The Adult-Dependant route, what to know and how to prepare

A lot of British citizens who have foreign origins or have parents in other countries do end up asking themselves at some point in their lives if they can have their parents come stay with the. The answer is yes, there is a pathway, but it is a particularly difficult pathway to start to find. It's called the Adult Dependent Relative Route. It's a route in which I think it will say something along the lines of as a result of age, illness or disability, the individual requires long term personal care. So that's essentially care for their day to day living. Usually you're looking at things like taking medication, washing, dressing, cooking and things along those lines. So If you've got parents who are abroad and who have health issues, as is unfortunately, especially across the continent, can be quite a problem with certain illnesses.

You tick that potential box. The difficulty isn't that, the difficulty is later on down the line. Because what the rules also require you to show is that these individuals would be unable, even with financial help, to obtain care in the country that they're living in. Either because it's not available or because no reasonable person can provide it, or it's not affordable.

So effectively, there are two strands. One is actually looking at the personal circumstances around the health of the individual. The other is then looking at what care can be provided. Now, for anyone who works in the field and has been taught to deal with an adult dependent relative case, the Home Office will ask questions about close relatives in the country of origin. Some people will have close relatives and it becomes a case of then showing, if possible, that those close relatives are either unable or unwilling to provide the support that's required. But it unfortunately doesn't stop there, because they also require you to show that you can't have a live in carer, a housekeeper. Some form of home help, a nurse, anything along those lines. The third element, is that even if you can satisfy all of those things, first of all, the illness and the inability to provide, you also then have to show that if this person comes here, they will be adequately maintained, accommodated, and cared for without recourse to public funds, which means that they'll be given a visa.

If you're able to show that over the course of about five years, your parents are not going to become a burden on the public purse by having to go to the NHS, seeking benefits and things along those lines. It can be quite tricky because on the one hand what you've got to do is demonstrate that you've got enough financial backing in the UK, so in particular if we take the example , that he's got the money to support his mother and father.

But at the same time, the rules are saying you've got to be able to show that you can't use financial support to provide help in the country of origin, so that paid help of having a carer, a worker, a housekeeper, or something along those lines. The sentiment amongst lawyers is that this in the past is that this is one of the most difficult requirements under immigration laws under this route.

If you are applying, think very carefully about the evidence that you need to provide. Quite often in a case like this, in addition to having lawyers involved, it's helpful to have medical expert evidence from people in that country. So if there are illnesses, if there are things that need to be addressed, you've got someone who can stand as an expert, provide a report to say, this is what mum needs, this is what dad needs. Also country expert reports and country background information to demonstrate whether or not that's actually available. And quite often, what people end up doing is reaching out to care homes, reaching out to care providers to see if that care can be provided. There have been successful cases because the care homes have written back, whether it's by email or letter saying, they understand the care that the person needs and that is not something that they are able to provide because they don't have the facilities. And that will be country in fact specific. So yes, it's possible to do it however the evidence is really going to have to stack up.

-Learnings from Episode 1 of Vera Legal Insights with Jay Gajjar.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Youtube.

For any legal support reach out to us here.

Note: the contents of this Vodcast are just us having a conversation and any responses are for information or educational purposes only, they do not constitute legal advice, the facts of each case vary so if you have a legal query please obtain professional legal advice valid to your individual circumstances. Vera, the host or the guest would not be liable for any damage or loss caused.