Mother's travel history - Visit visa

[AGM23]

Hi all,

Hope everyone has had great new year.

My mother who has been visiting UK for nearly 20 years, her last 5 years visit visa expired in Oct 2020.
Issue is that during last 5 years her visits were more frequent than normal and this was due to the fact that my older brother son passed away in 2016 and he himself was suffering from severe depression and sadly he too passed away in 2019 and was only 47 year old.

She has always stayed and left within the time limit that is allowed i.e. 180 days.

below are her visits.

2016- 160 days
2016- 41 days
2017-166 days
2018-155 days
2019-154 days
2019-2020 -153 days (this was when her son passed away)

She would like to apply another 5 year visit visa, she does have enough strong ties to her home country, i.e property, savings etc and i could also support when she is here like me and my older brother used to do. She has no other intention except visiting family here.

So question is do i explain reasons for long frequent visits on a letterhead giving details of death i.e death certificate etc? or should not bother since she has never actually broken any rules as such? also is it worth using any solicitors in this case?

Really appreciate your help.

Kind Regards

[ywlgy]

I don't think there will be a problem. There were absences more than 180 days, which prevented her from claiming settlement based on these visits. In addition, she still has strong ties to the home country.

Solicitor is not needed.

[haseebali]

First of all I am really sorry about your loss.

Your mother never breached or violated her visa conditions so it’s good to go, although I would recommend that you should apply 10 years visa instead of 5 years. No need to explain much about her longer visit and passing for your brother. Parents do live longer then normal visit so there is nothing wrong in that. In fact in my experience the visa officer do recommend to go for longer term visa if you have frequent visits to the UK. I wish you all the best for your mother’s application.

[AGM23]

Thanks guys for your input.

I was getting conflicting information, although i know she has not broken any rules was not sure whether to explain the situation in cover letter voluntarily or leave it? and just apply.


Thanks

[ywlgy]

I don't see the point to raise this issue by yourself while it might not even be seen as a issue by UKVI. I would save the letter for administrative review if the application is refused eventually.

[CR001]

The key thing to note is that she must not have been spending more time in the UK than in her home country in any 12 month period.

[AGM23]

The key thing to note is that she must not have been spending more time in the UK than in her home country in any 12 month period.

Thanks, she has indeed spent more time in 2019-2020 in UK than in her own country and i mentioned the reasons above? however she has not been in breach of any rules?

I would understand if someone would do that for the duration of their visa i.e in 5 years spending more time in UK, but she has not done that? Thats the reason i was asking if it would be worth explaining this with cover letter at the time of application?

Thanks

[AGM23]

I don't see the point to raise this issue by yourself while it might not even be seen as a issue by UKVI. I would save the letter for administrative review if the application is refused eventually.

Thanks for your input and time.
That’s exactly what i thought as well, didn’t wanted volunteer the information that’s not really needed, hence asked the question