Advice needed re bringing my wife's daughter to the UK now that my wife has ILR

Hi,

Just looking for any advice or guidance on the best way to go about this please.

I brought my partner to the UK in July 2016 on a fiancee visa and after we were married applied for the 2 lots of FLR and now have the ILR granted. At the time when I brought her here I wasn't in a strong enough financial situation to pay for the visas for her daughter too so we took the tough decision to leave her there with her cousins and we supported her financially from here. My wife has made several visits over to spend time with her during this time but now we want to bring her here to live in the UK permanently with us. My wife has sole custody and has written proof of this.

After doing some research I believe the appropriate visa for her is a family one, right? Can we apply for her, on her behalf from the UK and then when it is granted go to the Philippines to bring her here or do we need to apply in the Philippines? The Gov website doesn't really make that 100% clear!

How old is the daughter if over 18 classed as adult so non dependent therefore a visa in her own right very difficult, would be required, if under 18 the answer is below in our circumstances,
My wife came here on a spouse visa 2015
We left behind her youngest daughter who was about 15 at the time
In 2017 we successfully applied for the daughter to join us and she did in May 2017.
The decision maker will want to look at sole responsibility (daughter and mother) prior to your wife laving her there.
Reasons why you did not apply for the daughter visa at the same time as mother
Finance of sponsor standard stuff in any visa application
Accommodation

Will pm you with our thoughts at our daughters application

my wife now has british citizenship--and is now about to apply for her son (17) to join us, We applied back in 2017 but was refused as ukvi did not accept she had sole responsibilty.

She is using a solicitor here in the UK,

If I remember correctly her son was staying with relatives of the father who is still alive and seem to remember that was a big red flag for UKVI on sole responsibility. Worth OP being aware of that quirk in the rules.

On a separate issue if father is named on birth certificate and is dead need to make sure have copy of death certificate.

Also want as much evidence over mother making the decisions in his life as opposed to just money transfers as it is the control side that gets more weight if I remember correctly.

her son has now gone to college and is living in a room nearby. So no longer living with his paternal aunt.

His father is still alive--but has no contact with the son. I just dont know how anyone can prove that.

Ive had very good advice from another member on how to proceed..and using a philipino solicitor here in the UK who specialises in this sort of thing.

Yes you can apply on her behalf from the UK and yes would be wise to once you have the visa and ready for her to leave the Philippines for you to go and collect and travel with her.

Btw I got your text.

The father of my wife’s daughter has had no contact with them since birth and hasn’t contributed even a single paso towards her upbringing. As far as I am aware he has never even seen his daughter. He was too busy running off to start a new family with another woman! My wife has sole custody in her annulment but I believe he was offered visitation rights by the judge (this was back in 2015 when the annulment was granted) but he has never used those rights. She tells me she has an affidavit from her attorney in the Philippines stating that he has never used those rights. The daughter is now 15

Seen your pm will detail what we put for you in the pm.
But the general stuff
Good that you have the affidavit and the sole custody at annulment you may want to consider a legal statement from the daughter that she has never met her father has no recollection of him in her life, that if he walked past her he would be a complete stranger . You might want to get similar from a couple of close relatives on the same line.

One of the questions on the application form asks about the applicants current living arrangements and why they can they not continue in the future.
Your wife’s daughter is a similar age to what my wife’s daughter was in her application and I’ve detailed our reasoning in my original pm to you albeit our time line is shorter than yours but the stuff you’ve put in thr pm explains a lot and can help you,
I will respond further in the pm.