Proving Strong Ties in Returning Resident Visa Applications
In This Article
1. Understanding the ‘Strong Ties’ Requirement for Returning Resident Visas
2. What Counts as ‘Strong Ties to the UK’?
3. Demonstrating Family Ties to the UK for a Returning Resident Visa
4. Business and Property Ties as Evidence of Strong Ties to the UK
5. The Impact of Original Residence on Strong Ties to the UK
6. The Significance of Time Spent Abroad
7. The ‘Intention to Settle’ Requirement
8. Building a Strong Returning Resident Visa Application
9. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Glossary
1. Understanding the ‘Strong Ties’ Requirement for Returning Resident Visas
When a person with settled status in the UK spends a lengthy period abroad, their settlement (indefinite leave to enter or remain) can lapse. The Immigration Rules provide a route for people who have lost their previous settled status to regain it and return to the UK, provided they ca demonstrate strong ties to the UK. This is called a Returning Resident visa.
In a previous article, Returning Resident Visa Application Guide we explained that Appendix Returning Resident creates a number of validity, suitability and eligibility requirements to be met.
In this article, we take a closer look at one important eligibility requirement: the ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement. We discuss what forms of evidence an applicant might provide in order to demonstrate that this requirement is met when applying for a Returning Resident Visa.
2. What Counts as ‘Strong Ties to the UK’?
The ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement is one of several eligibility requirements which an applicant must meet to be granted a Returning Resident Visa.
Paragraph RR 6.1. of Appendix Returning Resident provides:
The decision maker must be satisfied that the applicant has maintained strong ties to the UK during their absence from the UK.
The Immigration Rules are not prescriptive as to what form of ‘strong ties’ will satisfy this requirement. A person’s ties to the UK can take a wide variety of forms. The decision-maker will consider a person’s ties on a case-by-case basis.
There are, however, certain ties on which returning residents commonly rely. These are considered in turn below. While not exhaustive, prospective applicants might find it helpful to consider whether they have these forms of ties when preparing their applications.
3. Demonstrating Family Ties to the UK for a Returning Resident Visa
For many people, family ties transcend international borders and family life carries on from across the globe. If a returning resident has family members living in the UK, this is one way to demonstrate that the returning resident has strong ties to the UK.
The Home Office has set out the following in guidance on Returning Resident visas:
Where a person has close family ties in the UK which have been maintained during their absence, this will likely indicate strong ties to the UK. The more immediate the family members are, for example parents, partner, children, or grandchildren, the greater the strength those ties are likely to have. However, relationships with wider family members, such as cousins or nieces and nephews, may also be considered if those ties have been closely maintained.
However, it is important to note that it is not just having family members in the UK which demonstrates strong ties. Family members from whom the applicant is estranged and has no regular contact are unlikely to constitute strong ties to the UK.
Instead, the Home Office will want evidence that the returning resident has actively maintained their family ties through some form of contact with their UK-based relatives. The Home Office guidance explains:
The nature of any contact will also need to be considered. For example, regular visits from, or to, the applicant from family members in the UK will help demonstrate the strength of those ties. Such contact does not, however, need to have been made physically in person, and strong ties can still be demonstrated where there has been regular contact through other means.
In terms of evidence, an applicant wishing to prove their family ties may provide copies of their relatives’ passports, naturalisation certificates or birth certificates to show that their family members are British citizens. Alternatively, if an applicant’s family members have some other immigration status, they may provide copies of their eVisas showing their right to reside in the UK.
Other examples of evidence of family ties in the UK include:
- Messages, emails or phone call logs showing regular contact;
- Travel evidence (eg. boarding passes, train tickets and other reservations) showing regular visits from, or to, the returning resident;
- Photographs of the family taken during the period of absence;
- Cards or gifts exchanged by the applicant and their family members;
- Letters of support written by family members.
As the dynamics of each family are unique, the evidence available will vary. You may wish to seek legal advice to help you collect and present the strongest possible evidence of your family ties in the UK.
4. Business and Property Ties as Evidence of Strong Ties to the UK
Aside from family ties, another form of ties to the UK are business and property ties. The Home Office guidance states:
Ties may also be in the form of property or business interests. These may be, for example, where the applicant owns their own property in the UK or has an interest in an ongoing business venture within the UK.
In terms of evidence, a returning resident may choose to rely on (for instance) UK title deeds, mortgage documents, business records or documents demonstrating business-related travel to the UK.
However, the Home Office guidance emphasises that business or property ties are unlikely to be sufficient to prove strong ties to the UK on their own. The guidance says:
Ties on the basis of property or business interests alone are unlikely to demonstrate strong ties to the UK but can be used in conjunction with other factors.
A returning resident may therefore wish to consider relying on a range of different ties in advancing the argument that they have strong ties to the UK, when viewed in the round.
5. The Impact of Original Residence on Strong Ties to the UK
There is no formula in the Immigration Rules prescribing a particular ratio of time spent in the UK and time spent outside the UK. With that said, the length of an applicant’s original residence in the UK is a relevant factor to the strength of their ties to the UK.
