Calling family members & Space requirements

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:47 am

Hello all,

I am at a time when me and my wife will have a new member in our family. I am a work permit holder, with my wife here for the last 4 odd years (of which about 1.5 yrs on WP). Being Indians, we have loads of relatives now who are planning to visit us from India and the US to see the new baby.

I already have my wife's sister who is here on a student visa. When she came to the UK she had a letter from me stating that she would live with us till she found college accomodation. However since we moved to a bigger 3 bed house, we decided to let her stay with us. Her university now has our new address on their records.

My mother in law and my wife's Gran is planning to come over to visit us. They have requested a letter from us for accomodation/ sponsorship. they intend to request a stay of 3 months. I have provided them with a combined letter with 3 months solid bank statements, plus the property plan, plus council tax letter, plus a signed sponsorship letter from me.

My question is :

If anyone else applies to visit us, will they have a problem with using a similar letter from me?
Do I need to wait till the existing guests have left?
(Dont's ask how we will manage all in a 3 bed house.... we just do!!)

Thanks All for the support . This is the best I have seen ever.

VR

Post by **John** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:04 pm

Does this topic help you? At least it will allow you to work out if your place is overcrowded, as defined.

PB · Post by PB » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:39 pm

Hi Vivek,

All your guests would be visiting you on Visitor Visa i.e. short stay visa. You don't have to supply any proof about the type of your acco for that. It is sufficient to say that they would be staying with you for the duration of the stay.

See here

and here

Regards,
PB

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:53 pm

PB,

Thanks for the reply. Going by the same links it says:

A letter of sponsorship giving details of your occupation and salary and how you will provide support and accommodation for the applicant.

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vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:01 pm

Hi Again,

There other other issues I am worried about.

The fact is that my wife's sister has provided her university with my address details, so I suppose the same will be provided to the Home office for their records?

The visitors are planning on visits, albeit short, but almost back to back, all with my sponsorship letter for the family ocassion.

Could I please request moderators to tell me what they would think of the situation.
It is a very important family ocassion and could get into very embarrassing situation for all.

Post by **John** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:34 pm

Given the size of your place, how many "counting rooms" do you have? The maximum number of people allowed to live there before it is classed as overcrowded?

Kayalami · Post by **Kayalami** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:43 pm

Vivek,

Not sure about the British diplomatic posts in the US but those in the subcontinent as a matter of operational policy AFAIK keep a record of sponsor details - too many people depending on you for accomodation and maintanance and some will get refusals. It may be that the initial cohort come through o.k. but then the ECO may need to conclusively see they are no longer in your place before the next set of family arrive - give the logistical issues around these i.e. your relatives have to document their presence in India etc you can see how this could be a show stopper. Congratulations on your child.

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:12 am

Kayalami,

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated. I think I will make the changes to our plan accordingly.

VR

PB · Post by PB » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:12 pm

Vivek,

Whilst not disagreeing with the moderators, would just like to share my experience - we had a lot of people visit us in May 2004 after our daughter was born. We ended up with 6-7 people and a baby in a 2 bed flat for some length of time - we had sent a bog standard invitation /sponsor letter for everyone, stating we would take care of their stay here. We didn't include any details whatsoever of our house in any of the letters and nor was it requested.

In any case, when you apply for a visa from India - you just have to give an approximate date - it is recommended that one doesn't book tickets before the visa is granted. So if you wish to have people come over in June - you could request visas for time periods May-June, June-July, May-June-July and so on. I think first time visitors are usually granted 6 month visa, but I am not 100% sure, so that is something you could verify.

My experience is a bit out of date, so anyone with more recent experience could perhaps share that.

Hope things work out for you.

Regards,
PB

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:37 pm

PB,

Thanks for the reply. In my case we are talking about immediate family members like my brother and my parents coming in later, so I am really confused on what next.

If all goes well, all goes well. But if something gets stuck somewhere then thats it. For the moment I am providing all the details required as per forums from the past where people have done so. In may case the second is immediately a month after the first one, and the third is after 2 months from the second one.

Anyone faced something similar in the recent past? Pls reply would much appreciate.

John,

In reply to your previous message: it is house with 5 rooms (3 bedrooms).

Thanks all.

Post by **John** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:06 pm

If by 5 rooms you mean 5 "counting rooms" .... not Spam, bathroom or toilet .... and over 50 square feet in size ..... then you are allowed to have 10 people living there.

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:12 am

Hello again John,

It is 5 rooms, including the sitting room with a sofa bed arrangement and also a dining room (both these rooms are double room sizes). So 3 bedrooms ( 2 double plus 1 single, and a sitting/living room and a dining room.

I will update this post intime to refelect how many people applied and visa issued.

thanks all for the response.

Post by **John** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:23 am

Forget the actual use of the room ... except disregard any Spam, bathroom or toilet.

That is, disregarding those sorts of rooms, if a room measures more than 50 square feet then count it. The fact that you use it for a particular purpose does not mean everyone would. One of the "bedrooms" in this house is used as an office. Some people use a downstairs "living room" as a bedroom for an elderly person. All that does not matter ... simply how many "counting rooms" have you got?

vivekR · Post by **vivekR** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:59 am

Hello Again All,

I think I just cannot emphasize enough how good this forum is for all the migrants here in the UK. I have advised countless number of migrant friends to join this forum for the same reason.

As promised earlier, I am giving an update on the above topic.

After providing my Mother-in-Law and her Mother (ie Gran), with a sponsorship letter for their travel to the UK in March, I was afraid I may have difficulty later when I had to call other relatives. However everything went smooth.

Mother-in-law and Gran came here mid of March and Gran left end of April and Mum-in-law start of June. Then My brother came here 1st week of May for 4 days.
Then My parents have now got their visa for a 4 months stay. I provided the regular letter, bank statements, a layout of my property, council tax statement and my new born's birth certificate. None of them faced any difficulty for the visa application.

Thanks again all. Special thanks to John and Kayalami. Thanks guys. My best wishes for you all always.

B/Rgds
VR

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