Advice re child from previous marriage and visa application

Hi,

Firstly a bit of background. (sorry if it's a long read!)

When I first met my partner, she was separated from her ex (a Filipino citizen, like her) who was the father of her daughter. In fact, they separated at the hospital when he dumped her there to give birth and he has never made even the slightest attempt to see or support either of them since then. This was back in 2008!
We started seeing each other in 2010 and went through the lengthy process of getting her marriage annulled, which obviously took many years but eventually it happened. He never attended, except on one occasion when he turned up demanding money else he wouldn't sign anything, but the court just went ahead and annulled it anyway!

In 2016, we finally got a fiancee visa for her to come to the UK for us to get married, but because my financial situation at that time wasn't good enough to provide suitable accommodation for her daughter too, we didn't apply for a visa for her daughter. Same again at the end of 2016 when we got her first FLR(M). Her daughter has been staying with friends and family and we've been maintaining her from here.

We are now applying for my wife's 2nd FLR(M) and it's all a bit different from last time. I've told her to make sure she puts down that she has a daughter in the Philippines on this application, but making it clear we are not seeking to bring her here yet (maybe apply for that at the end of this year once I've got all this paid for) but there are a couple of things on the forms that are giving us concerns.

In the Philippines, a court always gives custody of children below 8 (I believe) to the mother, but that was never put in writing. My wife has had sole responsibility for her daughter since birth, with no input from her ex of his family but has nothing in writing to back this up. The form is asking us to provide proof of her sole responsibility which we are unable to give. Is that because this form is generic for all countries?

Not quite sure what to do as it says we must submit "Evidence of her access to her daughter, such as a written agreement between both parents or a child arrangement order" but clearly we don't have that in writing. I'm worried because at the bottom of the form it says "Your application may be rejected if you do not provide all mandatory documents.If your application is rejected due to documents not being provided, it will not be considered and an administration fee for each person included in the application will be deducted from your refund." - don't want to waste our time and money, and the problem is we've only just discovered this at the last minute! (her current visa expires in just 10 days from now!)

Any advice guys?

You say he "dumped her at the hospital" is he named on the birth certificates?
You only need to show sole resposability if you waant to do something with her daughter ie apply for a visa or bring her over here on holiday neither of which you are doing>

Yes he's on the birth certificate as they were still officially married at that time. We want to apply for her to settle here at a later date (not as part of this FLR) so I thought it was best to declare her on this form.

you can put her in the dependant s section yes.
when you do apply for her to settle then you will have to demonstrate sole responsibility

The problem is, it's saying we need to provide proofs of sole responsibility, etc now, even though we are not actually applying for a visa for her at this time.... crazy, ain't it?

I wasn't there at the annulment hearings, but my wife told me there was nothing in writing about her daughter, and certainly no form of child arrangement order. Her ex has had no interest in his daughter from the day she was born

you must be putting her info in the wrong box ............. you will probably be best leaving her off the form altogether

If we leave her off the form, what about when we apply for her at a later date? Surely that will flag up and they will ask why we didn't declare her on previous applications?

as you are aware you will have to demonstrate that, do yiu know his whereabouts? You are going to (at the time) have to get her schoool doctor etc etc on board to support you that they have never seen him,its also usual practice for the ECO to try and contact him!!"

Ok, thanks Mattecube, It really is muddying the water with this current application so I think it's best if we exclude her at this stage and then cross all those bridges when it's time to bring her here.

no, when we were in your shoes, my wife applied 2015 and we only put her daughter in the dependants section if you put her in the wrong part of the form you maybe telling the system that she is applying aswell we applied for my wifes daughter in 2017 and was successful on both applications first time

well, we were at the final stage of our application, just before it's time to pay and it allows to view our answers, but not edit them, so we'll have to leave her included and put a covering letter I guess!

my wife applied for her 2nd flr last november. when we got to her kids--the questions were very intrusive and unnecessary. i omited her daughter completely--shes over 18. her son was 12--and i put down he wasnt included in the application as UKVI ha previously seen fit to REFUSE his settlement application earlier in the year. all over the sole responsibility issue. i simply didnt include answers where there were NO questions asked !

same with my wife

really ? i never knew that

Did you not know that they try and make contact with the father?
I suppose a lot also depends on if he is traceable and what info the applicant supplies.
Certainly in my sister in laws friends case the father was e mailed for verification.

And that's the difficult part for you trying to prove he hasn't had an input no matter how small!

what a great opportunity for the father to attempt to extort more money!

in our case the father did have shared responsibilty for his kids--after all--their mother ( now my wife ) was here in the uk for 4 years as a student. ukvi are well aware of that--and referred to it in their grounds for refusal.

I believe it was messy but they got through it so I am told.