SETTLEMENT DEPENDENT VISA FOR MY MUM

[NT1234]

Hello I would like some advice. I am applying for my dependent mum to come and stay with me in the UK and she was rejected on the grounds of compassionate. She is under the age of 65 currently but is very ill, currently battling a stage 3 breast cancer .....she has completed all her major treatments and surgery in Jam..however due to her aggressive form of cancer her treatments had been equally aggressive and this left her with limited physical ability to her right hand as 17 lymph nodes were removed from her armpit (of which 15 were cancerous)...and this was followed by radiotherapy which caused her to develop lymphedomna.

The ECO stated that he is satisfied that she met all the requirements of para 317 of the immigration rules except (i) which is the age requirement and there is no compassionate grounds as the letter from her doctor stated that she is recovering well and is in good health. Though this was a pretty poor judgement from her GP at the time, he was making reference to her amazing reaction to treatment etc and did not know they could have taken this in this sense that she remains in good health and this is pretty much what the ECO use to base their decision on compassionate grounds. I specifically asked him to make it brief as my mum was going to collect it - and I did not want to much detail of her illness mention, did not want to re-live the past year again...Nothing was also mentioned in the original letter abt the condition with her right hand. For the appeal he wrote a new letter with a more detailed history of her medical record with evidence etc and one would assume that this would be overturn at the ECM stage but not...so it seem to be going to an appeal hearing...

All 5 children lives in the UK from the age of 6-15 and we support her every needs for the past 8 years as she has been ill prior to this with womb cancer...we all went on to higher educ here and is working in very decent jobs...at the moment we have a cousin looking after her in Jam but the cousin is leaving to go to Cayman which is the reason why the application form was made in the first place...it truly amazed me that someone could show no form of humanity and deprived her of the support of her children which is the only family she currently has. there is no close relatives left in Jam to attend to any of her needs - its been extremely tough and to see her go through all this treatments (chemo, radio) all on her own and this is made to even last so much longer by this long appeal stage. And currently with her being unable to do a lot of physical task due to the limited ability of her right hand.

It made me wonder why they could have a grounds for compassionate when they know it’s almost impossible to asses someone one this - if my mum situation is not compassionate you can only ask whose would?? But I am willing to take it to the court - I can’t move to Jam or my brothers to look after her - we have to work to support her financial needs. moreover we have student loans etc to pay back here, we have our lives here, so surely it could not be in the interest of the UK if we were to say ok enough lets go and be with our mum for however long she has left and care for her needs...its a shame...These people has no kind of emotion - you can only ask what kind of people like this works in these places. I would agree there must be rules, criteria to meet for these things and like everything in life we need some form of control but its unfair to treat people in this way - and reading the others comments I realised I am not alone in this.

Please can someone give me some advise - I am willing to take it to the highest level...I am not even using any lawyer, I plan to go to court with my other brothers and outline the case to the judge...after all they can be satisfied that she will be housed without any recourse to public funds (as we all have our homes here), she will be taken care of again without any recourse to public funds (we all have jobs here), she is financially dependent on us ( we proved for many years now via money transfer we have been her only support), she has no close relatives in Ja (which is the case and this alone should be enough for compassionate grounds for someone battling stage 3 breast cancer and is desperate in need of emotionally support from family members which our cousin has been providing for her and now she is migrating this will no longer be)..had it not been for her illness we would not have done this application form in the first place - as she would be quite ok to continue living in Ja but her health has made it very difficult being on her own..... So in essence her age is the only thing that’s preventing her from getting the visa - as she met al other requirements and this is a sick person so under what circumstances can they show compassionate.........

[NT1234]

THIS IS THE ECO DECISION

I am satisfied your application meets the requirements of paragraph 317 (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi)

However i am not satisfied that your applications meets all (of course not, she is not 65 yet) the requirements of paragraph 317 of the immigration rules because:

You wish to settle in the UK as a dependent of your daughter xxxxxxxxx I have assessed your application along with the supporting documents.

