My wife received her ILR in April. Hooray! but her friend has a question about when and if she can apply for ILR as opposed to FLR because of the 28 day rule. She has passed the life in the UK test.

Spouse visa validity 25/7/07 - 25/7/09

Date of entry: 24/8/07

I'm not sure if I am correct but when I counted back from 28 days before the 2nd anniversary of date of entry: 24/8/09 (using 23/8 as day 28, 22/8 as day 27 etc.) I arrived at day 1 as being 27/7/09 which is after the visa expiry date of 25/7.

However, and I don't know if this is useful in her case, 25/7/09 falls on a Saturday so if she posted it on this day (or even 24/7 if UKBA don't work Saturdays) then they won't start to process it until Monday 27/7/09 which falls within the 28 day limit??

Advice from the masters please.

Just apply before the visa expires. The advice on the UKBA website (which wasn't easy to find) is here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/partners...remain/#header4

and it says that if you delayed travel by up to 3 months, they will keep the application on hold until the 2 years requirement is satisfied. If you delayed travel by more than 3 months, you have to apply for FLR, not ILR.

Just make sure the application is posted (recorded delivery) before the visa expires.

To qualify for ILR as the spouse of a British resident one must have been resident in the UK for at least two years. One must also hold a valid leave to enter/remain when one applies.

One can apply up to 28 days before the 2nd anniversary of ones first arrival, but in your friend's case this is after her visa expires.

However, as said above, as it is only a few days then she should be ok; provided her visa is still valid when she posts the application.

Edited to correct typo/spelling.

Thanks. I will tell her to send it in just before her visa expires.