JimmyZA

Hi

Both my wife & I are British by descent (father and mother British for me, father British for my wife). We have British passports. In 2017 we applied and received settlement visa's for our 2 children. We went to the UK in 2017 to collect their Biometric Residence Permits, which show "Valid Until 2022-10-30" and "Remarks: Indefinite Leave to Enter". We only remained in the UK for 10 days at that time. Due to the birth of our third child we decided to return to South Africa, rather than move to the UK. We are now looking to all settle in the UK. Obviously we will need to apply for a settlement visa for our third child. However, are there likely to be any problems bringing our other two children with the BRP/ILE's into the UK on their South African passports? I was advised by Sable International that because they had not been to the UK in over 2 years, that their ILE's would have lapsed. If so, what do we do for them now?

Thanks in advance for any input!

BritInParis

Sable’s advice is correct. It would be advisable to apply for ILE for all three children.

JimmyZA

Sable suggested it might be possible to request an extension for the ILE, but have not given details of how. Any ideas?

Also, could we apply for Returning residents?

SanDiegogirl

None of you ever were residents were you?

JimmyZA

No, none of us have stayed in the UK for any length of time. My wife was there for about 3 months after she left school, but thats it.

SanDiegogirl

One of the main eligibility criteria or the Returning Resident visa is maintaining strong ties to the UK - home, business, investments, family, frequent trips back to UK

JimmyZA

We have family in the UK, and try to see them once a year (either they come to South Africa, or we go there - barring the last 18 covid months). Is that useful?

I am in the process of registering a company in the UK for the purposes of continuing my work once we immigrate. Would that help?

Would it help to open investment accounts in the UK before we go, to show intention for ties?

Just exploring all possible avenues before applying the settlement visa's AGAIN

SanDiegogirl

Personally I don't see you have any eligibility for Returning Resident as you have never lived in the UK. However, nothing to stop you applying for it first if you want.

CJ2015

JimmyZA, I'm interested in finding out how you fared with Sable International. Did they come through for you, and would you recommend them? I am going to put this question forward to the wider community, but thought that I would direct this question to you first since you referred to them in your post. Many thanks!

JimmyZA

I used sable for visa advise, and for tax consultation as I am moving a business with me. I did the settlement visas myself because I've done them before (long story). They're professional & give good service, and have teams to cover all angles - SA and UK side, which is nice - no hopping between different companies for tax & visa & whatever advice. I'd recommend their services I've used, and I'll be using their UK small business accounting service in the UK too, at least to start with. Hope that helps, since I'm not sure what you want to use them for. I got further input from another company that specialises in ILE (can't remember the name though) - still ended up reapplying for settlement.

CJ2015

Thank you so much, JimmyZA. This really helps. I will give another go with another company too, but will probably use Sable. All the best with your move! By the way, how long did it take for your settlement visas to come through this time?

JimmyZA

We submitted them yesterday

CJ2015

All the best! Do you mind if I check in from time to time to see how it is progressing for you? I am hoping to get ours in by the beginning of Oct.

JimmyZA

When did you submit? It's estimated at 12 weeks from biometrics...

CJ2015

We haven't submitted yet. Hope to do so in the next couple of weeks. Many thanks for the heads up about timing. Didn't realize that it was from the biometrics stage.