However i am not satisfied that you are living in the most exceptional compassionate circumstance as required by the immigration rules. The folowing led me to this conclusion. I am aware that you had have cancer in 2007 and 2008. This was confirmed by a letter fromn your consultant frm the xxxxx hospital. However your consultant also stated you have successfully completed all treatments and remains in good health. There is no evidence that you require physical support. You are xxx and live alone in a house purchase by your daughter. There is no evidence to suugest you cannot continue living in this arrangement. Its is also stated that your present carer, your cousin is moving away but there is no evidence to support this claim. There is no evidence you require full time care given your consultant states you are in good health.

for the appeal which in highsight i should have done is to get a letter from the carer sand the pastor for the church to confirm that she i smoving away. The consultant letter did state that she needs physical supprot and is getting this from a cousin presently so the ECO statement that there is no evidence she need physical support is false - but rather that trying to start a fight with these people the doctor wrote a much more detailed report and the need for physical support.

The ECO also stated that no evidence she need full time help - if she needed full time help i dont think we would be trying to get her to stay with us here as we would not be able to provide this. She require physical support and not full time help as she is not disable. She has been through very aggresive treatments, which has taken its toll on her but we are not going to make the situation worse by exaggerating this and say she need full time help (we are too grateful for the improvement made to date - a year ago we were told the chance were against us and yet she is still alive today)....she can help herself but cant do task like cooking her meal, washing etc and this is the sort of support she needs which we can provide....all we wnt is to have her near to us to provide the support.

They have no emotions - can can someone offer some advice as i think it may go to the appeal hearing.....

but what i know you cant win ...we literaly begged our cousin to say with her until she finishes all her major treatment and gratefully she did as we did not want to apply for her to come when this was going on as we did not want the home office to believe she was coming here to get treaments......she did all these in Jam and unfortunately they left her in a state where she need support both physically and emotionally.....we have also outlined a case for emotionaly support during this tough time for her with no relatives to provide this in Jam and it was not even looked at...

Gosh what constitutes compassionate grounds?

[vito0514]

See Older dependent relatives

THIS IS THE ECO DECISION

I am satisfied your application meets the requirements of paragraph 317 (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi)

However i am not satisfied that your applications meets all (of course not, she is not 65 yet) the requirements of paragraph 317 of the immigration rules because:

You wish to settle in the UK as a dependent of your daughter xxxxxxxxx I have assessed your application along with the supporting documents.

However i am not satisfied that you are living in the most exceptional compassionate circumstance as required by the immigration rules. The folowing led me to this conclusion. I am aware that you had have cancer in 2007 and 2008. This was confirmed by a letter fromn your consultant frm the xxxxx hospital. However your consultant also stated you have successfully completed all treatments and remains in good health. There is no evidence that you require physical support. You are xxx and live alone in a house purchase by your daughter. There is no evidence to suugest you cannot continue living in this arrangement. Its is also stated that your present carer, your cousin is moving away but there is no evidence to support this claim. There is no evidence you require full time care given your consultant states you are in good health.

for the appeal which in highsight i should have done is to get a letter from the carer sand the pastor for the church to confirm that she i smoving away. The consultant letter did state that she needs physical supprot and is getting this from a cousin presently so the ECO statement that there is no evidence she need physical support is false - but rather that trying to start a fight with these people the doctor wrote a much more detailed report and the need for physical support.

The ECO also stated that no evidence she need full time help - if she needed full time help i dont think we would be trying to get her to stay with us here as we would not be able to provide this. She require physical support and not full time help as she is not disable. She has been through very aggresive treatments, which has taken its toll on her but we are not going to make the situation worse by exaggerating this and say she need full time help (we are too grateful for the improvement made to date - a year ago we were told the chance were against us and yet she is still alive today)....she can help herself but cant do task like cooking her meal, washing etc and this is the sort of support she needs which we can provide....all we wnt is to have her near to us to provide the support.

what constitutes compassionate grounds?

