British citizen bringing Iranian parents to the UK

[Pedrouk]

Hi

I got my British citizenship in 2020. Since I have entered the UK with tier4, tier 2 and ILR, I couldn’t bring my parents to the UK to participate in important events in my life such as graduation and seeing my children! FO is advising against British dual nationals to travel to Iran. Can you please advise which is the best route for bringing my parents to England? They hold Schengen visa! Can they apply from Germany for UK visa?
Although my parents are financially stable, I will sponsor them during their stay in the UK.


I would appreciate your advice and assistance.

Best regards
P

[secret.simon]

Do you want to bring your parents on a visit visa or are you looking for a more permanent stay?

[Pedrouk]

I want to bring them to visit us. My mother tourist visa application was rejected and the case officer claimed that she cannot afford her stay in the UK. My wife and I are doctors in the NHS and have stated that we will cover all her costs including flights, accommodation, food, travel within the UK and private health insurance! Hence they rejected her visa and refused us the right to appeal!

[Ticktack]

I want to bring them to visit us. My mother tourist visa application was rejected and the case officer claimed that she cannot afford her stay in the UK. My wife and I are doctors in the NHS and have stated that we will cover all her costs including flights, accommodation, food, travel within the UK and private health insurance! Hence they rejected her visa and refused us the right to appeal!

There's no full right of appeal for a standard UK visa. Maybe the word private insurance might have ticked them off.
Yes they can apply from Germany. It doesn't guarantee that they'd get it though.
Does she still work back home? How long has she been in Germany?

[Pedrouk]

She has 3 months Schengen visa and entered Germany on 28th July. She is to return back to Iran 1st September.

[lolo2]

In that case and considering booking biometrics appointment, waiting times, etc., it's better to wait and apply from the home country.

What documents under her name were submitted to support the application? You also can post here the letter sent by UKVI to better assess the reason of the rejection, removing all personal and sensible information.

See the other posts with rejection letters as an example.

[Pedrouk]

Unfortunately, we can’t find the rejection letter! My mother is a house wife and lives with my father.

She has submitted the apartment deed title that she owns and rental agreement with her tenant. Her saving account statements. My father’s bank statements and letter from pension office confirming my father’s annual payments. My wife and my bank statements and letter from our employers confirming our income and work. We submitted the deed title of our property and a cover letter stating that we will cover her costs, utility bills and council tax letter! We also submitted a letter from midwife stating that my wife needs family support. My mother has valid American green card and we submitted it in the application!

In the second rejection they said we need to see your current account statements to verify if you can afford your visit. I have to add that my wife and I were on ILR and tier 2 in both occasions that she was rejected.

The rejections have a very upsetting impact on all of us and I want to be 100% sure that we are covering all the necessary elements so that case worker can’t reject the application. I would be grateful if you could share the list of documents that you think are useful and templates of cover letter that I can use to start a fresh application!

I honestly don’t know why the case worker refused my mother’s visa!

[lolo2]

It seems there's more than one application that has been rejected!

It's important to read and understand the rejection letters (or rejection emails) to amend the reasons why the applications were refused. If these elements are not properly addressed any further application will be also rejected.

For example:

We also submitted a letter from midwife stating that my wife needs family support

Declaring this can be seen by UKVI as she's coming to work as a carer which is not allowed with a visitors visa

[Ticktack]

I agree with the above assessment. Mentioning wife needs support isn't the smartest move. You can't emotionally blackmail this guys.

If I was you, I'd send her back to the US (it should be more straightforward from there), after 6-9 months you can make a fresh application.

Better to wait and get it right than to rush and add more failure feathers to her hat.

[Frontier Mole]

No matter where she applies from the circumstances of her previous refusal will remain, so the idea of applying from the USA is not going to add weight or change the position.

On other points:

She could never have applied from Germany as she does not normally reside or have status in the country.

Once it has been mentioned that the visit was intended to support you post birth, that basically states it is unpaid employment- that will be an issue regardless going forward. There is no way to turn the clock back or overcome that in future applications readily.

A US green card is basically meaningless in the U.K. application process - she can go to USA, great. It does not prove anything or give a superior status when applying for entry to the U.K. It is just a long term visa that could lead to citizenship.

[vinny]

She could never have applied from Germany as she does not normally reside or have status in the country.

Possible.

Once it has been mentioned that the visit was intended to support you post birth, that basically states it is unpaid employment- that will be an issue regardless going forward. There is no way to turn the clock back or overcome that in future applications readily.

Unfortunately.

[Ticktack]

No matter where she applies from the circumstances of her previous refusal will remain, so the idea of applying from the USA is not going to add weight or change the position.Apply from the US has a better likelihood as she's domiciled there. She has 1 month left on her Schengen, which could lead to overstaying if passport doesn't come out on time. Each and every application is treated on it's own merit.

On other points:

She could never have applied from Germany as she does not normally reside or have status in the country.Already addressed by @vinny.

