Sponsoring British husband

[CanadianInUK]

Hi all,

First post here! Thankful in advance for any knowledge you can share. I'm a Canadian Citizen living in the UK with my British husband - we are about to apply for a visa for him in the family sponsorship class while we are living in the UK.

My question is regarding my English husband's 18 year old son. In the family sponsorship application forms it says that regardless of whether his son lives with his father & I, he still must be included on the application and go for the medical and provide the police certificate. My husband has been divorced since 2007 and does not have custody.

1. What if his 18 year old son refuses to take part if they are estranged?
2. What if he does take part but fails the medical or turns out to have a criminal history which shows up on the police certificate.
Would my husband's visa application be compromised in the above scenarios, even though his son is not in his care and is non accompanying?
There must be a situation where older kids (since it says under 22 still qualify as dependants) refuse to take part? What then?

Thank you for your help

 

[zardoz]

When you say he "does not have custody", is there a court order that states that the other parent has sole and exclusive custody? Thereby revoking any and all parental rights from the father. This is different from the child just choosing to live with the other parent. it must be sole custody...

 

[Rob_TO]

1. What if his 18 year old son refuses to take part if they are estranged?

Basically he would need to sign an affidavit that by his son not doing a medical exam, the son will be permanently barred from sponsorship under the family class going forward.

CIC does not like this, because many people have done this and then had conditions change in the next few years and suddenly wanting to sponsor the person they excluded, which is then impossible. However with the affidavit acknowledging he is aware of the rules and the reasons explaining why they are not including him, it should be fine to exclude the son.

2. What if he does take part but fails the medical or turns out to have a criminal history which shows up on the police certificate.
Would my husband's visa application be compromised in the above scenarios, even though his son is not in his care and is non accompanying?

It's practically impossible to fail the medical exam. Only way is if you have a contagious condition like tuberculosis.

And police check is only since the person turned 18. If the dependent here is just 18 years old, they most likely don't have a record (but who knows). And yes, this could cause problems in the application even if they are non-accompanying.

 

[Ponga]

Interesting. I was not aware that the medical requirements were also relaxed for dependent children of a spousal applicant. I thought that only applied to the primary applicant.

 

[Rob_TO]

Interesting. I was not aware that the medical requirements were also relaxed for dependent children of a spousal applicant. I thought that only applied to the primary applicant.

Good point, actually i'm not sure if dependent of a spouse that is not also dependent of the applicant, would be exempt from excessive demand criteria for healthcare when they're included under a family class app. Would need confirmation from someone else.

 

[taffy7]

Good point, actually i'm not sure if dependent of a spouse that is not also dependent of the applicant, would be exempt from excessive demand criteria for healthcare when they're included under a family class app. Would need confirmation from someone else.

They have to have a medical , x8 photos for immigration and a police report from the age of 18 .... They were going to change the law in January but have not at this time . My husband has a son who lives with his mum , no court custody but is under the age of 22 so we must do all the above. He also has to sign the family information form.

 

[CanadianInUK]

Thanks all!

Zardoz - apparently there is a court order, we just have to find it. So if his mom does have sole custody does that make it easier for us or we still need to do medical/police check really anyways?

Rob_TO - thank you for your advice. Regarding the medical, we were a little worried since he got caught with pot a little while back...if something like that shows up?

 

[taffy7]

If there is a chance that you can get him to do it please try . I was 19 when my mum came to Canada and i refused blankly that i was not going to do it since i had no intentions of ever coming . Two years later i was applying to come. Situations change and i wanted to be here.Its a little costly i know but a great opportunity for him later on in life .

 

[zardoz]

Thanks all!

Zardoz - apparently there is a court order, we just have to find it. So if his mom does have sole custody does that make it easier for us or we still need to do medical/police check really anyways?

Rob_TO - thank you for your advice. Regarding the medical, we were a little worried since he got caught with pot a little while back...if something like that shows up?

If your husband has no custody, it's very easy to prove to CIC that the boy cannot be examined.

 

[CanadianInUK]

Thanks Taffy7 and Zardoz, really helpful to hear from you.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

As far as I know, the age of majority in the UK is 18. The boy is a legal adult, so a custody arrangement would no longer be applicable. His mother has no legal recourse to prevent him from doing the medical, it's his own decision.

 

[zardoz]

As far as I know, the age of majority in the UK is 18. The boy is a legal adult, so a custody arrangement would no longer be applicable. His mother has no legal recourse to prevent him from doing the medical, it's his own decision.

This is correct. However, CIC don't care about the age of majority in other countries, so demonstrating a lack of "custody" in this case is to the applicant's advantage. It seems that the boy isn't interested.. See the OP posting, question 1. This gives the PA a CIC acceptable get-out with "lack of custody".

 

[canuck_in_uk]

This is correct. However, CIC don't care about the age of majority in other countries, so demonstrating a lack of "custody" in this case is to the applicant's advantage. It seems that the boy isn't interested.. See the OP posting, question 1. This gives the PA a CIC acceptable get-out with "lack of custody".

Yes, I read the OP's posting.

Demonstrating a lack of custody would be applicable if the child were still a minor and the parent with sole custody prevented their child from doing the medical. That is a genuine legal barrier, which is why CIC accepts it.

However, demonstrating a lack of custody for a legal adult who is free to make his own decision about the medical...I don't know if CIC would actually consider that.

I would think that a notarized letter from the boy stating he will not be immigrating to Canada would carry more weight than custody papers that are no longer in effect. That, along with the father's notarized letter, would be enough.

 

[Sweden]

Rob_TO - thank you for your advice. Regarding the medical, we were a little worried since he got caught with pot a little while back...if something like that shows up?

that doesn't matter for the medicals - CIC only wants to make sure he has no communicable disease, and will not be a burden on the Canadian health care, so it's all good
Sweden

 

[CanadianInUK]

Hi All,

Sadly still trying to sort this and it seems we are now at the estranged option - My husband's 18 year old son does not want to be included and has refused to take part in medical/police certificate.

So am I correct that now my husband will have to sign an affidavit to say his son is not being included as they are estranged and his son refuses, also that he will never at any point in the future sponsor him.

Any idea where we could get the correct wording for this to cover ourselves?