Previously 'Sponsoring' wrongdoer - will this cause issues?

[sainstman]

Hi all

Apologies for the long winded nature of this post but I have been worried sick about it and would like some knowledgeable opinion.

I got into a relationship with a Thai national in the UK in 2006. Things were fine for the first 2 years, and then went pear shaped for the final 3 years culminating when I found out she had been seeing another guy for nearly a year and I kicked her out. I also have had unconfirmed reports that she was selling her body - certainly she was allegedly working as 'just a maid' in places of ill repute. Glad to see the back of her. Ok sob story over.

In late 2007 she asked me to help her fill in some forms for her sister to come over to stay with her and I in London. Of course I thought nothing of this and as my then partner couldn't write proper english I put together an invitation letter from us both, and then we visited her family in Thailand and I helped complete her sister's visa application form. Now here's the interesting bit.

Her sister was financially supporting herself (so I wasn't acting as a guarantor) and I do remember the form asking if she had relatives in the UK that she was staying with and I put my then partner's name in and explained that the relationship was sister. It also asked if anyone else was at that address so I filled in my details. I am pretty sure the application also included a scan of my then partner's UK visa (ILR) and my passport, seeing as I was the owner of the flat where she was staying with my ex partner and I. And the visa was granted.

Her sister stayed with us for the first month or so, at which point my then partner said that her sister was uncomfortable staying with us as we were arguing a lot and wanted to stay with some Thai friends she had met who were friends of my then partner too. Fine by me, good to have more privacy. And my then partner and her sister seemed to have a falling out around the sister's predilection with London's casinos, leaving muggins here to bail her out of her debts with my then partner promising to pay me back (which of course never happened along with the thousands of pounds I 'lent' my ex partner to get her out of various debts which of course I have never seen or will never see again.

A few months later my then partner asked me to buy online a ticket for her sister to return to Thailand. I purchased this of course like the good boy I was. Where I started to think something was a bit odd was when my then partner's sister abruptly returned to Thailand about a month before the date of this flight, again apparently because of a huge row with my then partner. Odd, but this was a seriously messed up family so not impossible. I managed to recoup half of the value of the flight back.

Okay so here's the thing. The sister came to the UK late 2007 and left in spring 2008. And I have heard NOTHING since then to raise suspicion. However last week I was out with work colleagues for a few beers and bumped into an old friend of my ex partner who said that my ex's sister had got in trouble with the police (so she had heard but couldn't confirm) and wasn't able to return to the UK.

Hmmmm. This got me thinking, maybe it wasn't a voluntary return to the UK and also more seriously, given what I found out about my ex's activities in the UK I have started to suspect this is a family thing and maybe her sister was involved in similar, was caught without a valid visa and removed.

Now where I am worried is this. Was I the sponsor or not? Looking at the criteria to sponsor a visit visa to the UK, one of the obvious ones is family members. Obviously I am not the family member and my ex was as the sister so technically she was the sponsor. The reason I say this is that I would have thought that had I unwittingly been the sponsor of someone who did something dodgy in the UK I would have imagined that the police/UKBA would have been down my throat like an exocet and investigating further. I would surely have received a strongly worded letter at the least blacklisting me from sponsoring anyone else from entering the UK.

What complicates matters is that I am in the process of applying for my wife's spouse visa to the UK (itself complicated - I seem to pick them lol) and was worried that this may (well it almost certainly would) count against me. However I still have no idea whatsoever whether I count as a sponsor of my ex partner's sister or not as my role in this was to put together the invitation letter and also prove my UK nationality as the owner of the flat where she was due to stay. No financial support/guarantees were made.

I have spoken to several people about this and everyone seems to think I have no case to answer - I can't be held responsible for the conduct of my ex partner's sister and it is almost certain that she would have applied as a family visitor given the fact her sister had ILR in the UK, so if anyone should cop it it would have been my ex. Of course it's also not confirmed that my ex partner's sister did get in trouble either, it's just hearsay and I have no desire to confront my ex about this as she is pretty much certifiable and getting straight word out of her is nigh on impossible.

Finally, if it transpires that this is a black mark against me, through no fault of my own, what are my options in terms of pursuing legal action against my ex for sullying my name? (I have never ever been in trouble with the police previously). If my ex's selfish actions have jeopardised my ability to bring my wife to the UK I will use all means possible to pursue her legally to hold her accountable for her actions.

Any advice is gratefully received.

