Is this possible. Immigration advice.

[wheretostart123]

A year ago my brother died very suddenly and I asked on here under a different user name about getting his wife and children to the uk. I had a lot of unhelpful replies accusing me of trying to take the family away from their support. However, the family are struggling and they would leave their country to provide good education for the children as well as working to earn money for them to live.
Where do I start to help them? I feel like I am letting my brother down by not helping his family.
The two youngest girls are currently applying for British citizenship as they had a British father. The eldest daughter is 18 and was my brothers step-daughter. His wife is a Cambodian national.
If anyone can tell me where to start I would be most grateful.

I'd start by researching a solicitor specialising in this stuff because the government wants to refuse wherever possible. If you can afford legal advice you will avoid mistakes which cost time and money, and risk refusal.

Thank you. That is helpful advice.

I was on your original thread. Depending on when the two youngest children were born, they will already be British Citizens through their father. Unmarried British C fathers weren't able to pass their BC status on until relatively recently, but can now.

Even if you and your family were to act as financial sponsors for this family, the oldest child being an adult would be very unlikely to be granted any kind of entry visa as she would need to apply as an adult in her own right. Your brother's children and his wife could, at a push, have a chance, but a very small one.

You do need expert advise, you should contact the relevant Home Office department for initial advice, or have them contact the British Consulate in Cambodia (?) who will advise and help them to make an application if they have a valid entitlement.

@PAFMO
The girls are 12 and 13 now.
I will look into everything you have written. Thank you

If your brother was born in the UK, then they would seem to already be British Citizens. This should give them automatic right of abode.
Your problem will be that they are minors, so it's not feasible to come to the UK alone, and their mother on face value wouldn't have any entitlement to be granted a visa.

Do get proper advice though, I used to work in nationality law, not immigration law.

I'd crack on and get the mother to try to apply for UK passports for the children whilst they are still children as they may be able to get the thousand Pounds fee waived.

If the dc do get British passports then they will be able to come to the UK without their mother, whether she can financially support them or not. They will be no different from any other British citizen.

The adult step daughter and your brother's widow would find it very difficult I think. I've done this before and the family member I was helping had plenty of money and it was still incredibly complicated and expensive.

@StrictlyJowita thank you. She has started trying to get them passports. Although she told me she had to apply for citizenship for them first, perhaps that is wrong.
I know she has sent some paperwork to department 264, UKVI in Liverpool.

I wonder if that's the the same thing. She is applying for citizenship, or sort of confirming that that are entitled to it really.

She's probably had to send evidence of your brother's British Citizenship which would prove their entitlement to a passport.

The nationality office as well as one of the UK passport offices are in Liverpool.
Nationality would look at an application for citizenship (as these children are minors it would be registration not naturalisation and from the info given by the OP they wouldn't have any entitlement under any of the clauses) and if it seemed like the children were already British, the fee would be refunded and then she could get them a passport in the usual way. If she's applied directly for a passport they'll need to see your brother's BC status evidence (birth cert/passport etc)

I recall your earlier thread and I didn't think you got unhelpful advice at all - you got realistic advice that you didn't want to hear - which is different!

The two DC of your DB will almost certainly be entitled to British citizenship by descent. The issue is your SIL and her older DC, neither of whom are likely to get permission to move to the UK.

Your brothers children will be classed as British citizens and will very likely be able to get uk passports fairly easily.

I do not think there would be any entitlement to move here for his partner or stepchild. It is much harder to move to the uk than it ever had been before.

@maranella to be honest I didn't return to the thread. I was,and am still, grieving.
When I say it was unhelpful, I meant the posters who were telling me that I was trying to take the family away from their home and support for my own needs. I know that they are struggling, my sister in law has told me that they are poor and scared.

They will still be poor here though. Sadly. Can't you send the money that you would need to support your nieces here in the UK to them in Cambodia in order for them to have a better standard of living there.

If there is one thing I've learnt about emigrating and living as an immigrant every single part of it is expensive. It costs thousands just to apply for a visa.

The most likely scenario is that your two biological nieces would be able to live here but not your SIL or her other daughter. How would she feel about that? Are you going to be able to house and support two teenagers?

I agree with @StrictlyJowita. If they're struggling financially in Cambodia, which is a comparatively cheap place to live, what makes you think that they will be better off here? I'm not trying to be unhelpful and your agony over the death of your DB is obvious, but I can't help feeling that your desire to bring them here is not going to solve their problems and will quite possibly make them worse.

If your family is in a position to help them financially, I'm pretty sure that you'd be better off sending them a monthly stipend. You could waste thousands of pounds trying and failing to bring them here, when it would almost certainly be better to spend your money supporting them where they are.

Having a British parent is not necessarily enough to secure British citizenship.

Having a British parent is not necessarily enough to secure British citizenship. No but it's only a very tiny percentage. If he was born here, and there is no indication from the OP that he wasn't, and there is documentation that he is their father then that's pretty much it.

If he wasn't married then the kids may not be British citizens. They need to become citizens before they can apply for a passport.

The law changed on July 13, 2010 I believe. So if they were born after that you should be fine but will still need birth certificates with his name on them etc.

As the step-daughter is 18, and IIRC from your last thread, your DBro never legally adopted her, then I'm not at all sure there's a way for her to come.

Establishing his biological DDs right to citizenship (and getting passport) will be a useful first step

I get what you are saying about them not being well off here either. I was just hoping that we could get them over here and my SIL could work. The wages in cambodia are very low and I understand the cost of living there probably reflects that. Over here, they could live with my mum so that would be one cost taken care of.

My mum supported them quite a bit while my brother was alive, helping them pay for school while he was out of work. None of us are very well off and not in a position to help.
It all sounds like it is going to be too much which makes me so sad. I just wish I could do something.
Yes, my brother was born in England and lived here until around 2004. Then he moved away.

Only if the mother was married to someone else.

@plinkypots he was married. They were married before they had the two youngest children.

As far as I know, he never adopted his step daughter so I know it would be really hard for her to come over. There is a chance she is planning to go and stay with a family member in America so it could potentially just be the two biological children and their mum.

You say the two youngest are applying for British citizenship, who is doing that paperwork, their mum?
Some questions.
Was your brother born in the UK and British from birth?
I take it the children were born in Cambodia?
Was your brother married to their mother before their birth and named on the birth certificate?
Have the children ever had a British passport or British issued birth certificate (embassies used to be able to do this, don't know if it's still the case).
The children may already actually be British citizens and it might actually just be a matter of applying for a passport.

If I were you, I would find a lawyer would actually knows about situations such as this , you might be able to just skip expensive citizenship applications and go straight to passport application.

Realistically, I would give up on bringing the mum and adult step daughter to the UK to live. I would also give up on the idea of bringing your brothers children here as well. I would, get their passports sorted though, and make sure it's done before they're 18. They may not ever want to leave Cambodia but a second passport (if Cambodia allows dual citizenship, so countries don't) gives them options. I would second the advise others have given to send them money if you can. I would also try to make sure the kids are having English lessons if they don't already speak it.

@Kendodd
Yes it is their mum who is doing the paperwork.
My brother was born in the Uk and British from birth.
The children were born in Cambodia and my brother was married to their mother before their birth. I assume, but don't know, that he is named on their birth certificate.
The children have never had a British passport, my brother kept meaning to do it but didn't get round to finishing the application.
As far as I know, they didn't have a British birth certificate.

All three daughters can speak English as they were attending an international school but they can't afford that now. But now there is not an English speaking person in the house I guess English won't be practised so much.