[NT1234]

I have been over and over those immigration rules - in fact i can now recite them. As i mentioned she met every single requirement apart from the fact that she is not yet 65 (she may never live to see 65 though i hope for the best) and to establish a more compassionate grounds is hard to imagine..........they gave stated in their conclusion that they are satisfied she met the requirements in para 317 of the immigration rules - as we provided every single piece of evidnce to this effect and it appears that the opptimism of the inital consultant's letter stating that she has successfully completed all her treatment and is in good health is the cause of why im here with this appeal.

To point out i had another look at those rules and according to the ECO, he is satisfied she met the requirements of para 317 (II) is joining a a family member settled here (we all have british citizenship, been here from the age of 14 and my brothers even younger) (iii) is financially dependent on us (she has for many years as she has been ill for some time though this is the worse of it and not able to work - we sent her each month over £400 for medicine and maintenace), (iv) will be adequately taken care of without any recourse to public funds (i bought my own place a few years ago and so is my older brother), (v) has no close relatives in Jam (she has one sister over 70 years old and she is mainly in the US with her children - there is absolutely no one there to look after her needs). So she has met all the rules but the age - and i guess a case for compassionate grounds is there on the rules but maybe somthing they have no intention of allowing...its a disgrace - i am still hoping for the best that this will be successful as i need her here to look after her and i would say God knows and see our intention.

Has anyone been through similar or is going through similar case. My hope is that an immigration judge will be a lot more sympathetic than the ECO - with the evidence in front of him.

[Wanderer]

What about the cost of her treatment? Perhaps this has influenced the ECO's decision, although NHS treatment is allowed perhaps he thought with a pre-existing condition it would be a burden on the state and unfair on the ordinary taxpayer?

Random thoughts....

[NT1234]

it could well do - but this is not stated in their decision. I do believe they take these things into account though they say compassionate grounds means the person is very ill (literally dropping dead)...........why would you want someone ill to come here?? surely it would be a burden on the NHS - so it shows they say one thing and mean another.

I must admit that this is something i took into consideration - and the reason why i did the application form after she completed all her major treatements...though it would not be in her interest to before - as the doctors in Jam needed to monitor her and you would not want to change doctor at this crucial stage...........in fact my younger brother stayed in Jam for 5 months with her last year- a bit of a culture shock for him as he left Jam at an early age but she needed the support. At the current moment she must take daily tablet for the next 5 years so i am not going to admit that she will not need medicine but she wont be reliance on the public here apart from that there is no further medicine providing the cancer will eventually goes into remission (these tablets costs £250 for a month supply in Jam and i went to boots to check the costs out about a month ago and the did not costs £100). We would be more than prepared to buy her medicine - this is not something that cross any of us mind. We all pay taxes but i have never been on the benefit systems and pays over £1500 a month in tax - thats just one, not to mention my oter siblings. So its not a matter of being burden the NHS - if thats the case they cannot say you can apply for elderly relatives to come here - they are more likely to need medicine and burden the NHS.

[hmm]

you can write to ECM asking them to reconsider the application. It'll be done part of the appeal procedure anyway. But if you write straight to them then the application will be looked into sooner.
Include the follwings...
* A letter from your mum's carer why she cannot look after your mum anymore - moving away. back it up with some paper work, why she is moving away (if for work, a confirmation letter from the employer), etc,

* A letter from her doctor detailing her illness and the support (especially her emotional needs) she needs for her recovery. How likely (If) she is able to return to her old self and how long it might take.
I think the letter from the doctor didn't help her originally. This time make sure the doctor wrote the right things.

* Prepare a daily activity sheet and mention in detail how much help she needs from others for each activity. Eg: cooking, taking her medication on time...

* Detail of savings you and your brothers have which can be spend on her treatment here. i.e she won't relay on NHS. Find out how much it'd cost here to continue with her treatment and show that you have enough to support her.

* How you'd look after her here. Have a caring plan. who is going to look after her and when. I take it as she needs a full time care or someone needs to be around 24/7?

The appeal can take up to a year or so.
We are going through the appeal with my mother in law's (under 65) refused settlement visa. I understand how frustrating this can be especially for the applicant.

Good luck and hopefully ECM over turn the original decision.

