to Bangkok ASAP!

You've given me enough leads to get the job done (I hope)?

Thanks again and good luck to you both.