Looking for advice

[Stuart D]

I could use some guidance for a situation which does not seem to be covered by the general information available.

I have a grandaughter born in Thailand to my son (a British national) and his Thai partner.

Unfortunately my son was killed in Thailand at the end of January.

My wife and I brought our grandaughter back to the UK, together with my sons partner (childs mother) who were both granted 6 month visas.

In these circumstances the child is a British citizen and we have obtained a British passport for her.

The situation is that when their visas expire in August they will have to return to Thailand.

I don't know whether the childs mother needs to apply for an extension of her visa or she would be entitled to right of residency.

Any help or general pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[ntuk]

Dear Stuart,

I'm very sorry indeed to read of your son's death.

I'm not an immigration expert, but it seems to me that there may be two possibilities for your son's partner to apply to stay in the UK with your granddaughter:

1. She can apply for further leave to remain in the UK using form FLR(O). This allows for applications under special circumstances, which you can obviously explain. This leave would be limited to maybe two years (as for a spouse entering the UK).

2. She can apply for settlement using form SET(F) under Immigration Rule 317(i)(e), which applies to 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; ", which may be true in your case. More details are in Annex V, Chapter 8 of the Immigration Directory Instrudtions (IDIs) at http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... r8annexes/ .

If 317(i)(e) does not cover your case, then your son's partner can apply "outside the rules" for leave to remain "for reasons that are particularly compelling in circumstances" - see Ch.1 , section 14 of the IDIs at http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... schapter1/ .

You can download application forms and guidance from the UK Broder Agency website by following the links at http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ukresidency/ .

If you can afford it, it might be wise to hire an immigration adviser to help you with the application. In any case, be sure to apply before your son's partner''s visa expires.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Neil.

[Enquirer77]

Stuart,

I'm also very sorry to hear about your son's death.

Certainly there are special allowances made for spouses who are widowed in the UK who are here on a spouse visa and not yet in receipt of ILR. It is possible for ILR to be granted under those circumstances even though the UK partner is deceased.

However, it's not clear from what you've said whether your son's partner came to the UK to get married under a Fianceé Visa. Were they married in the UK or Thailand, or just living together in Thailand?

It's also not clear why your grandaughter needed a 6 month visa to enter the UK if your grandaughter is a British citizen and has a British passport. Surely she is a Thai citizen by birth?

Surely if your grandaughter is a British citizen then she has a right to remain in the UK. The difficulty seems to be for the child's mother who may not have a right to remain in the UK. Understandably, the mother will not want to be separated from her daughter.

Definitely she needs to seek professional advice from an Immigration advisor or Lawyer as soon as possible. I hope you can resolve this painful situation soon.