UK Spouse Visa - Applying from within UK with Visit visa question

[Marvo]

Can someone please help me out.
My wife has a 10 year UK VISIT visa - valid until 2026 - which theoretically allows stays of up to 6 months in any given year.

Is it possible for her to apply for a UK Spouse (family) visa whilst in the UK on her 10yr Visit visa?
The UK GOV website says:

You’ll usually need to leave the UK to apply for a family visa if either:

• you have permission to be in the UK as a visitor
• your visa is for 6 months or less
  
  However, we're filling in the online form (apply from within the UK), declaring the VISIT category visa, but it is continuing to allow the application to proceed.
  Does anyone have any definitive info or 1st hand experience of my situation?
  Many thanks in advance.

[Marvo]

Also..... if I may add,
The documents section asks for copies of multiple utility letters sent the co-habited property over the last 2 years, for which they want permission to check with the utility companies. Now we have been living in Thailand for the last 2 years. Would the UK Visa office accept Thai utility bills as proof of living together? I also guess they'd all have to be officially translated and stamped!! This is getting difficult!
I just messaged an online visa company about advice and they offered 30 minutes on the phone for 200 GBP !!!

[KhaoYai]

PM sent

[theoldgit]

Your wife will need apply for settlement from outside the UK, she could apply from inside the UK if she was given leave to remain in the UK for more than 6 months, which she wouldn't have been when she was granted entry as a visitor. 

 

As a matter of interest there is no such rule that only allows a holder of a longer term Standard Visit Visa to remain in the UK for six months in any year, but a visitor would be asked searching questions if they attempted to visit too often, the Border Force Officer would need to be satisfied that they were not seeking to use the visa to stay in the UK semi permanently, through "frequent or succesive visits".

 

The UKVI website is notoriously cumbersome, and can give misleading information.

 

You're right not to pay the two hundred quid for an online consultation, if you want to pay for local professional advice, search for an OISC Advisor in your area  https://home.oisc.gov.uk/adviser_finder/finder.aspx

[Marvo]

Thanks OG. 
That kind of backs up what I'm reading when digging deep into the GOV website.
What doesn't make sense to me is that I have started filling in the online form (applying from inside the UK) and when it gets to asking what your visa status is, "Visit" visa is an option. I tick this, and the site allows me to proceed with the application!!! How can that be if application from within the UK, holding a Visit visa, prohibits granting of a spouse visa?

[theoldgit]

As I say the UKVI website is cumbersome and can be very misleading.

[Tony M]

It can somtimes be difficlut to undetstand. You are thinking within the immigration rules, and you have quoted the guidance (an applicant should leave the UK to make a settlement application for leave to remain). I think that what your wife is trying to do is outside the immigration rules, and that's why you have some "strange" questions to answer. The UKVI is seeking information on your wife's situation in her home country amongst other things.  Your wife is seeking leave to remain exeptionally, under Section EX of Appendix FM. If you had a British child, then she would probably be granted leave to remain under EX.1, as it is reasonable to argue that the child should not be "forced" to leave the UK, and therefore the child's mother should also be allowed to remain in the UK.  If there are no children involved, your wife's application would be under EX.2, which is much more difficult to argue. There must be exceptional circumstances why she cannot return to her home country to submit an application as a spouse. As the Home Office says, the test for this is much higher. Basically, your wife will need to demonstrate that there are insurmountable obstacles, which are descibed as "the very significant difficulties which would be faced by the applicant or their partner in continuing their family life together outside the UK and which could not be overcome or would entail very serious hardship for the applicant or their partner."   If there are no children involved, then you should be prepared for an application to be refused. You might be lucky, and an application might be issued, but it could be easier for your wife to return to her country and to submit a spouse settlement application. A refusal of the settlement application while in the UK could cause problems for any future visits to the UK for your wife.

 

I apologise if any of the above "advice" is outdated, but it's been a while since I was involved in any LTR applications in the UK.

[Marvo]

Thanks Tony M for all of that.
I have now digested just about every word of UK gov't guidance buried deep in their website subpages, and it is now clear that my wife will have to apply from Thailand (10yr UK visit visa being deemed not suitable for a spouse visa application from within the UK). I am currently in the process of gathering and paying for translation of the myriad of Thai paperwork proving our 15yr relationship and our lives together.
There currently is no application processing fast track due to the Ukrainian influx business, so they are quoting a full 12 week processing time.
 

[puchooay]

I guess the answer is "Yes" but I'll ask anyway. Have UKVI now dropped the ruling that applications can be made in UK due to travel restrictions?

 

My wife's transition from visitor to settlement was done in UK. Albeit nearly 2 years ago.

[theoldgit]

6 hours ago, puchooay said:

I guess the answer is "Yes" but I'll ask anyway. Have UKVI now dropped the ruling that applications can be made in UK due to travel restrictions?

 

My wife's transition from visitor to settlement was done in UK. Albeit nearly 2 years ago.

 

The temporary concession for those who were visiting the UK and couldn't return to be able to be able apply for Settlement from within the UK ended some time ago, I can't remember the actual date but it was shortly after the travel restrictions eased.