[mochyn]

Hi all

Apologies for the long winded nature of this post but I have been worried sick about it and would like some knowledgeable opinion.

I got into a relationship with a Thai national in the UK in 2006. Things were fine for the first 2 years, and then went pear shaped for the final 3 years culminating when I found out she had been seeing another guy for nearly a year and I kicked her out. I also have had unconfirmed reports that she was selling her body - certainly she was allegedly working as 'just a maid' in places of ill repute. Glad to see the back of her. Ok sob story over.

In late 2007 she asked me to help her fill in some forms for her sister to come over to stay with her and I in London. Of course I thought nothing of this and as my then partner couldn't write proper english I put together an invitation letter from us both, and then we visited her family in Thailand and I helped complete her sister's visa application form. Now here's the interesting bit.

Her sister was financially supporting herself (so I wasn't acting as a guarantor) and I do remember the form asking if she had relatives in the UK that she was staying with and I put my then partner's name in and explained that the relationship was sister. It also asked if anyone else was at that address so I filled in my details. I am pretty sure the application also included a scan of my then partner's UK visa (ILR) and my passport, seeing as I was the owner of the flat where she was staying with my ex partner and I. And the visa was granted.

Her sister stayed with us for the first month or so, at which point my then partner said that her sister was uncomfortable staying with us as we were arguing a lot and wanted to stay with some Thai friends she had met who were friends of my then partner too. Fine by me, good to have more privacy. And my then partner and her sister seemed to have a falling out around the sister's predilection with London's casinos, leaving muggins here to bail her out of her debts with my then partner promising to pay me back (which of course never happened along with the thousands of pounds I 'lent' my ex partner to get her out of various debts which of course I have never seen or will never see again.

A few months later my then partner asked me to buy online a ticket for her sister to return to Thailand. I purchased this of course like the good boy I was. Where I started to think something was a bit odd was when my then partner's sister abruptly returned to Thailand about a month before the date of this flight, again apparently because of a huge row with my then partner. Odd, but this was a seriously messed up family so not impossible. I managed to recoup half of the value of the flight back.

Okay so here's the thing. The sister came to the UK late 2007 and left in spring 2008. And I have heard NOTHING since then to raise suspicion. However last week I was out with work colleagues for a few beers and bumped into an old friend of my ex partner who said that my ex's sister had got in trouble with the police (so she had heard but couldn't confirm) and wasn't able to return to the UK.

Hmmmm. This got me thinking, maybe it wasn't a voluntary return to the UK and also more seriously, given what I found out about my ex's activities in the UK I have started to suspect this is a family thing and maybe her sister was involved in similar, was caught without a valid visa and removed.

Now where I am worried is this. Was I the sponsor or not? Looking at the criteria to sponsor a visit visa to the UK, one of the obvious ones is family members. Obviously I am not the family member and my ex was as the sister so technically she was the sponsor. The reason I say this is that I would have thought that had I unwittingly been the sponsor of someone who did something dodgy in the UK I would have imagined that the police/UKBA would have been down my throat like an exocet and investigating further. I would surely have received a strongly worded letter at the least blacklisting me from sponsoring anyone else from entering the UK.

What complicates matters is that I am in the process of applying for my wife's spouse visa to the UK (itself complicated - I seem to pick them lol) and was worried that this may (well it almost certainly would) count against me. However I still have no idea whatsoever whether I count as a sponsor of my ex partner's sister or not as my role in this was to put together the invitation letter and also prove my UK nationality as the owner of the flat where she was due to stay. No financial support/guarantees were made.

I have spoken to several people about this and everyone seems to think I have no case to answer - I can't be held responsible for the conduct of my ex partner's sister and it is almost certain that she would have applied as a family visitor given the fact her sister had ILR in the UK, so if anyone should cop it it would have been my ex. Of course it's also not confirmed that my ex partner's sister did get in trouble either, it's just hearsay and I have no desire to confront my ex about this as she is pretty much certifiable and getting straight word out of her is nigh on impossible.

Finally, if it transpires that this is a black mark against me, through no fault of my own, what are my options in terms of pursuing legal action against my ex for sullying my name? (I have never ever been in trouble with the police previously). If my ex's selfish actions have jeopardised my ability to bring my wife to the UK I will use all means possible to pursue her legally to hold her accountable for her actions.

Any advice is gratefully received.

This is an immigration forum and as such legal action for sullying one's name is not an issue.
However as regards to your wife's spousal visa, I see no reason why there should be any impediment as your previous relationship has finished unless you were married and not yet divorced