UK Family visa refused because I couldn't demonstrate my brother is our dependent. How to reapply?

Question

When my brother was widowed 4 years ago I invited him to join us as he has no children. So he applied for a residence visa but it was refused. In the refusal notice they said

"In your current application you have declared a monthly income from a pension and a rented property of £xxx. The tenancy agreement for this property states an annual rent of £xxxx. You are currently not living in this property, but are living in your other property. Your application and its supporting documents contain no indication that you are reliant on your sponsor for financial support.

Your personal bank statement shows a balance of US$xxxx. Given that you have assets and the fact that you have savings, an income from a pension and property rental without the need for financial support from your sponsor, I am not satisfied that you are financially wholly or mainly dependent on your relative present and settled in the United Kingdom. 317 (ii)".

Recently his application for UK visitor's visa's denied. The reason given was

“Your documents show that you receive £xx a month pension. You also have a property which has been let. Although your sponsor has stated she will be paying all your travel costs it's your own and financial circumstances which need to be taken into account when considering your application. As the previous refusal notice shows your intention was to settle in the UK permanently as a dependent of your sister, I am not satisfied this is no longer your intention in seeking entry now".

However the officer miscalculated the currency rate completely wrong, by more than a half less. Further, they missed the facts that my brother has savings in bank accounts (over £xx,xxx), income from property let (£xxx per month) and income from freelance work, and that he owns another property and a land. In other words, in 2011 the refusal found that he was not dependent; in 2015 the refusal omits to look at all the financial evidence and assumes that he is dependent.

He honestly doesn't have any desire to settle in this country now, he just wanted to visit us briefly.

According to the new Immigration Rules we can't appeal against the decision, so we don't know what to do. Could you kindly advise us on what to do, please?

Answer 1

So he applied for a residence visa but it was refused.

Background. Your brother applied under Paragraph 317 (P317) and was refused. When a person is successful with an application under P317, they get immediate permanent residence with full access to public funds, council housing, income support and all the rest in one single step. It is unquestionably the most difficult application a person can make.

Each year about 1 or 2 applicants are successful (the exact figures are available via Freedom of Information), the other applicants are refused and will have difficulty getting in to the UK under any other type of visa in the future. The rationale being that the person will make an Article 8 claim as soon as they arrive and tie up judicial resources over a specious claim. What this amalgamates to is that making an application under P317 invites peril.

Your brother then applied for a Visitor Visa and his application was refused. You provided the refusal formulae (and thank you for doing that), which says in part...

As the previous refusal notice shows your intention was to settle in the UK permanently as a dependent of your sister, I am not satisfied this is no longer your intention in seeking entry now.

...and this will be your brother's problem going forward. Formulae about your brother's financial circumstances are just icing on the cake, it's pretty much certain in their eyes that your brother will make an Article 8 claim and then rely upon public funds to live in the UK.

Could you kindly advise us on what to do, please?

Your brother will not be able to simply make an attestation about his intentions. Everybody in the world is happy to attest that their intentions are genuine, and UKVI has heard it all before and will ignore it in favour of hard evidence.

There's two or three other strategies...

1. Ask your brother to get lots of travel experience to other countries that monitor visitor performance such as the USA, Canada, Japan, and so on. When he builds up an impressive record of performance he will be able to apply successfully for a UK Visitor Visa. There is no exact trigger point but a half dozen countries with multiple visits over the course of 3 - 5 years should be acceptable. They love it when a person with a refusal goes on to get lots of travel and will look favourably on it.

2. Instruct a fee earning member of the UK Law Society to represent your brother's application to visit. Depending upon the solicitor's speciality, the application will have pretty good chances for success. I would guess the fee would be about GBP 1,500+ for this, but that's simply a wild guess. If somebody offered to do it for less, you would rightfully be suspicious.

3. Make a fresh application under Paragraph 317. Again, using a solicitor who has a practice area in P317. I took a course in Paragraph 317 a few years ago and know there are at least two or three with highly respected credentials. I would guess the fee to be in the neighbourhood of GBP 5,500+, but that's only a guess. This site does not help with these applications because it's not about travel. Instead you have to use the Expat site.

According to the new Immigration Rules we can't appeal against the decision

Parliament turned off visitor appeals a long time ago (in the early 1990's). Recently they turned off appeals for family visitors and this avenue is now not available to your brother. UKVI successfully convinced Parliament that the cost of a fresh visitor application (GBP 83) is considerably less than the cost of maintaining a judicial infrastructure and the British public agrees with them anyway.

Thanks again for adding the refusal formulae to your question. Note that your question was previously closed as "Unclear what you're asking", but then was reopened after your edit. This allowed your question to be answered.