Hi, my apologies if this subject has been covered before. My wife's UK settlement visa is coming up for an extension soon, and I was wondering when would be the earliest date that she is able to apply. She applied initially on 15th Oct 2013, the visa was finally issued with valid from date 19th May 2014 and expires on 19th Feb 2017. We didn't fly to the UK until 10th Aug 2014. The pinned UK Settlement Basics on the forum here states that she can apply after living in the UK for 30 months, which would be in Feb 2017. The gov.uk's Apply To Remain With Family In The Uk section only states that she can extend "towards the end of that". As it can take up to 8 weeks for a decision when applying online or by post, that would mean her current visa would expire before getting any extension decision. Does anyone know what happens in these situations? Is, for example, the current visas life extended automatically whilst the extension application process is going through? Is it possible that an extension application can be made before the 30 months have passed and if so, by how long?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks for your time

 

Paul

I'm not sure quite how it works but my wife's fiancée visa ran out on 8th September 2016 after six months. We couriered her FLR application on the 6th September and received the visa 7 weeks later. Technically she didn’t have a visa from the 8th September when her fiancée visa ran out to 25th October when her FLR started but it wasn't and hasn’t hasn’t been an issue.

An application can be made up to 28 days before the 30 month mark, so your wife can apply around the middle of January if my arithmetic is correct. From reading this forum I believe that she'd be ok if the current visa expires whilst the new application is being processed, but I don't have first-hand knowledge of that.  

7 hours ago, TCA said:

An application can be made up to 28 days before the 30 month mark, so your wife can apply around the middle of January if my arithmetic is correct. From reading this forum I believe that she'd be ok if the current visa expires whilst the new application is being processed, but I don't have first-hand knowledge of that.  

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't heard about the 28 days before the 30 month mark before. Is this written in policy anywhere or only what people have been told by officials?

Apply while current leave is still valid

Don't apply too early otherwise your next visa wont get you to the 5 year mark for Indefinite leave to remain.

The only official info I can find is in the FLR-M Guidance is;

When to apply You and any children under 18 applying with you should apply before the end of your/their
permitted stay in the UK."

 

As I said earlier in this thread, we applied two days before my wife's then current visa expired without issue.

5 minutes ago, rasg said:

Apply while current leave is still valid

Don't apply too early otherwise your next visa wont get you to the 5 year mark for Indefinite leave to remain.

The only official info I can find is in the FLR-M Guidance is;

When to apply You and any children under 18 applying with you should apply before the end of your/their
permitted stay in the UK."

 

As I said earlier in this thread, we applied two days before my wife's then current visa expired without issue.

Thanks for the update. I hadn't considered that applying too early would affect the 5 year mark. 

41 minutes ago, paul771 said:

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't heard about the 28 days before the 30 month mark before. Is this written in policy anywhere or only what people have been told by officials?

 

Try section 4.1 below on page 13. Don't know if there's a more recent version of the PDF or not:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452915/Appendix_FM_Section_1_0a_5-year_Partner_and_Parent_Routes_August_2015.pdf

25 minutes ago, TCA said:

 

Try section 4.1 below on page 13. Don't know if there's a more recent version of the PDF or not:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452915/Appendix_FM_Section_1_0a_5-year_Partner_and_Parent_Routes_August_2015.pdf

Great, that was what I was looking for. Thanks!

Thanks for the update. I hadn't considered that applying too early would affect the 5 year mark. 

 

You wouldn't want to apply too early and have to get another FLR for the sake of a few weeks. That would be an expensive mistake.