Help with Stepdaughter's ILR application

[madangmark]

I wonder if anyone can help?

Just over 2 years ago my Papua New Guinean stepdaughter joined my wife (-a Papua New Guinean national with ILR) and I in the UK, on what I thought was a settlement visa granted by the British High Commission in Papua New Guinea. She joined us just before her 16th birthday in August 2009, and since then has until very recently been in full time education, studying ESOL and childcare. She turned 18 last month and decided to try to join the job market. The economy being what it is, she’s struggled to find paid work in her chosen field, but has been offered voluntary work experience with a local nursery subject to sorting out issues with her passport and visa, that they highlighted when they started to process her CRB application.

The issues are:

1. That her surname is spelt differently (i.e. with a single ‘t’) on her passport photo page to the way it is on her visa (with a double ‘t’) and everything else in the UK – national insurance numbercard, buspasses, old child benefit statements etc. We’re planning to seek a change to her passport via the Papua New Guinean High Commission and passport office to iron this out – but this could take several months.

2. That contrary to what we thought, her settlement visa only has a limited life and will expire next month. (This is because whilst it at first looks like there is no expiry date on the visa stamp the actual date is misaligned with the ‘Valid until’ preprinted header, and the date is partially obscured by the stamp the immigration officer used when she entered at Heathrow – but to be fair if you look carefully it is there.)

The nursery headteacher has given me a number to ring regarding extending her visa stamp, but looking at the UKBA website and reading the (excellent) forums here and elsewhere on the web, the following are concerning me, and hence I’m reluctant to ring the number just yet:

3. That even though we’ve already paid a big old visa fee in 2009, we could have an even bigger one coming our way – possibly over £1800 since she is now over 18.

4. That other forum entries imply that it might be a problem that she has now left full time education - however I’m not sure why.

5. That she might have to sit some kind of test on life in the UK designed to limit immigration – she’s a lovely girl but no academic high flyer so this might be bad news.

Until a couple of days ago I thought our biggest concerns were like for many other young people at the moment trying to get a start in a career in bankrupt Britain while there’s not much work around, but I’m now starting to think we might be getting a £2k punch in the face from the Home Office, or even worse that she could be at risk of deportation.

Can anyone advise us on what we should do? We’ve only got four weeks until her visa expires, so time is of the essence and I'd greatly appreciate some guidance.

[Greenie]

What does her visa actually say?

Did your wife have ilr when your step daughter made her application?

[madangmark]

Thanks for getting back on this so quickly Greenie.

1. Everythings a bit misaligned, but I think the important parts might be that the 'Number of entries' is 'MULT', and 'Type' is 'To Join Mother/CYR With Leeray Robin' (Leeray Robin accompanied her over initially but only stayed a few weeks). Under 'Observ.' it says 'No recourse to public funds'. 'VAF No' is '2740' and 'Valid until' is '24/10/11'.

2. Yes her mother has had ILR since March 2001, but remains a PNG citizen.

Hope this helps clarify. Please let me know if there's anything else you need to know.

[geriatrix]

What is Leeray Robin's relationship to the child?
Is the mother resident in the UK? If so, since when?
Has the mother been out of UK for more than 2 years in a single instance?

[madangmark]

sushdmehta

Leeray Robin is a distant relative; but his role was essentially just to escort her over to the UK in 2009 as she hadn't been on a plane before - so he shouldn't be relevant to the visa.

The mother (-my wife-) has been resident in the UK since 1998. She's never been out of the UK for anything like as much as 2 years in a single instance.

[vinny]

2. Yes her mother has had ILR since March 2001, but remains a PNG citizen.

I believe that her daughter should have been granted ILE. Perhaps you can ask them to correct the error.

[madangmark]

My stepdaughter now has had her visa corrected based on your advice.

Thanks for your help Greenie, Sushdmeta and Vinny

[jami]

Good News in the context:
1. It is very good forum of mutual help,
2. Most of the beneficiaries tend to give feedback.

Here the participant avoided 2K punch of UKBA and a lot of hustle.