Thai passport holder with indefinite stay in uk

[chigleyworker]

hi

my wife arrived in Thailand on the 1st June 2015

she entered Thailand with her Thai passport which has a indefinite leave to stay in the uk this was stamped in the passport in 1991

Due to illness and family issues she is looking to return to the uk in January 2016

is this a issue and do we need to do anything to allow for the extended stay

many thanks

[7by7]

ILR holders can leave and re-enter the UK as often as they wish; but if they spend a continuous period of 2 or more years outside the UK then their ILR will lapse and they will need to obtain the appropriate visa to enter the UK again.

So the 6 to 7 months your wife intends to stay in Thailand should not be an issue.

May I ask why she has not naturalised as British?

Both Thailand and the UK allow dual nationality, so doing this would not effect her Thai nationality or rights as a Thai citizen in any way. But it would, of course, allow her to remain out of the UK for as long as she wished and always be allowed back in, just like any other British citizen.

A British passport also means she can visit other European countries, and many others, without a visa.

See British citizenship basics for more details.

You will see that she will need to satisfy the knowledge of life and language in the UK (KoLL) requirement.

She could (should?) have applied any time after she had been granted ILR and had lived in the UK for at least three years if you are a British citizen, five years if you are not British. There was no Koll requirement back then and it would have been considerably cheaper than doing it now!

[chigleyworker]

Many thanks for your help and answer i will myself be returning to Thailand for Christmas so we can all come back together

Regarding UK citizenship no reason really and i know it would have been a lot easier and simpler back when we first got married 1990 and time just past by

now you have to sit exams tests etc and she is not sure she would pass

Anyway thanks again for your help and answer

[bobrussell]

It would have been a heck of a lot cheaper as well! Hindsight is wonderful!

My advice now is for people to get on with the next stages as soon as possible. They sure as heck will not get easier and definitely will not get cheaper!

[7by7]

Regarding UK citizenship no reason really and i know it would have been a lot easier and simpler back when we first got married 1990 and time just past by

now you have to sit exams tests etc and she is not sure she would pass

She's lived in the UK for 25 years; surely her English must be good enough to pass the speaking and listening test with ease.

The LitUK test does take a bit of work, and most British born and educated people probably couldn't pass it without some study; but it's not rocket science. GCSE standard at most.

But it's your and her choice, of course.