ILR right visa?

Hi, this question is for a friend (no, really--my ILR days are behind me). She has just got a test date for the LiUK test--the soonest she can get is more than a month away, and her spouse visa expires at the beginning of December, so she's in a bit of a panic.

Having gone through the process myself I'm trying to help but want to make sure I'm giving accurate information:

As she came in on a spouse visa in 2012 she is under the "old rules." So the application she needs to make next is for ILR, right? And it has to be within 28 days of the spouse visa expiry date, but before it expires?

Thank you all for your help, as always.

Yes, as long as her spousal visa application was made before July 9th 2012 and her visa is valid for 27 months, she is under the old rules. If her visa is valid for 33 months though, she will be under the new rules.

So with a 27-month visa, the next step is ILR. She can apply for it 28 days before she reaches 2 years in the UK, not 28 days before her visa expires, which may not be the same date.

She should have time to apply. It's only September and as long she either attends a premium appointment or gets the application in the mail before the visa expiry date in December, it's not an issue.


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Thank you, ksand!

I think she's got worried because she didn't realize how limited opportunities would be to take the test (she has to travel pretty far as it happens), so she's afraid of not passing it in time. I tried to assure her that the test itself is not that hard--though I realize there's a new book since I took it. If she's read the book, I am pretty sure she can pass.

It is mostly cumulative stress: driving difficulties, job difficulties, living in a very isolated area, acute homesickness...you know, life ;-)

OK, so it turns out the visa validity dates are from November 2012 to August 2015. But December 2014 it will have been 2 years living in the UK.

Does this mean she is under the new rules? I just don't want to give bad information--I was processed under the old rules myself. I thought the rules depended on when you applied for the visa, but it seems that they depend on how many months the visa says, and this one says 33 months. I don't want to cause further stress!

Yes, she is under the new rules.

It does depend on when she applied for the visa, but the length of time the visa is valid is just one way for me to determine which visa she has been issued.

She would have needed to apply for her visa before July 9th 2012 to be under the old rules.If she did submit her online application before July 9th then she has been issued the wrong visa and should have had it corrected before she moved to the UK.

So, with a new rules visa, that means she will not qualify for ILR until December 2017 and will need to apply for another FLR(M) when she has reached 30 months (2.5 years) in the UK (not 2 years).

So, her next visas will be:

- FLR(M), applied for in June 2015.

- ILR, applied for 28 days before the FLR(M) expires (around December 2017)

Thank you. I honestly don't know how I made it without this board myself, so I'm glad for your help now.

It turns out they got her application in September 2012 so, obviously, it was always going to be a new rules visa. She remembers "someone on the phone" telling her it was the old rules but who knows who or when that was. Anyway, that was incorrect.

So it sounds like the good news is she does not have to apply for FLR(M) until June 2015, when she has been here for 2.5 years instead of 2. And the bad news is that she has to apply for FLR (instead of ILR) and meet the income requirement (her and her spouse). And she does not need to take the LiUK test yet--but can take it anytime? Is that right?

Thank you so much for all your help.

Yes, she can take the Life in the UK test at any time.  The results don't expire but she will need to hold onto her pass certificate.

Thanks, Anonymiss.

(Guess the title of this thread is wrong now--next time I start one I'll try to get it right 

My hubby came here June 2012 under old rules. His 27 month visa expired end of August 2014 and we applied for ILR just before end of August, hence he was on a 27 month visa. Advice here said we were fine to app,y before end of visa, not just before 2 years in the UK which would've been June 2014. Which is correct?

Both are correct. The earliest he could have applied was 28 days before he reached 2 years in the UK and the latest he could have applied was the expiry date of the visa.

So, if he arrived in the UK in June 2012, he could have applied for ILR back in May 2014 instead of waiting until August.


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