Hi guys , a simple question I think , but I can't find a concise answer ( or can't understand it ! ) my Thai wife has a 6 month tourist visa to the uk , she stayed for 118 days approx 4 months, then returned to Thailand, visa was issued August 19th , my question is can she apply for a settlement visa to the uk ( she fills all the criteria ) before August 19th as she has not spent 6 months out of 12 in the uk ? So effectively she has 2 months left thus superseding the 6 out of 12 visa rules , does this make sense ? Is it applicable ? Or does a tourist visa have to run its one year course before another different type of visa can be applied for ?

Many thanks in anticipation of your replies

She can apply for settlement at any time, different rules/conventions apply.

She certainly doesn't need to wait until the anniversary of her visit visa before applying for settlement.

Indeed, she can can apply for settlement immediately upon her return home even if her visit visa has not expired and no matter how long she spent in the UK as a visitor nor the frequency of her visits.

The 'no more than 6 months out of 12' convention applies to visits only, not settlement.

Thank you so much for your prompt replies guys , I thought as much but was not sure , ;-)