[NT1234]

Thanks some useful comments there - i will do just this...i have already sent in the appeal at the post in Jam. I was hoping in light of the new evidence this will be overturn (it appears not as i email the FCO on Friday and someone reply that it was sent to the AIT on the 12/5 so i presume the tribunal).

Its a long process - so we will defo need to get something sorted in the short term.....To be honest i see my mum every 4 months as i travel very often to see her and to relief my cousin of the burden and she wont need full time care - she needs support around the house, particularly for doing physical activity and this is something we can provide. In fact she has been told to do reduce physical activities with her hands. There are five of us and the support she needs we can provide. As her main sponsor i will be able to do this and still work full time. Moreover the suport she needs emotionally is hard to imaginw - you can only understand this by having first hand experience of someone fighting an aggressive cancer.

I do have fairly decent savings - i am a fully qualified accountant and my older brother is a head of science school teacher for a secondary school. We are listed on the application but they seem to take only 1 person which is me.

Thats the sad part of it - none of the emotional support was ever taken into account. I do a lot of charity stuff for cancer research so maybe i will see if i can someone to help me highlight to the judge the need for her to have her only family which is us for her recovery.........its been some of the tougest time for us - and this is added to the misery; truly frustrating

I wish you good luck also - it just appear that the compassionate grounds seem impossible. I admit that the docotors letter did us no good as the detail were not mentioned and it was open to interpretations which they did as being in good health, though the second one for the appeal shows a much more convincing case. What stage is yours at? I hope you wont go through what we are going thro.

i heard of a friend who had is also filing for her mum to come and stay with her (the mum is 65) and the ECO phone her from Jam a few weeks ago to ask her how is she planning to care for her mum when she gets here - she is married and has a decent income from the hubby and said she wont be working and will be caring for her - not sure i this is the right thing to say but the honest one... i cant stop work (though i dont have any dependent children yet) as my mum need my financial support.

[hmm]

you could e-mail or post to ECM. I'm not sure why FCO send it to AIT instead of BHC. We wrote to ECM but he didn't over turn the original decision.
Our hearing is in end of August. Applied for the visa in October 2009. I was told it can take another 3-5 months to get the visa issued after the appeal is allowed. We can only hope to win the appeal. We took legal advise from day1. check the application by the solicitor before submitting and the solicitor thought we had a water proof case.

I'll pm you later.

[NT1234]

sorry whats BHC - i still dont know whats FCO but know the email i got from the last has this in the address...........oh wow, this is truly a long process - it only goes to show no matter what you do there is also a reason to decline the visa - they wnt to put people off applying and make the process unbearable.......I wonder had my mum been over 65 if this would also go to an appeal hearing - maybe??

on what grounds were you turned down? you sid she is also under 65, is that right? i wish you all the bwst of luck - and keep me posted on the outcome...........i must admit i did not seek much advice - i just did a lot of research and noted i met all the requirements of the immigration rules....but i guess its the long way for us..

[hmm]

BHC stands for 'British High Commission'.
FCO is 'Foreign and Commonwealth Office'. Their website is http://www.fco.gov.uk/

[NT1234]

ok thanks - what reason did they give for refusing your visa application?

[Guy_mk]

Hello NT1234
I am sorry to hear your situation and feel for you and your mother. I can sense a lot of frustration, anger and bitterness in your statement. You need to be calm and collect evidences for the appeal. Most importantly do not let this deteriorate your mothers health further.
I have been through similar situation in 2001 (under 65). Just won the appeal in march 2010 (over 65).

I am sorry to say that under 65 cases are impossible to win despite the circumstances. Compassionate grounds do not have any definition as per immigration rules, its individuals interpretation and views which always differs from one another.
You definitely need to appeal, but please get an immigration lawyer who will tie up the loose ends of your case and represent in a persuading manner.

If I were you, I would get a detailed medical report from the doctor from start till today, documentary evidence of cost for full time care back home, evidence of present carer departure, evidence of no family/relatives back home for help financially or emotionally.

Immigration only counts one sponsor whoever signs the sponsorship declaration even though your other siblings are involved.
But in the application where it asks about children, mention all of you are here. I would write a joint letter to support as an extra documentary evidence from siblings certified by notary.