As a matter of common sense, a person who previously spent a long time living in the UK is likely to have had greater opportunity to develop strong ties to the UK. This is recognised in the Home Office guidance, which says:
Generally, the longer the period of original residence, the more likely it is that the applicant will have developed strong ties to the UK and can be admitted as a returning resident.
However, this does not rule out a successful Returning Resident visa application where the period of original residence was short (for instance, a period measured in years rather than decades). Such an applicant may be able to provide strong evidence of other forms of ties to the UK, including those discussed above.
6. The Significance of Time Spent Abroad
As explained above, the Immigration Rules do not prescribe any particular ratio of time spent in the UK and time spent outside the UK. But, like time spent in the UK, the length of time an applicant has spent outside the UK is a relevant factor.
In addition to the quantitative question (how long a person has spent outside the UK), the decision-maker will also consider a qualitative question (why they were outside the UK).
The Home Office guidance says:
A person may leave the UK for a variety of reasons. This may include:
- to access health treatment overseas
- to care for family
- to retire
- for employment/self-employment
- study
In some cases, these reasons mean a person remains outside the UK for more than the permitted period, and so their settlement lapses. You must consider their reasons for leaving and for now wishing to return to the UK. For example, a person may have left the UK to care for family members and now wishes to return to the UK to retire.
A person who has been absent from the UK for a very long period of time may struggle to meet this eligibility requirement, as a decision-maker may take the view that their ties to the UK have faded with time. In such cases, it is all the more important to properly explain the reasons for an applicant’s absence.
A few examples of circumstances which may support an application are:
- The applicant left the UK to be close and offer care to elderly parents living abroad, and seeks to return to the UK years later after their parents have unfortunately passed away;
- The applicant fell ill and required prolonged medical treatment abroad of a kind not available in the UK, or fell ill while abroad and was unable to travel back to the UK;
- The applicant works in a role or industry which requires them to be outside the UK for long periods of time;
- The applicant completed a prolonged period of study abroad, and having completed their studies seeks to return to the UK.
These are only a few examples of reasons why a person with settled status may leave the UK. Whatever the reason, it should be supported by suitable evidence such as medical records (of the applicant, or a person for whom they had care responsibilities), letters of enrolment at an educational institution, or letters of employment, as the case may be.
Vitally, this evidence could also include a witness statement explaining in the applicant’s own words the reason they left the UK, and wish to return. You may wish to seek legal advice to assist in the preparation of a suitable witness statement.
7. The ‘Intention to Settle’ Requirement
A question which sometimes arises is whether the ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement means that a returning resident is not allowed to have strong ties outside the UK, or to another country.
On the one hand, the ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement does not itself require an applicant to bear strong ties only to the UK, and nowhere else. It is therefore possible for a returning resident to make a successful application, even if they have ties to another country. This is only reasonable, as many people have ties of varying strengths to several countries.
On the other hand, ties outside the UK are relevant to a further eligibility requirement set out in the Immigration Rules: the ‘intention to settle’ requirement.
Paragraph 4.1. of Appendix Returning Resident provides:
RR 4.1. The decision maker must be satisfied that the applicant genuinely intends to return to the UK for the purpose of settlement.
It is this eligibility requirement, rather than the ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement, which looks at the applicant’s ties outside the UK. A returning resident must genuinely intend to enter and live in the UK permanently. A person who has many and strong ties outside the UK may be seen to lack a genuine intention to settle in the UK.
According to the Home Office guidance, evidence that might show the applicant does not genuinely intend to return to the UK for the purposes of settlement include:
- strong family ties outside the UK
- property outside the UK
- business ties outside the UK
- length of original residence and length of time spent outside the UK
As you will observe, these considerations are the mirror-image of common forms of ties raised under the ‘strong ties to the UK’ requirement, considered above. In this context, however, it is the applicant’s ties outside the UK which are relevant to the decision-maker’s determination of whether the applicant genuinely intends to return to the UK to settle.
For example, a decision-maker might take the view that an applicant lacks a genuine intention to settle in the UK if their entire immediate family lives abroad, they own their own home abroad or have spent a very long period of time living abroad.
A decision-maker may be more likely to conclude that an applicant has no genuine intention to settle in the UK if the applicant also lacks strong ties to the UK. In that sense, these two eligibility requirements are interrelated and cover similar ground.
8. Building a Strong Returning Resident Visa Application
Every successful applicant for a Returning Resident visa must prove that they meet the eligibility criteria set out in Appendix Returning Resident. In particular, this article has considered how ties to (and outside) the UK affect an applicant’s ability to prove that they have maintained strong ties to the UK and genuinely intend to settle in the UK.
Successful applications present the decision-maker with suitable evidence demonstrating the returning resident’s ties in view of their personal circumstances. As such, this article presents ideas of the kinds of evidence an applicant might gather to support their application.
For further assistance tailored to your individual circumstances and the evidence available to you, the expert immigration barristers at Richmond Chambers would be pleased to assist in preparing your Returning Resident visa application.
9. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
For expert advice and assistance in relation to a Returning Resident visa application, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.
