Hello everyone.
I am posting this on behalf of a relative who has experienced domestic abuse and violence at the hands of her husband and mother-in-law.
Background
She arrived in the UK on a spouse visa back in late 2015 and has been living with her husband and inlaws. They have two young children, both under the age of 3. Her husband has an anger management issue (not documented) and takes his anger out on her (which sometimes includes physical attacks on her) and on rare occasions, their children. His family have been controlling her (not allowing her to go out alone, not allowing her any access to money or to open a bank account in her name, limit contact with her parents, relatives etc). They have also been verbally abusing her and blackmailing her by threatening to send her back home and take her children away from her if she doesnt do as told. Through this fear and being chaperoned whenever she went to the Doctors etc, she hasnt been able to report her suffering to anyone. A few weeks ago, her husband attempted to attack her at which point she finally found the courage to call the police and flee the situation. She did not press charges against her husband at that as she thought the police would take her husband away but leave her and her children with his family.
Once we met with her, we convinced her to log a complain with the police. She has given a statement to police about the abuse she has suffered and the police have interviewed her husband and we are waiting for the police to get back to us as to what will happen next. Since she fled, she has been living with us even though she has been offered a place at a refuge but she felt that the refuge would not be an ideal environment for her and her children and would rather stay close to us who are her only relatives in the UK.
I have some questions regarding what is best approach for her to take from this point on. We will also consult with an immigration solicitor for some advice later this week. She currently has a FLR visa that will expire approximately in 2 years time.
1) Is in important that she applies for the DDV concession before making an application for IRL through the SET(DV) route? If she made an application for IRL without applying for DDV, will this be detrimental to her IRL application? We are happy to support her financially until she has a stable immigration status and somewhere to live.
2) Would it be advantage for her application if she moved into a refuge? As mentioned above, she isnt comfortable about this.
3) As mentioned earlier, there is no official documented proof that she suffered domestic abuse other than the incident where she called the police and the statement she gave detailing the abuse she has suffered. Since she has been with us, we have taken her to a drop in centre that deals with victims of domestic abuse for advice. We are also waiting for Social services to get involved (been over 4 weeks - no contact as yet).
Is there anything else she/we can do that can be used as third party evidence as I feel that the police may not take it further as it will be her words against his, and his family will back him and claim that she has lied etc.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Rob
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