Family Visitor Refused, What are my options ?

[hoppyk]

Hello everyone,

My mother has been refused a visiting visa to the UK.

She has recently retired from working as a nurse in Nigeria for 30 years, hence i invited her to come and visit me, my husband and my children that she has never met. I have indefinate leave to remain and my husband and children are British citizens.

I stated in the invitation letter that i will be responsbible for the cost of my mum's trip and accommodation, etc and sent a bank statement with thousands of pounds to show that I am able to maintain her for the 10 weeks that she was going to be staying.

My mum has visited the UK in the past, hence, I applied for a 2 years visa. I attached her retirement letter to the application.

She was refused on the grounds that she did not provide evidence of her income, employment, savings, assets and family ties.

Please I am confused as no body i have invited in the past has needed to furnish the evidence that is being asked for now. Any suggestions, advice, will be highly appreciated.

Thank you !

[Lucapooka]

A long-term visa implies regular coming and going; perfect for business people who need to travel to the UK for regular events and don't want to apply for a new visa every time they need to make that trip. The problem with long-term visas given to aged and retired relatives whose entire family is resident in the UK, is that there is a clear perception by the UKBA that visit rules will be abused. She falls into a high risk category. They think that she will be spending the majority of her time in the UK with her British family that support her, effectively living there but on the status of a visitor. It's a reasonable assumption but one that may not be so in her case. It's hard to overcome that.

Apply again for a regular 6 month visa. Demonstrate her strong social and economic ties to Nigeria.

[hoppyk]

Thank you for that.
At least i know what they may be thinking.
I added in the application that my mother has never seen her 2 grand children.
At the moment, her pension is still being processed, so she has to go back and follow that up.
Thank you very much for the insight.

[Lucapooka]

Yes, show her pension and anything else that links her to Nigeria (property, social commitments and connections etc).

[Amber]

Hello,

I want to invite my mother to the UK and I will be paying for her visit.

Will it be ok to give her only 2 months of my bank statement to submit with her application?

She will be submitting her 6 months bank statements as well, but there is not enought money in them to cover her trip.

Any advice or suggestion will be appreciated.

Thank you