Relationship problems, a question.

[Laps]

Hi.

My Aunt is in a bit of a trouble, she came to the UK nearly 2 years ago (October 2008) on a Spouse Visa.

The couple are not getting on at all, her partner and his family are giving her a horrid time and she just can't take it any more and is thinking about calling it quits but she wants to stay in the UK as they both have a daughter (not born in the UK), so i'm wondering what exactly can she do to stay in the UK?
Can we support her? As my family has Indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Any advice with this would be greatly appreciated, thanks, Laps.

[Kitty]

If she is the parent of a child who is under 18 and resident in the UK, then she may be able to apply for leave to remain in order to exercise a right of access to the child.

The relevant part of the Immigration Rules is paragraph 248A.

If you search the forums you should find a couple of threads by posters who have been successful in this route to leave to remain. However, she will either need a statement from her partner that she has a right to access, or a Court residence or contact order. She will also need to be able to support herself and show she has adequate accommodation.

If her partner will support an application for ILR in the autumn (i.e. if their marriage is still "subsisting" at that time), it may be more straightforward for her to hang on until then and sort out issues of separation and contact once she has her ILR. I'm not advicating that she lies about the relationship, but many couples go through difficult patches and it's not unreasonable for her to hope that things might get sorted out.