Ile Visa

[petercr]

I'm presently living in Thailand with my Thai wife and family. Within the next 2 - 4years we intend to relocate to the UK permanently and I would appreciate advice and comment on the following:

I intend to apply from Thailand for an ILE visa based on a relationship of > 3yrs, this to minimise the timeframe for a further application for ILR status ....................Is there any time limit from having an ILE granted to the first entry to the UK

Thanks

[7by7]

You don't apply for anything; you wife does. She applies for settlement. Assuming she meets the requirements for settlement, then if she also meets the requirements for ILE then this is what she will be granted, if not then she will be granted a standard 27 month spouse visa.

To obtain ILE she needs to have been living with you for at least 4 years, not 3. She also needs to have satisfied the knowledge of life and language in the UK requirement whilst on a previous visit to the UK; if she hasn't then she will be given ILE subject to KOL.

If she is granted ILE it will be valid for 27 months. This is not the date it expires, but the date it must first be used by to enter the UK otherwise it will lapse.

ILE subject to KOL is also valid for 27 months, during which time she must enter the UK, satisfy KOL and apply for ILR.

For more details, see UK Settlement Visa Basics and UK Settlement; Spouse Visa Or ILE?

I am assuming the family you refer to are your children and so have British passports as well as Thai ones.

[Guest jonzboy]

It seems my wife is one of the few to have obtained ILE because she took the LITUK test whilst visiting UK and before applying for her settlement visa.

It might help Peter, and any others reading this thread, to know that once issued the ILE entry clearance is valid indefinitely, with the expiry date given in the passport vignette being the expiry date of the passport itself (in my wife's case she applied for a new passport just before submission of the visa application in 2010 and so has an expiry date for ILE of 2020). To me this means that there is no timescale by which you must "enter" the UK. That is my reading of things as of now, but I must admit that things were no so clear at the time my wife applied for her settlement visa and I had all sorts of concerns about having a limited window of opportunity to enter the UK.

I understand that ILE may well be scrapped as part of a wider package of UKBA reforms.

[Guest jonzboy]

of course, there's an overriding requirement that the spouse cannot leave UK for more than two years, so it would be safe to assume that the clock starts ticking on the two years upon issue of ILE visa

[7by7]

I believe, jonzboy, that you are correct on the expiry date and I was thinking of a child granted ILE to join their parent living in the UK with ILR.

Apols to all.

You say

of course, there's an overriding requirement that the spouse cannot leave UK for (a period of) more than two years, so it would be safe to assume that the clock starts ticking on the two years upon issue of ILE visa

Indeed, if someone holding Indefinite Leave is absent from the UK for a continuous period of 2 years or more then their IL will lapse and they will need to obtain the appropriate entry clearance should they wish to enter the UK again. They are out of the UK when issued ILE, so I agree that the clock has started to tick.

Of course, having been legally in the UK for at least three years (if the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen, five years for all others) they can apply for naturalisation as British and once obtained this cannot lapse, no matter how long they spend out of the UK.

[AngryParent]

Apols to all.