Third-Party Support for a Spouse Application

We acted on behalf of a Brazilian national in an application to enter the UK as a spouse.  The interesting part of this application was that we relied on third party support in relation to the maintenance and accommodation requirements due to exceptional circumstances.

The applicant was a Brazilian national and his wife was a British national. They met whilst on holiday.  The couple have lived for some of the time together abroad and eventually lived in Brazil where they had a child. Due to Covid restrictions they were unable to leave Brazil prior to the wife’s due date and remained there.  The situation for the couple in Brazil was precarious as the British national was a visitor and was only allowed to remain without penalty for a limited time.  She had difficulties being sponsored by her husband and felt that she needed to relocate with her husband to the UK to be supported by her family.  She was unable to maintain and accommodate her husband in accordance with the rules given that she had recently given birth in a country that she was visiting namely Brazil and had no income or savings.  However, her parents were able to provide third party support and we submitted that there were exceptional circumstances in this case which would render refusal of the application a breach of Article 8.

We demonstrated that there was a credible and reliable source of income to cover the family’s financial needs and that was why the Brazilian national should be granted leave to enter. The Home Office guidance with regard to exceptional circumstances is contained in Appendix FM Section 1.7 which states that the threshold for exceptional circumstances which must be met before other credible reliable sources of income or financial support can be taken into account is a high one. We are proud that we have managed to satisfy this high threshold demonstrating unjustifiably harsh consequences for the family if the third-party support was not to be accepted.  Not only did we identify the exceptional circumstances in this case surrounding all parties involved, but also we submitted variable documentary evidence from the third parties.  To guarantee success we relied on country information in Brazil explaining the circumstances in the country post Covid.  The country information highlighted unemployment rates, healthcare system that was pushed to the brink, travel advice for British nationals was that there is a high level of time, especially robberies, and that women continue to be discriminated against in Brazil.  The applicant was delighted to arrive in the UK and to be reunited with his wife’s extended family.