Once it has been mentioned that the visit was intended to support you post birth, that basically states it is unpaid employment- that will be an issue regardless going forward. There is no way to turn the clock back or overcome that in future applications readily.Not sure where you're getting your absoluteness from. It doesn't work like that. She has not been banned from entering the UK. That's why she needs a cooling off period.

A US green card is basically meaningless in the U.K. application process - she can go to USA, great. It does not prove anything or give a superior status when applying for entry to the U.K. It is just a long term visa that could lead to citizenship.It proves that she's more vested somewhere else and would not want to mess that up by overstaying in the UK.

[vinny]

We also submitted a letter from midwife stating that my wife needs family support.

What else did the letter state? Family support doesn’t necessarily imply childcare, so be careful not to imply it. The refusal doesn’t actually refer to possible childcare?

Agree that it’s best to apply from the US, as then there would be no chances of inadvertently overstaying in Germany while waiting for a decision.

[Pedrouk]

Thanks all for your inputs!

We needed my mother’s help to be with us in the first month! Helping your son and daughter-in-law in this difficult situation should not be considered as unpaid job! It’s helping out the family members and love ones! Several colleagues gave us this advice as they have submitted similar letter to bring their parents to the UK and they issued her a 6 months visa!

Anyway this is very absurd situation as we are tax paying professionals who are contributing to the health and wellbeing of the society and we are facing such difficulties to bring our loved ones to be with us. On the other hand we see how easy the allow illegal immigrants obtain settlement very quickly and easy!

[AmazonianX]

Thanks all for your inputs!

We needed my mother’s help to be with us in the first month! Helping your son and daughter-in-law in this difficult situation should not be considered as unpaid job! It’s helping out the family members and love ones! Several colleagues gave us this advice as they have submitted similar letter to bring their parents to the UK and they issued her a 6 months visa!

Anyway this is very absurd situation as we are tax paying professionals who are contributing to the health and wellbeing of the society and we are facing such difficulties to bring our loved ones to be with us. On the other hand we see how easy the allow illegal immigrants obtain settlement very quickly and easy! Yes it could be frustrating however it does not mean requirements won't be met for immigration because you pay tax. You think illegal immigrants have it easy?

[Pedrouk]

Thanks all for your inputs!

We needed my mother’s help to be with us in the first month! Helping your son and daughter-in-law in this difficult situation should not be considered as unpaid job! It’s helping out the family members and love ones! Several colleagues gave us this advice as they have submitted similar letter to bring their parents to the UK and they issued her a 6 months visa!

Anyway this is very absurd situation as we are tax paying professionals who are contributing to the health and wellbeing of the society and we are facing such difficulties to bring our loved ones to be with us. On the other hand we see how easy the allow illegal immigrants obtain settlement very quickly and easy! Yes it could be frustrating however it does not mean requirements won't be met for immigration because you pay tax. You think illegal immigrants have it easy?

As you can see in the conversation thread even experts don’t agree on the requirements!

And yes, as a tax paying British citizen, that contributes to the society, I would expect that having my parents visiting me is my right and shouldn’t be harassed by the government,

I don’t know if the illegal immigrants have it easy or not as I have entered this country legally and have never claimed any benefits. However, I can see that illegal immigrants are being accepted easily and they have family reunion program that can bring along their family members once their case is being approved. In the meantime they are receiving benefits and free services whilst mostly are working illegally. Please don’t take moral high ground on this topic as I don’t care what you think!

As I didn’t receive a clear guidance from you guys on essential documents and format of cover letter, I will leave this forum and will seek advice from professional UK immigration lawyer instead.

[AmazonianX]

Thanks all for your inputs!

We needed my mother’s help to be with us in the first month! Helping your son and daughter-in-law in this difficult situation should not be considered as unpaid job! It’s helping out the family members and love ones! Several colleagues gave us this advice as they have submitted similar letter to bring their parents to the UK and they issued her a 6 months visa!

Anyway this is very absurd situation as we are tax paying professionals who are contributing to the health and wellbeing of the society and we are facing such difficulties to bring our loved ones to be with us. On the other hand we see how easy the allow illegal immigrants obtain settlement very quickly and easy! Yes it could be frustrating however it does not mean requirements won't be met for immigration because you pay tax. You think illegal immigrants have it easy?

As you can see in the conversation thread even experts don’t agree on the requirements!

And yes, as a tax paying British citizen, that contributes to the society, I would expect that having my parents visiting me is my right and shouldn’t be harassed by the government,

I don’t know if the illegal immigrants have it easy or not as I have entered this country legally and have never claimed any benefits. However, I can see that illegal immigrants are being accepted easily and they have family reunion program that can bring along their family members once their case is being approved. In the meantime they are receiving benefits and free services whilst mostly are working illegally. Please don’t take moral high ground on this topic as I don’t care what you think!

As I didn’t receive a clear guidance from you guys on essential documents and format of cover letter, I will leave this forum and will seek advice from professional UK immigration lawyer instead.

Wish you the best.

[Frontier Mole]

With your attitude and general approach to immigration I don’t think you will be a big loss to forum, feel free to leave. When you seek the professional advice you crave, unless you are using one of the top 100 law firms you are probably no better off than the advice on this forum.