Hi,

Although we now live in Thailand, my wife has a settlement visa for the UK which in order to keep current she must enter the UK every two years (unless I am mistaken ?)

Her passport expired recently, and she got a new one. I am wondering if the visa needs to be transferred into the new passport, and if so the procedure and cost of doing this.

Thanks

I believe she just has to have the old with her and present it together with her new one.

Aye, as Mr. BoJ comments, your wife can simply present both the old and new passports.

You're also correct that if your wife spends more than two years outside of the UK, her indefinite leave will automatically lapse. However, just to clarify matters, technically speaking, each time she re-enters the UK as the holder of indefinite leave, she is required to be entering for the purposes of settlement and not to "top up" her indefinite leave.

It is likely that a UK immigration officer will see the indefinite leave and re-admit your wife without any questions, but if he were to choose to ask a few questions and it were to become apparent that she is a topper-upper, he could either refuse her entry or land her as a visitor, effectively cancelling the indefinite leave.

Scouse.

Helpful, thanks.

If I did want to transfer the visa into the new passport (thereby erasing the "two year trail"), do you know how much that costs ?

Thanks.

See also Transfer your visa to a new passport and Visa fees. However, wonder if 1.12 - Transferring a visa to a new passport is applicable?