Bringing My Cousin To Stay

[roonie]

Hello everybody! I am Thai and have lived in England since I was 12 years old. I am trying to do a favour for my cousin who thinks that she would like to go to college here (she has ideas about some kind of business course). Anyhow, I want to know the best way to get her to come here for a little while so that she can choose herself a college course. It would be perhaps like a long holiday. My mother seems to think that 6 months would give her enough time to get to know England. (btw, her English is pretty bad!) Maybe a 6 month visa would do it, giving her enough time to enrol on a course starting in September/October. However, my mother and father are now retired and can't really act as guarantors, but there is no problem with accommodation since she can live with us.

Ooh. Sorry about the length of this post... I tend to go off on one sometimes.

[Erawan]

I've done a bit of research into this field since I'm trying to get my cousin to come here too, but on a more permanent basis.

After browsing around the net, I found that you just have to able to support the fact that she will just be coming over here to study/visit and not stay. That means things like showing that she won't be sponging off the government. How much they earn, that they can support themselves financially for the duration of their trip, that they won't be largely dependent on you for funds. I believe you'll also have to apply for 'entry clearance'. The following links should be of help to you:

Sponsoring visitors

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?pageID=142

Family visitors and their sponsors

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?pageID=3842

Students

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?pageID=107

Relatives

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?pageID=140

Best of luck, hope that helps.