Ilr

[cuddleypete]

Hello guys

I know you have being asked this many times before but i want to make sure we get it right.

Ok here it goes

My wife has been in England for just over seven months now, and I am in the midst of making sure that she has various things in order to show them in London that we are still together etc etc and she is still registered at our marital address.

i.e : bank acc/bills/letters/nic number/bt phone bills etc

I know that we have to do forms etc when she has being here 23 months is this right?

Also she would like to go and visit her mum back in thailand,is it right that she can only be out off the uk for max 1 month????

After 3 years she can get uk passport???

Will she have to take the life in the UK & English tests?????

Also is it true that if my Thai wife took UK Citizenship she would lose her rights in thailand?????

any help will be greatfully excepted

[Monkeypants]

1/ yes

2/No ..... There are rules but no,,, it isn;t one month , from memory in 270 days in 3 years

3/ In this case Yes

4/ present regulations yes

5 absoultley not Thai- uk both recognise dual nationality

[the scouser]

I know that we have to do forms etc when she has being here 23 months is this right?

Yes, that's correct.

Also she would like to go and visit her mum back in thailand,is it right that she can only be out off the uk for max 1 month????

No, there is no rule which says she can only be away for 1 month. She will have to show, however, that the UK is where she lives excluding holidays.

After 3 years she can get uk passport???

After 3 years she can apply for naturalisation (or as 1 member once wrote, nationalisation ) and once she has that she can get the passport.

Will she have to take the life in the UK & English tests?????

Yes. She may wish to enrol on a ESOL Entry Level 3 course with Life Skills at a further education college. If she passes the exam, she won't need to sit the other tests.

Also is it true that if my Thai wife took UK Citizenship she would lose her rights in thailand?????

No, it's not true.

Cheers,

Scouse.

[cuddleypete]

thanks guys for quick replys

one thing scouse you say

No, there is no rule which says she can only be away for 1 month. She will have to show, however, that the UK is where she lives excluding holidays.

do you recomened then no more than a month ??

cheers pete

[GU22]

2/No ..... There are rules but no,,, it isn;t one month , from memory in 270 days in 3 years

As Scouse says, there is no specific limit on time spent out of the UK whilst qualifying for ILR.

She can spend more than 1 month at a time out of the UK, as long as she shows that her main residence is in the UK. She would probably have a problem if she spent more time in Thailand than in the UK, but otherwise she should be fine.

This "no more than 270 days in 3 years" rule applies to applications for British citizenship as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen.

The actual residency requirement for naturalisation is :-

The applicant was physically present in the UK on the exact date 3 years prior to the application.

During the 3 years prior to the application, the applicant has spent no more than 270 days in total out of the UK, with no more than 90 days in the last year.

Edited May 6, 2006 by GU22

[the scouser]

It really does depend why she's going to Thailand. If, for example, her mother was ill and she was absent from the UK for 3 months, this would not be held against her. If, however, she stayed in Thailand for 3 months because she felt like it, when she applies for the ILR, the Home Office might question whether she's fulfilled the rules. In such a situation, they would give her another stamp until such a time as she would qualify for ILR. The 270-day rule which Monkeypants refers to applies to naturalisation rather then ILR.

Scouse.

[Veritas]

I'll kick off on the easy ones:

It is perfectly ok to hold dual citizenship, she will not lose any rights in Thailand.

After 3 years she will be able to get UK Citizenship provided she either passes the Citizenship test or sucessfully completes a combined ESOL/Citizenship course :

There will be two principal methods of demonstrating that these requirements have been met. First, applicants whose ability in English is at or above ESOL Entry Level 3 will be able to undertake a short new test to be run for us by Ufi Ltd. This will be taken on computer at one of 90 Life in the UK Test centres in the UK. The tests will be based on the information contained in chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the handbook Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship which was published on 15 December 2004 and is available for £9.99 from The Stationery Office and bookshops. Successful completion of this test will satisfy the language requirement as well as the knowledge of life requirement.

Secondly, applicants with ability in English below ESOL Entry Level 3 will need to complete new ESOL with citizenship classes, which are language courses involving learning materials incorporating information about life in the UK. Successful completion of the classes will signify that the applicant has met both language and life in UK knowledge requirements.