Why can’t my children join me in the UK?

Earlier this week, the Guardian newspaper published a story concerning Amber Murray, a U.S. researcher who got a job at Oxford as an assistant professor of geography, but whose two young daughters were denied entry visas to the UK. Ms. Murray's husband lives in Cameroon and gave his consent to the girls' stay with their mother in Oxford. So why were they denied visas?

Regardless of the immigration status of parents, all children must meet the following requirements in order to move or join their parents in the UK:

1. The child must be under the age of 18 at the date of application
2. The child should not be married or be in a civil partnership and should not lead an independent life
3. As far as point-based visa applications are concerned, a child over 16 must show that he lives with his parents, or explain why not, and prove that his parents still provide for him financially.
4. Both parents must be residing legally in the UK or, if only one of the parents is in the UK, then:
• This parent must be the only surviving parent; or
• This parent should be solely responsible for raising the child; or
• There must be good reasons for satisfying the application.

It was because of the latter requirement that the Murray children could not join her in the UK.