Hi all

I am just posting to see if anybody can give me any advice. I have posted in the past regarding my wife who came to England last year in April on a 2 year visa which started the previous december. So as i think I was informed instead of applying directly for a another visa - unsure which - we would need to extend her present visa so that she will have been here for 22 months. Then we apply for a visa where I would want her staying for good. She is at present in the process of doing her life in the uk test.

The only problem I am worrying about though is that I still live at home, although at present looking at properties and hoping to purchase one soon in just my name. This is because the bank had told me until my wife had this long term visa it was an awful lot of hassle and would delay the process by a few months. Also since she has been here her only mail has been that from the banks and any mail regarding tax issues and her pay slips. Her phone was put in my name because at the time she had no bank account so couldnt get one.

Sorry if I am being vague but I was just really wanting to know the criteria for this visa - settlement ? - so that she can stay in the country. What paperwork do the visa people look for when processing applications......is there a minimum amount of things you need to have? And would me having the house in just my name make it harder? And would putting the bills in both our names help?

Thanks for any help you can offer as I really am pretty clueless to this whole process and dont wanna buy a house and have to see my wife going back to thailand with in a few months due to me not organising things properly.

The requirements of the Immigration Rules are that you demonstrate that you can maintain yourselves, have adequate accommodation and that you intend to continue living together. In order to demonstrate the latter, the UKBA asks for 20 items of correspondence from 5 different sources over the course of the time you've spent in the UK. These letters can be split evenly, so 10 in your name and 10 in your wife's, although they must, obviously, resolve to the same address, or addresses, if you will have lived at more than one together. If you buy a house, you're not obliged to put it in your wife's name, and you don't have to have joint bills. However, I would recommend putting her name on at least one bill, either independently or jointly.

Your wife cannot apply for indefinite leave until, amongst other things, 100 weeks have elapsed since she first entered the UK on her settlement visa, so approximately 23 months. Consequently, in late November she should apply for an extension. If granted, it is likely that this will be valid until approximately April/May 2009. On the understanding that your wife by that time meets the indefinite leave requirements, she can then apply for ILR once the 100 weeks has passed since her initial entry. If she doesn't meet the ILR requirements, she'll have to apply for a further extension to her current authority, but should ensure that she does so before the current permission expires.

Scouse.

Thank you Scouse

By correspondance do you mean utility bills and the like?

Yes: basically any letters from recognised sources; e.g. banks, govt. departments, local govt., utility bils etc.

Scouse.