Partner moving back to UK after going back for family.

My partner moved here 2015, and married a man over here, but it  was a very abusive relationship, she has since been divorced had to move home to look after family after her mothers death. She had an ILR but had to move back to the US and now looking at coming back to the UK to live permanently but doesn't know if her ILR is valid. We are looking for advice on her options. She worked for the NHS for 8 years and was working on her nursing degree, and she has a property here that is up for sale but could be revoked if that helps the situation.

Is there a way her ILR could be reinstated? Or a student visa with the potential of getting a degree in nursing? Would she be able to just apply for citizenship? Does the property here in Wales help?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Con

What date did she leave the UK?

Her ILR will be valid for 2 years after moving away from the UK, so if it has been less than 2 years since she moved back to the US, then she can just return to live in the UK using her ILR (as long as she returns before the 2 years are up).

However, if it has been more than 2 years since she left the UK, her ILR will now be invalid, which means that in order to move back to the UK again, she will need to start the immigration process from scratch and qualify for a visa to return (i.e. student visa, work visa, fiance/spousal visa if you were to get married).

In order for her to qualify for UK citizenship, she must:
1) be a current UK resident
AND
2) hold a valid ILR
AND
3) have not been outside the UK for more than 450 days in the last 5 years, with no more than 90 of those days being in the last 12 months before applying
AND
4) have been physically in the UK exactly 5 years prior to the date she applies for UK citizenship

She left in Sept 2024, so as per your reply her ILR is still valid.
Thank you so much for your advice, we're trying to sort this out as we speak.

No problem . Good to hear she hasn't been away more than 2 years.

Have a look here for information about returning to the UK with her ILR:
https://www.gov.uk/returning-resident-visa

Her ILR BRP is likely to have expired as they switched from physical cards to online e-visas in January 2025, so for the last few years, all BRP cards were issued with an expiry date of 31st December 2024. This doesn't mean her ILR visa itself expired, just the physical card.

She may have already accessed her e-visa online before she left, but no worries if not - she can still return to the UK using the expired card, or she can see if she can access her e-visa before she travels - all the information about this is in the link above.