After first spousal visa

Hi guys!

I'm off to my biometrics appointment this morning and then will be sending off my supporting documents tonight. I want to thank all of you for your help. This is a nerve wracking experience and I hope for a good outcome, but either way you all have eased many of my fears and answered many questions. So fingers crossed I get a visa in the next few weeks!

Also, what's next? I'm confused about what I'm reading is it 3 or 5 years to citizenship? I know I get this visa (hopefully  ). Then, I need to apply for an FLR? And then I can take the test and apply for ILR? And then citizenship? Or is that citizenship? I'm confused as to what exactly I need to be ready for.

Thanks again!!! Wish me luck, please!

Your spouse visa will be issued for 33 months (giving you 3 months to enter the UK)

Then you'll apply for FLR(M) which will be valid for 30 months, taking you to a total of 5 years in the UK.

Then you apply for ILR.... then you can apply for citizenship.   

Your visa journey will be:

Spousal visa for 2.5 years

FLR(M) visa for 2.5 years

ILR after 5 years on the spousal visa and FLR(M) visa.

Each of these 3 visas has the same income requirement (£18,600 per year salary for a couple), but for FLR(M) and ILR, the applicant's income can count as well.

Once you have ILR, and you meet all the citizenship requirements, you can apply for citizenship.

The rules of citizenship state that if you are married to a UK citizen, you only have to be resident in the UK for 3 years in order to apply. However, you cannot apply until you have ILR, which takes 5 years to get... therefore, you cannot apply for citizenship until you have lived in the UK for 5 years (but only the previous 3 years of residency count when calculating if you meet the citizenship residency requirements).

Sorry to jump on your post Dray....

(hey ksand... confused me again...)

I came over on a fiance visa -- got married last week YAY! -- I thought I was supposed to be applying for the FLR(M) now?  What is the spouse visa called on the UKBA website? 

I hate that site.

If you marry outside of the UK, the 1 st visa you apply for is a spouse visa.  If you marry inside if the UK, you apply for FLR (M) after you marry.

I came over on a fiance visa -- got married last week YAY! -- I thought I was supposed to be applying for the FLR(M) now?  What is the spouse visa called on the UKBA website? 

You are supposed to be applying for FLR(M)... FLR(M) is a spousal visa. It just has a different name if you apply for it in the UK vs. applying for it from abroad.

A spousal visa (it's an LLE visa - Limited Leave to ENTER the UK) is ONLY issued outside the UK, to people who are already married. It costs £851 and is valid for 33 months (2.5 years plus 3 months leeway to enter the UK).

An FLR(M) (Further Leave to REMAIN in the UK) visa is ONLY issued inside the UK, to people who have married in the UK and are switching to spousal visa status (from a fiance visa, work visa or student visa). It costs £578 by post or £953 in person and is valid for 30 months (2.5 years).

As you entered on a fiance visa, you don't have to return to the US to apply for a spousal visa, instead you apply for an FLR(M) visa extension (as a spouse of a UK citizen).

So your visa journey is:

- Fiance visa 6 months (issued outside the UK)

- FLR(M) visa, 2.5 years (issued inside the UK)

- FLR(M) visa, 2.5 years (issued inside the UK)

- ILR after 5 years on FLR(M) (issued inside the UK)

If, however, you had married before you moved to the UK, you could have skipped the fiance visa, and just applied directly for a 2.5-year spousal visa (issued outside the UK), followed by a 2.5-year FLR(M) visa (issued inside the UK) to make up your 5 years to ILR.

That's what I thought.  I'm usually on the right path, but then I read someone else's post that gives me doubts.  Thanks again for the clarification!

That's the same problem I always have, kitty.

Thanks Ksands! You're a wealth of information.