Family member visit visa to UK refused, advice needed.

[Midlander]

Hi,

It's been a long time since I have visited these forums, I'll give you some background.

My Thai wife has lived in the UK for 8 years, is naturalized and has a British Passport, her son has been here 7 years and is currently 19 years old and at college and we have a 6 year old daughter.

I am self employed builder and my wife does 3 days a week at a Spa then works for herself the rest of the time, her salary for those 3 days is about £15,000 per annum, she easily earns that much again working for herself.

My wife's mother died late 2011, my wife and daughter spent 2.5 months in Thailand at that time, while myself and step son were there for 1 month, that was our last visit to Thailand.

We applied for a visit visa for her father to come over in May, against my better judgment my wife wanted him to stay for 3 months, he would then return to Thailand with my wife and daughter in August where they(wife and daughter) would stay for the remainder of the summer holiday until they returned for the start of school.

My Father-in-Law has a reasonable size farm in Roi-Et, on which he still works, he is surrounded by 3 daughters and a son all of them married with children. The one daughter and her family live in the father's/original family home where the son-in-law runs his business from, I'm pretty certain the house is still in his name.

When filling out the application, which was done in my wife's name, I was asking my wife the questions about her father's details, income etc. He grows among other things affair bit of sugar cane, and 'powder' (used for Talc maybe?). I duly put down stated income etc.

Supporting documents from us included, wife's wage slips, bank statements, council tax bill, and my bank statements etc.

Here's the refusal letter:

"You have sought a visa to travel to the UK for a visit. You have submitted letters from your daughter xxxx xxxx which indicate that she is sponsoring your proposed visit, in assessing your application, I note tha you have stated that you are widowed and a self employed farmer earning £300 (56THB to £1 = 16,000THB) per month. While you have submitted a personal bank account demonstrating that 2 deposits was made to the account in January and March. Prior to this date there is no history to your financial circumstances. You have provided no evidence of family ties, regular income, or your employment here in Thailand. I recognise that your sponsors propose to bear the cost of your visit. However, I must take into account your personal and economic circumstances in Thailand when coming to my decision. Given the lack of evidence of documents to support your application and personal circumstances, this leads me to doubt your intentions to the UK and intentions to leave. I am not satisfied that you genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for limited period not exceeding 6 months or that you intend to leave the United Kingdom at the end of the visit as required by paragraph 41(i) and (ii) of the immigration."

All of this is correct and as it should be, I've learnt, post application, that none of the money from the farm goes into his account, it goes to the sister who lives in the family home, I think all the money from crops and livestock is paid in cash and I'm not even sure if receipts are handed over.

It seems that this sister who is, I suppose, directly responsible for looking after him, has accounts to show earnings, but these may possibly include her husbands auto repair business as well.

Not sure how to go about this now, my wife still wants to bring her father over, so we need to get this sorted pronto.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[7by7]

It appears from the part of the refusal notice you quoted that not enough evidence was provided to show your father in law's ties to Thailand; something you seem to accept.

All you can do is re apply, addressing this issue.

Explain in the sponsor's letter that one of his other daughters lives with and looks after him and handles his finances.

Include a letter from her confirming this. This can be written in Thai or in English; but the visa section may phone her to discuss it's contents. If written in English they will want to speak to her in English and will doubt the letter's authenticity if she has difficulty in doing so. If written in Thai then they will talk to her in Thai; but I suggest that you include an English translation.

Provide evidence of your sister in law's finances, highlighting which deposits came from your father in law's business. These should ideally cover the last 6 months.

You say he owns land; provide evidence of this.