Should we appeal?

[Col1n]

Hi I hope someone can help.

I am a British citizen and my partner is Chinese. Her student visa was due to expire at the end of April 06. At this time we found she was pregnant. We decided to apply for a partnership visa although we hadnt lived together for the required 2 years (just over a year in fact) but gave the mitigating circumstances as the forthcoming newborn. The HO requested proof of pregnancy from our doctor within about 4 weeks and then everything fell silent until yesterday when we received a refusal to the application based on us not having lived together for two years.
Now that we have a beautiful baby son (1 month old) I am concerned that my partner will have to return to China (with him) and we will need to apply for a visa from there.
My question is whether it is worth appealing the refusal and on what grounds should this be?
Many thanks for any advice
Colin

[ppron747]

I'm no great expert in the Immigration Rules but the impression I get from other posts in this forum is that appeals in these circumstances are unlikely to do anything but delay the day, rather than to change the final outcome, which is that your other half should return to China to make her visa application. I'd welcome others' views on this, though...

My real reason for chipping in is that she doesn't need to take the baby back with her to China, unless of course she wants to. If you are named on the baby's birth certificate, then, as a result of a change in the law in July this year, he is a British citizen. (Had he been born earlier, this would not have been the case, as the law until July excluded you from being regarded as the "father" of a child who wasn't legitimate). From 1 July, the father - for British nationality purposes - is the person named on the child's birth certificate - see this topic for further details.

One final point: if your partner does return to China to make her application, she will need to come back as your fiancée, if you haven't been together for two years by then...