Guidance

Visiting family: VAT02

Published 3 December 2013

This guidance was withdrawn on 24 April 2015

This entry clearance guidance is no longer current.

1. VAT2.1 What are the requirements

The requirements for a family visitor are the same as a general visitor and are covered by paragraph 41 of the Immigration Rules

2. VAT2.2 Do family visitors have a full right of appeal?

Any family visit applications made on or after 25 June 2013, which do not meet the requirements of paragraph 41 of the Immigration Rules, will be refused and will not attract a full right of appeal, in accordance with section 52 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. ECOs should provide full reasons for refusal on a limited right of appeal (LRA) refusal notice.

If an applicant chooses to re-apply submitting a fresh application, the ECO must treat the fresh application on its merits. Cross-reference to information held on previous application(s) may be carried out and noted but a full assessment of the new application must be made against the Immigration Rules.

In relation to family visit applications made before this date, ECOs should give a qualifying family visitor application a full right of appeal. The remainder of this guidance remains in place for any applications which were made before 25 June 2013 and are later refused.

A family visitor can be defined as one of the following:

• Spouse, civil partner, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister;
• Grandfather, grandmother, grandson or granddaughter;
• Spouse or civil partner’s father, mother, brother or sister;
• Son or daughter’s spouse or civil partner;

• Stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother or stepsister; or * Unmarried partner where the couple have been in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least the 2 years before the day the application is made and the relationship is genuine and subsisting.

• Under these Regulations a FRA will only apply where the applicant is applying to visit a qualifying family member and that family member also has settled status in the UK (as defined in paragraph 6 of the immigration rules)
• been granted asylum (under paragraph 334 of the immigration rules; or
• been granted Humanitarian Protection status (under paragraph 339C of the immigration rules).

In addition:

Children adopted under an adoption order recognised in UK law are treated as if they are the natural children of the adoptive parents.

The applicant must demonstrate the following:

• the application submitted falls to be assessed under all of the requirements of paragraph 41 of the Immigration Rules or for child visitors under paragraph 46A;
• the intention is to visit a qualifying family member in the UK as defined in the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2012; and
• the main purpose for the visit is to visit a qualifying family member.

The ECO should assess all the information provided to determine whether the main purpose of the visit is to visit a qualifying family member. The relationship stated on the VAF and/or supporting documents should be accepted unless one of the following scenarios apply:

1. the applicant has submitted a Family Visitor application but the main purpose of the visit is to engage in an activity not provided for under Paragraph 41 of the Rules (that is: business visitor, sports visitor, entertainer visitor, medical visitor, visit for marriage or civil partnership and student visitor); or
2. the applicant has not fully completed the relevant sections of the VAF and no evidence has been submitted which suggests that the visit is for the purpose of visiting a qualifying family member; or
3. no evidence has been submitted with the application which demonstrates that a family visit is intended; or
4. the applicant and/or sponsor does not detail what their relationship is either on the VAF or supporting documents.

Where sponsorship documents have been submitted and the ECO has reason and/or grounds to doubt the relationship, a telephone call should be made to the sponsor in the UK and clarification sought. A documentation verification report should be completed in all cases to justify the refusal and to support the ECOs decision to refuse without giving the applicant a full right of appeal.

Clear reasons should be provided on the refusal notice to why a family visit application was refused without a full right of appeal. For example, ‘You have applied to visit xxxx but he/she does not qualify as a family member under the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2012 because xxxx.’

3. VAT2.3 What is the endorsement for a family visitor

C: VISIT - FAMILY VISIT LTE: 6 months Code 3#

4. VAT2.4 Group applications

All applicants must be served with individual refusal notices. However, a child visitor’s notice of refusal should be served on the parent or guardian. It is inappropriate to give a teenage child a notice of refusal that makes negative references to their parent’s circumstances or financial information. If the family group has provided one set of financial documents to support all the applications, it is appropriate to refer to these in each notice. Equally, when refusing other, non related groups, for example, a tour group, ECOs must take care to ensure that no applicant receives inappropriate information about another group member on their notice of refusal.