UK Settlement Visa: Spouse Or Ile?

[squirrelboy]

Hi all,

My wife has just had her settlement visa approved. We have been married for over 4 years and living together for about 6. We've got 2 kids together. I showed ample evidence of this in the application and was kind of expecting the ILE visa. The visa type says 'spouse/cp'. Does this mean we didn't get the ILE one? That would be a shame...

Many thanks for whatever clarification you can give.

Greg.

[bobrussell]

Normally ILR will be granted after two years resident in the UK but your situation is a bit different. An answer from the UKBA to someone else in a similar situation:

Thank you for your enquiry.

Indefinite Leave to Enter is no longer granted due to the introduction of the Life in the UK test. Instead those who have been living abroad in a relationship akin to marriage are granted two years Leave to Enter in order for the applicant to complete the Life in the UK test. Once the test has been successfully completed the applicant is able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain using the SET(M) application form, this can be done at any time during the two years. The applicant does not have to wait until they have completed 23 months in the UK.

Yours sincerely,

Immigration Group

UK Border Agency

The cynical might suggest this is a means to raise another thousand from applicants!

[Guest jonzboy]

Hi Greg

As Bob's UKBA quote says, if your wife did not pass the LITUK test prior to applying for her settlement visa, she will not get ILE. This would mean that her entry clearance vignette will somewhere contain the phrase (subject to KOL). If this is not there it suggests they have given her the wrong visa.

My wife and I had been married for five years when she applied for her settlement visa and fortunately she was able to take and pass the LITUK test whilst visiting UK on holiday. She was given ILE and her vignette page includes the following data

Type: Settlement Spouse/CP (my name and dob)

Obsrv: Indefinite leave to enter the UK

[VisasPlus]

If your wife qualified for an ILE visa, but had not yet taken the KOL test, then the visa would be endorsed :

SETTLEMENT SPOUSE/CP(KOL REQ)

You have said that you have been married for more than 4 years, and living together for more than 6. However, it does depend on where you have lived, and the immigration rules say:

".....................seeking admission to the United Kingdom for the purposes of settlement and the parties were married or formed a civil partnership at least 4 years ago, since which time they have been living together outside the United Kingdom "

If you have been living together outside the UK for more than 4 years ( and you made this clear to the ECO in the application ), then your wife should have got the ILE, subject to KOL, visa.

If the ECO was aware of this, and still issued the wrong visa, then contact the Embassy and insist that they change it.

[squirrelboy]

Thank you all for your posts.

@VisaPlus, Yes, we've been living together in Chiang Mai since 2006 and this was made clear in the cover letter.

So, in the passport the lines read as follows:

"Type: VISA SPOUSE/CP - Spouse of myname myDOB"

"Observ: No recourse to public funds"

It doesn't read (KOL REQ).

If the (KOL REQ) is omitted does this mean that she can't take the KOL test and then the apply for ILR?

Thanks again you guys.

Greg.

[Guest jonzboy]

Greg

I agree with visaplus, that based on your claims about your marriage, your wife should have ILE subject to KOL. What this means is explained in Bob's post above. As your wife's visa does not mention (KOL REQ) it appears she has a standard settlement visa (issued to spouses without the four years living together overseas) valid for 27 months and means that your wife cannot apply for ILR until she has completed 24 months living in UK AND providing the required language proof.

If you provided adequate proof of your living together in Thailand for the minimum four years, you should contact the embassy as visaplus suggests to get the error rectified. From reading this forum it seems that such errors are commonplace.

Good luck!!!

[squirrelboy]

OK. Thanks guys. It would seem as though I'm gonna have to get on to the British Embassy and ask politely to change the visa type.

However... who should I contact? Should I go via VFS or direct to the British Embassy in Bangkok?

Does anyone know a direct email at the Embassy?

Thanks again for your final tuppences:)

[VisasPlus]

You should use the VFS email:

i[email protected]

They will pass the email to the visa section, and send you an acknowledgment

[squirrelboy]

To all involved...

