AIBU to worry so much about my mum's visa?

[MrsJughead]

My mum's not British and she has to get a visitor visa whenever she comes to see me.

We've never had a problem so far and it's all been fairly straightforward. Most of her visits have been less than 2 months, never more than twice a year and she's paid for her own trips. She's never overstayed, used public funds or done anything alarming.

It's easy for her to visit me for a couple of months at a time since she is self-employed in her home country and she manages to come see me during non-busy times.

She came over to see me this March and the plan was that she would stay for a couple of weeks (we had a special occasion in the family) and then leave. This is what was stated on her visa application as well. She is currently here on a six-month multiple entry visa.

Unfortunately, things have changed drastically for me these past few weeks and I really want her to stay until it's all sorted out. I've had to move cities, my personal life is a mess and I'm having problems at work too. :( I reckon this will take until the end of June to sort out and I want my mum to stay with me until then. She's happy to do that, but we are only concerned about whether this is acceptable on a visitor visa?

Her visa is valid until August so she won't be overstaying, but this will be the longest she has ever stayed with me at a go (4 months).

Given the fact that it is a long period of time and that she had originally said that she was coming over for 2-3 weeks, I am worried about the repercussions in terms of her future visa applications.

I don't want us to give out the impression that she is using a visitor visa to live in the UK because that honestly isn't the case.

if anyone else has ever been in a similar position with their parents/relatives visiting or if anyone has any experience with this whatsoever, please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.

I've been told IABU to over-think this, but I'm worried about the next time she applies for a visa.

Have you read the talk guidlines! If you think it is the same person - then as she has denied it, you should report it. If not then don't post and ignore or give the benefit of the doubt.

MrsJughead. There is no rule to say you can't post about the same issue more than once, in fact lots of people do it but can you confirm whether or not you have posted about your mums visa before?

That other thread is almost identical..

Surely if you have a busy life you're too busy to worry about whether other posters have name-changed or not

"Just ring up the UKBA" hahahahahahahahahahaha gulp hahahahahahahahahahaha.

You'd have more luck getting through to Buckingham Palace.

I actually did try to ring the UKBA. Nobody answered.

Mimishimi- I don't know if the Australian and UK laws are similar. I do know people in the Uk who have their parents come over for childcare but I reckon the Home office will become suspicious of anyone who spends 6 months in the UK every year.

Also, would the Home Office have an issue with her staying with me in my flat for this long?

I don't think YABU to worry because visa authorities can be quite random and presumptuous at times.

Having said that I don't think that staying for 3-4 months on a 6 month visa is going to be an issue, especially if it's a one-off. If your mum was the sort who came to stay in the UK for the full 6 months every year on a visitor visa then the UKBA might become suspicious.

Why would they hand out 6 month multiple visit visas if they don't want people to actually stay for 6 months? It's a bit unfair to hand out a 6 month visa and then penalise someone for staying that duration.

www.bic-immigration.com/immigration-news/item/123-rules-of-the-multiple-entry-visitor-visas-to-the-uk/123-rules-of-the-multiple-entry-visitor-visas-to-the-uk

As long as your mum spends no more than 6 months here out of 12 months then she can stay as long as she wants with no implication for the future.

I dont think so. If someone spends the full 6 months in the UK on every visa they get they are not a visitor. They are living half their lives in the UK.

You might well think so, but the rest of the world disagrees with you. Including our UKBA.

It is standard practice in most countries to consider that up to 6 months a year is the maximum for a visitor. For example, my DH has dual nationality, British and another. I need a visa to go and stay in his birth country and I can stay for up to 6 months a year as a visitor, any longer and I need to get their equivalent of our ILR.

There have been times that I would have loved to say that I was resident in his country and not just a visitor as their income tax is a lot lower. For a few years I was actually there more than six months and it was great paying a lot lower income tax than here in the UK.

You may not like it, but the rest of the world generally accepts 6 months as being the upper limit.

Well, if someone stays 6 months in the UK every single year, then yes that would be suspicious.

But my mum was in the Uk for a total of 2 months in the past two years. This is going to be the first time that she has stayed for more than 2 months at a go.

I agree that if someone spends 6 months every year in the UK then that is quite dodgy. But the question is, why do the visa authorities issue visas for 6 months then? If they don't want someone to stay for 6 months, they shouldn't issue such a long visa and just avoid all the confusion.