Family Visit Visa Without Sponsorship?

[Plum70]

My mother would like to visit the UK (2 months+) and wishes to apply for a 2-year family visit visa based on me and my husband's residence in the UK.

Hubby and i live in a 'cosy' (which means - small) one bed flat in west London which can obviously only comfortably accommodate both of us. The flat is quite pricey (£1000+ pcm w/out bills) and, including other expenses, disposable income is not abundant. As a result we can neither sponsor nor host my mother's visit at this time, and I have advised her to apply independently since our supporting docs will do nothing for her application. This hasn't gone down well...

Is there anything else we can do to assist this application?

[geriatrix]

If your mother has not been a regular visitor to the UK then do not waste money on applying for a multi-year visa. Unless the applicant has a history of frequent / regular travel to the UK, multi-year visit visas are not granted.

You will end up paying more money but be granted only 6 month visa.


regards

[Plum70]

I hear you.

She got a 6-month family visit visa in '09 (after an appeal overturned an initial refusal to an application to attend my wedding ceremony in '07) which she used once for 3 weeks and had to stay at a family friend's because we could not and still cannot host her. Prior to last year's visit she had not visited the UK for over 20 years... However, she now expects that she will be able to get a 2-year visit visa as she has now visited once. I have my doubts.

I have advised her to apply independently (since advising her to wait till we can afford to host her fell on deaf ears!) but do not know if the previous refusal, though overturned, and the fact that she is not getting any "support/sponsorship" from us will be a stumbling block. I also do not know how we can be of any advantage to her application as simply having a daughter and son-in-law residing in the UK cannot lend any credibility or strength to her application.

Any other ideas before I throw in the towel?