I'm based in Nigeria and my kids are in the UK with their

Hello, my name is***** hope you are well today. I am a qualified Solicitor, and I will be able to help you by providing you with an answer to your question today. I specialise in UK and Irish Law. I am not always online but rest assured if I do not respond immediately I will respond when I return.

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In general, your partner cannot legally stop you from having access to your child unless continued access will be of detriment to your child's welfare. A mother cannot stop a father from seeing his child unless the court orders.

If you have an informal agreement, or no agreement, and your partner decides to deny you access to your child, you may need to take a number of actions, including:

• discussing the problem and trying to resolve it between yourselves without confrontation
• consulting a family solicitor for advice, who can send a legal letter setting out your proposals
• referring the issue to a local family mediator for alternative dispute resolution
• applying to court for a child arrangements order (interim decisions may be needed before the court has full information to make a final order, so be prepared for several court attendances throughout the process)

If you already have a court order or other legally binding agreement in place regarding the arrangements for your child, and your partner is breaching it, you can:

• discuss the problem face-to-face, or communicate through a mutual contact (if the court has put a non-molestation order in place that prohibits contact), to reach a solution without involving the court and causing further conflict
• write to your partner via your solicitors, setting out some proposals for a resolution to the situation
• apply to the court for the order to be enforced. This should really be a last resort—the court could fine, imprison or enforce the order (which can include penalties, such as up to 200 hours of community service) on your partner, so it could make things even more hostile

You can ask to cancel (withdraw) an application for a visa, visa extension or citizenship.

You’ll get a refund of the immigration health surcharge if you cancel before a decision has been made about your application.

You may get a refund of the application fee. This depends on what stage your application is at when you cancel.