Applying for Step Son's dependant Visa

[vyasmuthu]

I Am British Citizen . End of 2016 My wife and Step son (7 yrs) from India applied for settlement dependent Visa , She had custody of the child from her divorce document and we submitted all proofs required. Her Visa was granted and Step son's rejected stating we did not show any document for Sole custody though you provided proof of sole responsibility". The Biological father remained incommunicado and has never seen the child.

So we approached the Family court seeking sole custody of the child to enable child to travel to UK with mother and court summoned biological father who remained ex-parte after several summons so court granted Guardianship to the mother. We received the court documents in Sep 2017. Since last six months my Wife is living with me in UK as we were waiting for documents to be sorted. Step son was temporarily cared for by my In-laws as temporary arrangement. Now we are going to apply with all documents we sent before also with courts order specifically allowing guardianship in context of need to travelling to UK to live with Mother.

In the original application refusal letter ECO mentioned "you have not provided any documents to show sole custody of the child" though Divorce decree gave the custody of child to mother. But Divorce decree also gave visiting rights to biological father (which is pretty default in divorce court orders) Biological father never seen the child or contributed to child in any form.

So my question: As Childs biological father remains in-communicado does the court order provide enough weightage for re-application. Is the sole custody established in these circumstances. I`d be grateful for your advise.

[vinny]

See also sole responsibility.

[vyasmuthu]

Yes Thank you. I did follow all the guidelines of documents referred in that page and submitted a dozen different document so prove sole responsibility. I believe ECO was not questioning the Sole responsibility in refusal letter.

In our initial application we mentioned we have Sole custody ( but we only had custody with biological father having rights to visit). These were the points ECO observed for refusal.

So We approached the court with specific petition to give guardianship to mother , so child can go and live with Mother as she is the sole carer all his life.

[vinny]

Strange, showing sole responsibility should have suffice. Perhaps they were concerned that father having visiting rights prevented the child from traveling? Can the Court clarify that the child may live aboard with mother?

[vyasmuthu]

Hi Vinny, Yes the court order states "with the view that Child was always in custody of mother, and taking into account welfare of the child we grant the guardianship to mother". The petition to court was specifically to allow the child to join mother and myself in UK , It also mentions my name.