Yes, your mother will be a burden on NHS, I am sorry to be harsh but your contribution (tax/Ni) does not mean how you interpretate. It's only for the country and its people. But, hey we all know whats happening in Uk at present but thats immaterial.

It may be hard but can you get a health insurance in Uk for your mother or from back home which is valid worldwide.
This would support your appeal to show that she wont be a burden to NHS.
Evidence of 1 non-working family member available here for your mother 24/7.
Ofcourse, you need to satisfy other things all over again.

Who does the property belong (deeds) to where she lives, how she manages to pay her bills ? get evidences of all her everyday expenses from a pint of milk to house tax, gas, electricity etc and prove her expenses against her income not forgetting she is living rent free, so that is another cost if she had to pay. Prove how hard to deal with these things in her condition on her own.
Provide documentary evidence for the nature of your/siblings employment and state that it is NOT possible for you or your siblings to visit your mother frequently. Anything could happen to your mother at any time due to her health and none of you may be present.

Therefore, she needs to be with you in the Uk despite her age under compassionate ground.
It's a years wait now, Goodluck.
BTW, Where is Jam ?
pm me if you want to speak.

[NT1234]

You have truly been helpful - very useful advice....

Sorry but i just join this forum, dont have a clue what you mean by PM lol....guess it may means some way of contact but not sure. Please let me know, as i would love to speak to someone who have been through the process already. Thanks

Jam is Jamaica

[NT1234]

have some very good news on my mum's case and thought I’ll share this as I am sure others will be going through the same thing. I put in an appeal at the post on the 4th may and about a week ago I got a reply from AIT to say they have now received the noticed of appeal and have given Jamaica until the 25th of august to put together the docs ready for the hearing. The wait seems too much to bear so I decided to email the BHC in Jamaica on Monday. No reply so I tried yesterday again with the same email for the attention of the ECM and this is the response I got back………….my email was just to ask if they cld speed up the process for me as my mum is ill and i need to get her here to provide the care and assitance. I had already given up on a ECM review being overturned as its been over 2 months so.

Dear Ms. xxxxx

Thank you for providing us with your mother's details.

Please be advised that your mother's her appeal is now being reconsidered. Please inform her therefore, to take/send her passport to the British High Commission, 28 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 10, as soon as possible. It may be handed in any weekday morning Monday to Friday between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m., in the morning.

i phone up my lawyer which is bernard who is also an immigration judge and he said its good news...they have reversed the decision and so i am now looking forward to her takin in her passport, unfortunately it cant be until next week as she is not well to leave the house but i am so happy. Another lawyer who works with Bernard said to me its very unlikely for such a decision to be overturned on elderly settlement visa and not gone all the way through the appeal hearing..well i am just to happy to say the least.

i am yet to meet Bernard as i only decided to get a lawyer a few days ago and have been communication to him via email and calls, our first face to face meeting should be on monday where i would decide whether to appoint him to represent me or not...

[NT1234]

have some very good news on my mum's case and thought I’ll share this as I am sure others will be going through the same thing. I put in an appeal at the post on the 4th may and about a week ago I got a reply from AIT to say they have now received the noticed of appeal and have given Jamaica until the 25th of august to put together the docs ready for the hearing. The wait seems too much to bear so I decided to email the BHC in Jamaica on Monday. No reply so I tried yesterday again with the same email for the attention of the ECM and this is the response I got back………….my email was just to ask if they cld speed up the process for me as my mum is ill and i need to get her here to provide the care and assitance. I had already given up on a ECM review being overturned as its been over 2 months so.

Dear Ms. xxxxx

Thank you for providing us with your mother's details.

