Indefinate Leave Uk Girl Been Away For Over 2 Years Wants To Return

[bolobolo]

Hi all

Hope someone helps me with this one

A Thai girl I know used to be married to a british guy for 6 years and stayed in the UK and had a baby girl. She then got divorced and returned to Thailand without her daughter.

She has been back in Thailand for about 3 years (over the 2 years) and has not seen her daughter and wants to go back and see her.

Can she still get the UK resident visa. Its says "visa: Indefinate" on her passport.

She wants to

1. go back to UK see her daughter

2. Live there and work or stay there when ever she wants

Surely the embassy with let her go back to the UK since she has a daughter? The Uk border Agency says you may qualify to return to UK after 2 years if you have "strong family ties", which I think a daughter counts, you think?

What kind of visa would they give her?

But does she need to apply for a new resident visa and go thru all that again?

Any help much appreciated.

[7by7]

'Indefinite' means indefinite, not permanent. As she has been out of the UK for more than two years then her ILR will have lapsed and she will need to apply for entry clearance ( a visa) to enter the UK.

She normally would not be able to apply as a returning resident as she has been away for more than 2 years. There are exceptions to this 2 year rule, see SET9.5 Exception to the two year rule for those who have strong ties to the UK and she may fall under one of these exceptions. Claiming strong family ties due to her daughter may, though, be difficult as she has not, from what you have said, made any effort to see the child in at least three years.

Alternatively she could apply as a parent who has access rights to a child resident in the UK; see Parents with access rights to children in the UK. this is a type of visitor visa which is valid for 12 months. She will be able to work while in the UK and at the end of the 12 months apply to remain indefinitely. See immigration Rules paras 246, 247, 248, 248D, 248E and 248F.

Again, leaving it for more than three years before making an effort to see the child may raise some questions in the ECO's mind.

Such as:-

She had ILR, so if she wanted to remain in the UK to see and take a role in her daughter's life, why did she leave?

Why has she waited 3 years before making an effort to return to the UK to see her daughter? Why not go before?

I think that she will need to provide satisfactory answers to these questions for any application as a returning resident or a parent seeking access to be successful.

[RAZZELL]

As an aside, are visits of a few weeks or more enough to keep ILR "active" as it were?

Or are there definite lengths of time you have to be in the UK?

RAZZ

[7by7]

For ILR to remain 'active' the holder should be resident in the UK. You may get away with living, for example, in Thailand and regularly visiting the UK, but if it became apparent to an Immigration Officer at your port of entry to the UK that this is what you were doing then the IO could, and probably would, cancel the ILR; although you would be allowed in on that occasion as a visitor. For future entries to the UK you would need to obtain the appropriate visa.

The solution, of course, is to live in the UK long enough to obtain British citizenship, then you can spend as long as you like out of the UK and can return as often and for as long as you wish. Citizenship cannot lapse, whether obtained by birth or naturalisation, and a naturalised citizen can only have their citizenship revoked if they are convicted of a very serious crime; terrorism for example.