Ilr

[scotty123456789]

Well I have wrote a fair few posts over the last few years or so but this one gives me great pleasure in posting.

Yesterday morning my Mrs received her ILR after just a month.

I found doing the application for my wife pretty easy and straight forward.

I would just like to say a big thank you to all members on this forum who have helped me over the last few years especialy Scouse, who helped us through our Settlement Visa.

I do still think the price is abit harsh though, I meen, £820 by post, £1020 by appointment, come on.

The Home Office website states 95% of postal applications are dealt with in 6 months, and appointment only applications are dealt with in 24 hrs.

Just shows you its all about money.

Anyway we got it, so a big thanks to you all

Scotty @ K

[Brigante7]

Congratulations.

Brigante7

[newstart07]

Hi Scotty, congrats! I remember when u got settlement visa, just a few months before me, wow hasnt 2 yrs gone fast!

My wife settlement is due early May, I thought you couldnt apply for ILR until 28 days to go? And if it takes 6 months, how does that work??

I take it you did it by post? At what stage did u apply for ILR ?

Hope your both doing well and congrats once again

Newstart

[7by7]

I thought you couldnt apply for ILR until 28 days to go? And if it takes 6 months, how does that work??

Correct, you cannot submit the application until a maximum of 28 days before the qualifying date.

From Completing application form SET(M)

What is my immigration status while my application is being decided?

If you make an application before your authorised stay ends, your existing immigration status will continue until your application is decided, even if the decision is not made until after the end of your permitted stay. If your existing visa or other permission to stay here allows you to work, you can continue to do so until your case is decided.

[newstart07]

Thanks for your help 7 appreciate it very much!

[scotty123456789]

Yes we applied by post and we sent our application approx 12 days before her visa expired.

The ILR came back after 1 month.

I only said it could take 6 months as on the website it states postal applications can take up to 6 months, during the visa process your Mrs is still legal in the UK, to work etc etc.

Scotty

[newstart07]

Cheers Scotty, Hope you and the Mrs are doing well

[Mossfinn]

Yo Scotty,

A long road, but worth it in the end.

Good Luck for the future

Moss

[scotty123456789]

Cheers Moss,

Yeah was werth it in the end mate.

Alot easier than the Settlement visa.

Just one more thing, can the Mrs travel now abroad without obtaining a Visa?

Places like Spain, Greece, paris, Amsterdam etc etc etc

Cheers

Scotty

[Brigante7]

Cheers Moss,

Yeah was werth it in the end mate.

Alot easier than the Settlement visa.

Just one more thing, can the Mrs travel now abroad without obtaining a Visa?

Places like Spain, Greece, paris, Amsterdam etc etc etc

Cheers

Scotty

Afraid not, no.She will need a Schengen visa to travel to most of Europe which can be obtained from the relevent country's consulate.

Brigante7.

[7by7]

A bit of a grey area.

If a non EU national holds a permanent residence card for the UK as the spouse/partner of an EU national then they can enter another EU country as a visitor for up to three months provided they are traveling with or to join their spouse/partner.

The question is; does ILR count as permanent residence for this purpose? To be honest, I'm not sure. I've read many opinions from people more knowledgeable than I on this; the split seems to be 50% say it does, 50% say it doesn't! Trying to find a definitive answer from an official site simply leads one back to the 'permanent residence card' reference!

Very frustrating.

So, my advice would be to get a Schengen visa just to be sure. Remember that as the spouse of an EU citizen, most of the questions on the Schengen form are irrelevant and the visa is free.

Now that she has ILR, once she has been in the UK for 3 years she can apply for naturalisation and then a British passport. She must have been in the UK on the exact day 3 years prior to the application and during the last 3 years have spent a maximum of 270 days out of the UK with no more than 90 days in the final year. (See here)

Once she has a British passport then she can travel visa free throughout the EU and many other countries as well.