Diaspora News of Thursday, 13 June 2019

Source: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri

Excited Ghanaian grandparents finally granted visas to come to UK to see their grandchildren after legal battle

The grandparents were granted the visas after months of trying The grandparents were granted the visas after months of trying

This is a case close to home and therefore not only was I adamant to obtain a deserving outcome as a legal representative for the family, I was also heavily involved, emotionally.

My friend and his wife who have become ‘a family’ to me over the years have two young British children all born in the UK and last year December, they had twins, taking their children count to 4—all boys.

But before they even knew the twins were on the way, they had planned summer holidays to Ghana, for their two children to meet their grandparents for the first time. And then, it came to light that my friend’s wife was pregnant with twins so she was advised against travelling on a long flight to Ghana or anywhere.

With the twins expected in December 2018, my friend invited her wife’s parents (his in-laws) to come and spend the Christmas with them in London, meet the 2 boys and the twins too. They even planned to have the christening of the twins while the in-laws were in the UK on their visit.

The in-laws are in their 60s—and they are into farming and petty trading.



The Home Office refused their visa applications—claiming that when they visit the UK, they will not return to Ghana and that their sponsor (my friend) does not have enough funds to pay for their trips when he had shown with satisfactory evidence that he is capable of affording/providing the stated sponsorship.

Also, the Home Office’s refusal letters were full of factual errors.

This was in December 2018. My friend and his wife, as well as the in-laws in Ghana, were heavily disappointed and somewhat annoyed by the Home Office’s reasoning.

They contacted me and I took both cases on.

When I challenged the Home Office on their refusal via a ‘Letter Before Claim’ and pointed out the absurd factual errors in their refusal letters, a clear indication that they failed to properly assessed the applications. The Home Office replied back and rather issued them with new refusal letters, in which they corrected the errors I pointed out to them on the back of which I claimed the applications were not properly assessed as required.

Eventually, I had to file for permission at the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal to bring Judicial Review against the Home Office’s unreasonable decision as the Home Office wouldn’t accept that they have made unfair and unreasonable decisions by refusal the two applicants.

After the filing, the Government Legal Department which represents the Home Office in such matters sent two consent orders for both applicants, asking that we withdraw the cases in court and that they will reconsider the applications and make new decisions within 3 months as well as pay the reasonable cost the applicants have incurred so far.



That was a bit of a relief. But we still had to wait for 3 months, almost in limbo.

So that took us from March to June. And yesterday, the in-laws were granted their UK visas after they were called by the British High Commission in Accra to present their passports.

Finally, they are coming to the UK to meet their 4 grandchildren for the first time and they are excited.

As faintly captured, it can get difficult, expensive and time-consuming trying to get the Home Office/UK VISAS to do the right thing when they’ve gotten it wrong but eventually, they get it fixed.

If you have recently been refused a UK Visa and you believe the refusal is unreasonable, Call Adukus Solicitors in London now and our UK Immigration experts will provide the needed assistance to get the refusal overturned if it is indeed unfair and unreasonable.

Contact Adukus Solicitors on +447837576037 (Direct and Whatsapp).

Alternatively, E-mail: Vincent@AdukusSolicitors.Com

Adukus Solicitors is a law firm based in London specializing in Immigration & Nationality Law, Criminal Law (including Police Station and Court Representation), Housing Law, Family Law, Prison Law, and Personal Injury. The firm is authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.