Thanks for your advice, wisdom and experience! The UK Border Agency admitted fault and reissued the correct visa. After a one week wait we got the passport back with of the following type:

VISA SETTLEMENT SPOUSE/CP (KOL REQ)

Rock on!

[Guest jonzboy]

great news, and encouragement to others as UKBA don't always get it right!!!

next step, get the wife to study for the LITUK test... good luck!!!

[liveforever]

my wife and i have been together 8 years, engaged for 5 years and were married for 18 months before we applied for settlement, i stated this in the visa letter, however through work in both countries my time was split between the countries.

do i have a case too?

kind regards

[7by7]

To qualify for ILE as a spouse you need to have been married and living together outside the UK for at least the last 4 years.

To qualify as an unmarried partner you need to have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage outside the UK for at least the last 4 years.

Obviously, if living together as unmarried partners at first and then marrying and continuing to live together outside the UK, you would still qualify.

Short periods apart are obviously allowed, but the requirement is that you have been continuously living together outside the UK. So I don't think you dividing your time between Thailand and elsewhwere, the UK for example, would qualify.

However, she does not apply for ILE or a spouse visa; she applies for settlement as your spouse. If she does qualify for ILE this is what she should be given, if she doesn't then she will be given a standard 27 month visa as your spouse.

[liveforever]

7, Many thanks for taking the time to reply; she has been here now for 16 months on standard settlement, but just wondered after the mistake made on the visa in the above posts whether one had been made on ours too, especially based on our years together, but like you say time was split for work reasons, however we enclosed many letters from apartment managers going back 7 years+.

Kind regards

[7by7]

I would not like to say whether or not she should have been given ILE or not; I don't have the experience to comment even if I did have all the facts.

However, I feel the point is moot for two reasons.

1) It is probably too late to change it now.

2) she only has 8 months to go before she can apply for ILR anyway, so may as well wait until then.

However, if she had passed the LitUK test and so satisfied the KOL requirement on a visit to the UK before applying for settlementand so should have been granted full ILE rather than ILE subject to KOL then the situation is different, as she would not need to make, and pay for, an ILR application at all. In which case I would suggest contacting the UKBA to see if you can get her status changed.

Phone: 0870 606 7766

Textphone: 0800 389 8289 (the contact centre also accepts calls by text relay and other similar services)

Address: UK Border Agency, Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 2BY

Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 16:45, Friday 09:00 to 16:30 (excluding public holidays).

[ukandthai]

Normally ILR will be granted after two years resident in the UK but your situation is a bit different. An answer from the UKBA to someone else in a similar situation:

Thank you for your enquiry.

Indefinite Leave to Enter is no longer granted due to the introduction of the Life in the UK test. Instead those who have been living abroad in a relationship akin to marriage are granted two years Leave to Enter in order for the applicant to complete the Life in the UK test. Once the test has been successfully completed the applicant is able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain using the SET(M) application form, this can be done at any time during the two years. The applicant does not have to wait until they have completed 23 months in the UK.

Yours sincerely,

Immigration Group

UK Border Agency

The cynical might suggest this is a means to raise another thousand from applicants!

When you look at the from SET M, it seems totally geared for applying after the required two years wait

and not for someone who can apply immediately as they have a Spouse settlement visa (KOL Required).

Advice on how to fill this form in after KOL passed would be most appreciated. Obviously, we can't supply a 2 year history of joint bills as only been in UK less than 2 months.

Many thanks

[bobrussell]

Your wife already has a settlement visa and as far as I know the application should be an updated version of the form filled in when the original settlement visa was applied for.

I would expect the inclusion of the KOL pass to be the most important part! If you cannot provide any of the requested information just explain why in the covering letter.

[7by7]

As far as i am aware, SET(M) is the correct form. I cannot find any guidance on what to do if you were originally granted ILE subject to KOL and are now applying after satisfying KOL but before living in the UK for two years.

All I can suggest is contacting them to ask:-

Phone: 0870 606 7766

Textphone: 0800 389 8289 (the contact centre also accepts calls by text relay and other similar services)

Address: UK Border Agency, Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 2BY

Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 16:45, Friday 09:00 to 16:30 (excluding public holidays).