Hi all,

My wife received her UK settlement visa early this year and arrived in the UK late Feb.

She has been back to Thailand for 4 weeks in all that time until now. I understand that it is a 27 month probationary visa and to qualify for ILR you need to be present in the UK for at least 24 months of the 27.

I have just been offered an internship in Thailand for 6 months which I have accepted. Obviously my wife will travel with me and when we get back to the UK she will have had a total of nearly 7 months out of the UK.

Does this mean that when her settlement visa is nearly expired we have to apply for further leave to remain giving us another year so she can qualify for the ILR 24 month rule?

Regards

The rule isn't that she has to spend a minimum of 24 months in the UK to be residentially qualified for ILR; she has to have been a UK resident for that period.

Settlement

Time spent outside the UK

The Immigration Rules do not say that you must have been in the UK for the entire 2 years of your visa or permission to remain. Your application to settle here will be judged on its merits, taking into account your reasons for travel, the length of your absences, and whether you and your partner travelled and lived together while you were outside the UK. If you have spent a limited time abroad in connection with your job, for example, this should not count against you.

Thanks 7by7,

My wife mentioned that someone had told her that the immigration authorities take into account whether we have left the country together as a family unit and that if we could prove it was for work/study reasons then it might not be an issue.

Thanks again