Ilr Application In Under 2 Years Of Settlement Visa

[cleverD]

My wife travelled to the UK on 22nd march 2011 on a visit visa and returned to Thailand on the1st june 2011 (73 days).She then applied for her settlement visa which was granted on 5th aug 2011 and she travelled back to the UK on the 12th aug 2011.My question is can she apply for ILR after 22nd march 2013 as she would have been in the UK for 2 years partly a visit visa and now a settlement visa.Thanks for any replies.

[quadisking]

I think I'm right in saying that the visit visa is irrelevant. She can apply for ILR after she has been in the UK on a spouse visa for at least 2 years, which should allow a 3 month period until her spouse visa expires in her passport. She will need to have passed her Life in the UK test before she applies for ILR so if she hasn't already done so I recommend that you get that sorted out as soon as possible, as she may as well do it now as in 6 months (and the test is quite difficult so she might not pass first time).

The new law which was passed sometime in July only applies for Thais who came to the UK after this date, so you will not need to meet the requirements of the new rules regarding income etc because she was already here prior to that.

I think that is all correct, perhaps someone else could confirm??

[cleverD]

My wife has already passed the Life in the UK test but also has 2 dependant children to add to her ILR which with the proposed new fees after 6 april will be expensive.

[quadisking]

I'm pretty much certain that she won't be able to apply until August at the earliest, when she will have been in the UK for 2 years on a spouse visa.

It dawned after me afterwards why you had probably asked the question. Sorry it's not what you want to hear, but I don't think there is any way of avoiding the fee increase to bring them all to the UK.

My wife came on a 6 month tourist visa originally, and she had to wait the full 2 years before she could apply for ILR.

[quadisking]

full 2 years for the spouse visa, on top of the 6 month tourist visa I mean.

[cleverD]

I am sure I have read on this forum that Time spent in the UK immediatley before a settlement visa counts towards the 2 years needed for ILR but cannot find the relative posts.

[7by7]

The qualifying period for ILR begins when the settlement visa is first used to enter the UK (or the first period of FLR begins if one entered the UK as a fiance or proposed civil partner).

Time spent in the UK previously on other types of visa does not count towards this period.

It can, though, count towards the qualifying period for naturalisation; you seem to have confused the two.