When Can My Wife Apply For Ilr & Uk Passport?

[mark515]

Not sure when my wife can apply for her ILR and her UK passport.

Girlfriend entered the UK 27th August 2009 on a 6 month tourist visa.

Back to Thailand 31st October 2009

Married in Thailand November 5th 2009

Back to UK on tourist visa 20th November 2009

Back to Thailanld 31st Janruary 2010 to submit Settlement visa.

Settlement visa issued in less than a week.

Back to UK 26th Feb 2010 on Settlement visa.

From the 14th August 2009 we have lived together in Thailand & UK we have been together 24 hours a day in both countries to the present day.

Since arriving in the UK

We have had holidays to:

Spain x 2 & Gibraltor 1 day. Total number of days out of UK 10 / 11 days. (Gibraltor count as a day in the UK?)

Future holidays:

France July 5 days

Spain August 14 days

Thailand October 18 days

We do travel regular. What do we need to do before appling for the UK passport I think we have to be in the country for 90 days before is this right? I like to travel every 6 to 8 weeks.

Thanks

MARK

[7by7]

She will be eligible for ILR once she has been resident in the UK for 24 months (assuming the other criteria are met); time previously spent in the UK as a visitor does not count; neither does time living together out of the UK, unless you were doing so for at least 4 years. So that will be 25/2/2012. However, she can submit her application up to 28 days before this date.

There is no limit on how much time can be spent out of the UK on holidays etc. during this 24 months; though obviously she will need to show that the UK is her main residence which may be difficult to do if she has spent more time out of the UK than in.

To obtain a British passport, she first needs to be naturalised as British. For this she must have no time limit on her stay in the UK, e.g. ILR. The time qualification for the spouse or partner of a British citizen is: she must have been in the UK on the exact date 3 years prior to applying and during the intervening three years she must have spent no more than 270 days in total out of the UK, with no more than 90 days in the final year.

Time spent in the UK as a visitor prior to settlement can count toward this qualification period. So, based upon the information you've given and depending on how much time she spends out of the UK in the next couple of years, she may be able to apply in August or September 2012. I'll leave it to you to do the maths!

See also:

Knowledge of language and life in the UK needed for both ILR and naturalisation; though she only needs to do it once.

Completing application form SET(M) for ILR

British citizenship

and the relevant links from those pages.