Spouse visa or Parent visa

[jafferdeen]

Hi
My friend is currently on a spouse visa .He is from India.He has one child .Wife and child are British national.
They are living together but they have some issues and husband might leave his wife in near future .His spouse visa extension is now due .Although he meets all requirements under Appendix FM for spouse visa but he wants to apply under parent route instead of spouse visa.I understand for parent route you should not be living with partner .The reason is because if he leaves her in future she will curtail her visa and he will need to pay IHS and visa fee again .

Question:-

1- What is best application he can make ?

2- If he makes an application on basis of parent route how Home Office will treat it?

[Anon123B]

Hello Jafferdeen,

Your friend must consider a few things. Firstly, the parent route is not for couples in a genuine and subsisting partner relationship. It seems that, despite the uncertain nature of the relationship, your friend is living with his wife and the relationship is not yet broken down. This leads to the second point - an applicant cannot apply for a parent visa if they meet the requirements for a spouse visa under paragraph 6.2 of the Immigration rules. In this case your friend seems to meet that requirement because (a) he is a spouse; and (b) of a British woman who can still sponsor him under the spouse visa route. Thus, the Home Office is less likely to have a positive outlook on the application if it is made for a parent visa. Considering these things, it may not be the best decision to make an application for a parent visa at the current time. Nonetheless, if your friend does decide to leave his wife and the residence, then he may be able to gather evidence to prove the breakdown and may be more likely to have a better chance of being accepted under this route. Until then, it seems that it is not in his best interest to do so.