Please be advised that your mother's her appeal is now being reconsidered. Please inform her therefore, to take/send her passport to the British High Commission, 28 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 10, as soon as possible. It may be handed in any weekday morning Monday to Friday between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m., in the morning.

i phone up my lawyer which is bernard who is also an immigration judge and he said its good news...they have reversed the decision and so i am now looking forward to her takin in her passport, unfortunately it cant be until next week as she is not well to leave the house but i am so happy. Another lawyer who works with Bernard said to me its very unlikely for such a decision to be overturned on elderly settlement visa and not gone all the way through the appeal hearing..well i am just to happy to say the least.

i am yet to meet Bernard as i only decided to get a lawyer a few days ago and have been communication to him via email and calls, our first face to face meeting should be on monday where i would decide whether to appoint him to represent me or not...

[Alex T]

Hello, Please can someone give me some advise. I am applying for my dependent mum to come and stay with me in the UK and she was rejected on the grounds of compassionate (317(i)e), She is under the age of 65 currently but is very ill and due to her isolation and loneliness here illness is getting worst by the day. She does not have any family member to look after her, she only have two children and we are both settled in the UK. My father died when I was 4 years old my mother never remarried. Currently she is very depressed and she is always in tears when we call her on the phone.


The ECO Decision was as follows

You have applied as the parent of someone who is settled in the United Kingdom. However you have failed to provide satisfactory evidence that you are a parent or grandparent under the age of 65 if living alone outside the United Kingdom in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances and mainly dependent financially on relatives settled in the United kingdom. I note from your bank statement that you are in receipt of funds which have not come from your son in the UK. 317(i)e

I have had two different opinions from two different lawyers; one said that I only need to prove that the money shown on my mothers statement was sent by me, the other lawyer said in addition to providing evidence that the money was sent by me I still have to provide evidence that my mother is living on the most exceptional compassionate circumstance, I do not now which one to believe can you please help?

Also I have made an appeal and the Tribunal send me a letter stating that this will take up to 19 weeks and that they will write to me after 19 October, 2010 with further details on how and when my appeal will proceed.

I am really worried about my mother’s health which is gating worst due to her been isolated and lonely with no one to support her physical and emotionally, her doctor is saying that she needs to be around her family. So I need to speed up the process as much as I can. Dose any one know what to do?

So my question is there any way I can speed up the hearing date, one of the options may be to write directly to the ECM with all the evidence is this advisable does anyone know what to do, please can someone give me some advice?

[NT1234]

I have to rush off now but i will response to your message later on today or tomororw. Its very hard to prove compassionate and so my first advice to you is to put together for a strong appeal from start and do your own research.........

and yes you have to prove the case for compassionate grounds more than anything else, let no lawyer tell you otherwise..........i have never used a lawyer for my appeal though it may be recommended, and it work to my benefit as i spoke to someone on here who is also going theough the same thing and she told me that her lawyer did not write a supproting/cover letter for her appeal but rather filled out the form (maybe its to get the case to go to court so they can milk you)..........you dont stand any chance to get a ECM overturned in this sense but if its not overturn then you will have to prepare for the court case..

when did you send in your appeal form? how long ago was it? what did you include as further evidence?

will msg you shortly again to tell you what i did...

[NT1234]

Hello Alex Again

The advised given from the 2nd lawyer is absolutely the correct one – you will have to prove the money is coming from you but even most importantly the case for compassionate and exceptional circumstance. By the way I am not a lawyer but having experience the same thing and having done some throughout research in this area over recent months I believe this MUST be the case and will be if you go to an appeal hearing.

It’s very difficult to prove compassionate and exceptional circumstance, its very subjective and the immigration rules does nothing to clarify this for us in any way. There is nothing to say what constitutes exceptional/compassionate but common sense would tell it’s at the very extreme end – poor health, illness, isolation, poverty (though you don’t need to be poor – the link below will show this). Many people would say to you (as I have been told this before on many occasions) no one under 65 gets this visa, it’s very difficult and it is very very hard but I don’t think its impossible if you have a genuine case – otherwise the rules would be flaws.

My mum was ill, and there was absolutely no one there to look after her. Like you we all reside here in the UK for many years now. She lived in Jamaica all on her own for all these years, and its only when she became ill with a 2nd cancer diagnosis I started the process to get her closer to us as it’s very difficult to provide the support so far away.

