Quick question about ILR

I have a question about applying for ILR.

I was granted my Spousal Visa in July 2008.  Because of moving with the dogs, my british wife came over to the UK in August but I waited with the dogs until Feb and came into the country on Feb2nd.

What my question is, when can I apply?  Does the 28 days before the end of my visa still apply?  My wife and I have been married for 9 years and I have all the bills, bank statements and all of that for the required time...I am just worried about the delay in me entering the country because of the dogs...and quite honestly, I wasn't expecting to get the Visa so fast, I thought it was going to take much longer than it did...my wife to come to the US took far longer!! 

Thanks!

Wait .. if you've been married for 9 years, did you not get an "Indefinite leave to Enter"? If so, the stamp you got on arrival at the airport is your ILR. Nothing else required.

No.....didn't know you could do that to be completely honest.  My visa expires in June 2010.....

I was in the country before with the military.  Got married, was still here in the Air Force and then moved back to the states for a couple of years and now are back with me having a visa.

Wait .. if you've been married for 9 years, did you not get an "Indefinite leave to Enter"? If so, the stamp you got on arrival at the airport is your ILR. Nothing else required.

The OP would have only been able to get ILE directly if he had flown to the UK as a visitor, taken the KOL and then flown back to the US to apply for the visa. If he has not taken the KOL yet then he would have been granted a spousal visa.

George - does your visa have a 'KOL Req'd' stamp on it (based on having been married in the US for over 4 years)?

If it does, then all you need to do is take the KOL (Life in the UK test) and then apply for ILR whenever you want (before your visa expires). However, if it does not have the KOL Req'd stamp, then you won't qualify to apply for ILR until February 2011 (you need to have been resident in the UK for 2 years). However, you also have to apply for it before your spousal visa expires... which leads to a problem - your visa expires in June 2010, but you can't apply for ILR until Jan/Feb 2011. That means that you would have to get an FLR(M) spousal visa extension to cover the time between the spousal visa expiring and ILR beginning.

My Visa does say KOL REQ.  So does this mean I can apply whenever, after I have taken the life in the UK test?  I just want to make sure cause I have read a lot of things that say your application will be rejected and no money refunded if you apply to early.

Thanks!!!!

My Visa does say KOL REQ.  So does this mean I can apply whenever, after I have taken the life in the UK test?  I just want to make sure cause I have read a lot of things that say your application will be rejected and no money refunded if you apply to early.

Thanks!!!!

Yes, you can apply whenever - in fact, if you'd wanted to, you could have taken the KOL on the day you arrived in the UK and you could have received your ILR already .

The rejections and no refunds you have read about are for people who do not have a KOL Req'd stamp on their visa. For those people, they must have been in the country for 2 years on a spousal visa and I believe they cannot apply earlier than 28 days before they are eligible for ILR. Because you have been married for more than 4 years, you can bypass this step and apply directly for ILR as soon as you have passed the KOL.

In this case the OP is lucky. He has the KOL endorsement and can apply at any time after taking & passing the LiUK test.

HOWEVER if it was not endorsed and just a 'normal' spouse visa he'd have a major problem. Assuming his visa was issued in July 2008 and would have expired in July 2010 and he did not enter the UK until  2 Feb 2009, he would not be able to apply for ILR until 12 January 2011 and would have to apply for an extension of his spousal visa (FLR(M)) to cover the 6 month gap before he would be eligible for ILR which is 28 DAYS BEFORE THE 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ENTRY INTO THE UK. Not 28 days before the spousal visa expires!

People get confused on this and so I just want to make sure that we all understand so we don't confuse people and then they end up losing their application fees or worse end up having to leave the UK because they no longer have a valid visa and then cannot make an in country application.

Thank you guys sooooo much for the help...and I agree with Wendy that I am lucky in my case.   To be honest, I was expecting the answer to be that I would need to extend my visa and apply for the IRL in June...but I am very happy that this is not the case.

Now, I suppose I should start studying up for the KOL and get my IRL!!!!  So exciting!!!

Thanks again, you have all been lovely and amazing!!!