When I started the process I never read anything prior to this apart from the immigration rules. Though I knew she was under 65 I did also believe her case was exceptional and compassionate. However I always believe in don’t say or give more information than you’ve been asked and so I only had a very brief summary of her illness submitted with the application doc. In addition the doctor letter was far more optimistic than her situation truly was but it was down to her remarkable recovery but that’s still beside the fact she is ill..

Like you I got the same explanation in the refusal letter. It will always be the case if they are under 65. My mum is only 51, but this is one of those occasion where age is just a number as she is at times more frailer than my 66 year old aunt who is my mum oldest sister. However the ECO also stated that he was satisfied she met all the other immigration requirements which provides some comfort. My mum has had 2 battle with cancer and this is going on for the past 5 years now and since she never work and has been looked after by me and my older brother…….we are both in full time work, earned a good standard of living, has our own places so it was easy to provide evidence to show that she will not rely on public funds etc….it was however harder to prove exceptional, but had I read the forum before sending off the application doc I probably would not have been refused (though its hard to say) as I would outlined the case for compassionate in greater detailed. This is why they say they say the burden of prove is on the appellant, you cant leave any stones unturn or any reason for doubt.

So Alex this is where your hard work begins….you have to prove this, and you’ve got to do your own research, and not depend all on your legal team…look at the link below… pay particular attention to the section SET7.8. You have to show why you mum can’t continue living in xxxxx and why your case is exceptional more than someone in the same position – there will be others like us who look after our parents and they are wholly depend on us but how do we prove they belong here with us and that they cannot continue living in the current situation. My appeal letter along with further evidence for my mum’s appeal did outlined this (not only did her medical team provide a detailed account of her illness but we also show that her being alone is adding to her poor health and cannot continue much longer). Not only was it inhumane for her to continue living in this condition but it was making her more ill and she need to be closer to her family.


http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/settle ... prelatives

This requirement is to be considered as part of the cumulative effect of the relevant Rules. For instance, an applicant who is financially wholly or mainly dependent on his/her UK sponsor and has no other close relatives to turn to for financial support, must show that his/her circumstances are exceptional in relation to other applicants in the same position. The applicant’s standard of living does not have to be particularly low but nor should reference be made simply to the applicant’s standard of living in order to assess compassionate circumstances.

Fortunately for me the original decision was overturned by the ECM though I never thought it was ever going to happen again but was preparing for an appeal hearing. This happens about 2 months after appeal doc submitted One of the reason why I put in a strong appeal is because I was confident if I can show (which should not be hard as my mum was ill and should be with us) a case for compassionate leave or exceptional circumstances then its likely that this nay get overturned at the ECM review which is compulsory (have a look at the link below). If you have addressed the issue(s) for the original visa refusal then this must be overturned by the entry clearance manager. They don’t want a case to be going to appeal hearing, knowing they are going to lose…not only is it wasting taxpayer’s money, but their time and make them look rather silly as the immigration judge will rule in your favour….this is why this part of the appeal process is compulsory whether you handed in your doc at the tribunal or at the post. However in this case it’s hard to prove (other than the money which they doubted) a case for compassionate but if it goes to the court it’s the way for you to speak to the judge and put your case forward. It won’t be easy but not impossible; a lot of hard work is required. I went through this for only about 2.5 months and felt so drained at the end.

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/appeal ... pealreview

Just to say I also wrote to the ECM to ask if I could get the process sped up when I get the acknowledgement letter from the tribunal that they have given Jam until the 25th of August to respond. I got an email back to say my mum case is being reconsidered. Like you I thought waiting for so long just to hear back from Jamaica was too much to bear, and then its another wait for the appeal. So the ECM review can take a number of weeks, these people are very hard to predict – much prayer and hard work helped my case a lot. She got the ILE and is on her way here now - Thank God…I wish you all the best in your appeal. I also know a very good Immigration lawyer who is also a judge at the tribunal, he was the one I was going to use for my appeal hearing had it not being overturned so let me know if you want his detail. This is not a case for any lawyer – you have to get someone that knows the process, have dealt with case like this in the case and knows the Human rights (more so section .

Good luck again, feel free to get in touch for any further detail.