Visa Renewal

Morning All

I am after some advice on the following

MY Wifes visa / biometric card , (cant remember the proper name) but its the one that allows her to live and work here, that she renews every 3 years?
This will be a 3rd renewal with her being here now for 5 years is due for renewal in September, however we may have a problem.  She has to take an emergency flight to America next week due to family and I dont envisage she will be back by September for any renewal. 

Does anyone have any advice or basically will she be "stranded" in america and have to start a whole new renewal process to be able to come back to UK if she is still in America past September?

Thanks in advance

update looking at the visa it says "residence visa"

I see from your previous posts that she arrived in the UK on a spousal visa in late June 2016.

That means that she will reach 5 years in the UK in late June 2021... and she can apply for ILR (permanent residence) up to 28 days before that, so in late May 2021. Therefore she can submit her application for ILR any time between late May and September. However, ILR applications can take up to 6 months to be issued, as the 24-hour Super Priority service is currently unavailable.

Having ILR means:
- she can remain in the UK permanently with no more visas to apply for ever (unless she leaves the UK for more than 2 years, in which case her ILR will become invalid)
- no IHS surcharge to pay as she will have full access to the NHS
- she will be eligible to claim UK government benefits, same as a UK citizen
- she can apply for UK citizenship as soon as she has ILR

However, given her trip back to the US next week, her only options are:

1) MAKE SURE she is back in the UK before her current visa expires so she can submit the ILR application between May and September

OR

2) Stay in the US and start from scratch with the entire 5-year visa process all over again by applying for a spousal visa from the US again when she is ready to come back.

However, I would not advise option 2 unless it's an absolute last resort... because she is only a few months away from the end of her 5-year visa journy, and starting over will mean that the last 5 years she has lived here will count for nothing. Also, it will cost you at least another £10,000-12,000 in visa fees and IHS surcharges over the next 5 years, which I assume you would rather avoid.

Hi Thanks as always for your response.

From what I believe I have read is if she applies for the ILR which can take up to 6 months she can not travel back to America?  Also each year she has probably spent 90+ days away from UK in total, does this go against her?

Coming back to do the renewal that we have done previoulsy may be an option? and hope fast service is back up and running?, or can it not be done from america and just pay more money? or I guess if fastrack is back could also do ILR?

The issue we have is her granfather is dying and she is going back to take care of him so its an open return as to when  he does pass away but even then she will have to sort out her grandma and the estate etc so really dont know if 1) when she can get back and 2) even if she does she may have to get back to america fast again!....

Hi Thanks as always for your response.

From what I believe I have read is if she applies for the ILR which can take up to 6 months she can not travel back to America?

That's correct - if she leaves the UK while the visa is processing, the application will be considered withdrawn and so she would have to start over with a spousal visa from the US again.

Hopefully they will be able to reinstate the Super Priority Service again soon - it costs £800 and gives a decision within 24 hours of the biometrics appointment and then the BRP is delivered within 10 working days.

Also each year she has probably spent 90+ days away from UK in total, does this go against her?

No, there's no 'days outside the UK' requirements for ILR... you just have to show you have been living together in the same house for the entire 2.5 years of her current visa (by providing mail in each name, same as for the last application).

However, there is a limit to days outside the UK when it comes to applying for UK citizenship, though if she's over the limit at first, all she needs to do is wait until she is under the limit before she applies for citizenship

The requirements for UK citizenship if you are married to a UK citizen are:
- you must hold ILR (for any length of time)
- you were physically inside the UK exactly 3 years prior to your citizenship application date (i.e. if you apply on 1st December 2021, you have to show you were in the UK on 1st December 2018)
- you have not been outside the UK for more than 270 days total (9 months) in the last 3 years
- no more than 90 of those 270 days can have been in the final 12 months before applying

When calculating the days outside the UK, you do not count the day you left or the day you returned to the UK as you were physically inside the UK for part of those days (i.e. if you left on Monday and returned on Friday, that would only count as 3 days: Tue, Wed and Thu).

Coming back to do the renewal that we have done previoulsy may be an option? and hope fast service is back up and running?, or can it not be done from america and just pay more money? or I guess if fastrack is back could also do ILR?

- If she is back in the UK and has been able to take the Life in the UK test before her current visa expires, then she simply applies for ILR (the test can only be taken in person at a UK test centre) (Cost for ILR is £2,389)
- If she is back in the UK, but has not been able to take the Life in the UK test before September, then she will have to apply for FLR(M) again instead, and then apply for ILR once she has passed the test (cost is an extra £1033 plus £1560 IHS surcharge for the FLR(M), then another £2389 for ILR)

If she cannot get back to the UK before her visa expires, then she will have to apply for:
- Spousal visa from the US (£1523 plus £1872 IHS surcharge)
- FLR(M) in 2024 after 2.5 years on the spousal visa (currently £1033 plus £1560 IHS surcharge)
- ILR in 2026 or so after another 5 years in the UK (currently £2389)

The issue we have is her granfather is dying and she is going back to take care of him so its an open return as to when  he does pass away but even then she will have to sort out her grandma and the estate etc so really dont know if 1) when she can get back and 2) even if she does she may have to get back to america fast again!....

Sorry to hear that .

It's unfortunate, but it may be the case that she will have to return to the UK early to apply for her visa and will not be able to travel back to the US quickly.

Does she have other relatives in the US who can help out in case she needs to get back to the UK for her visa renewal?

Thank you for the detailed response, it gives us something to think about but I guess we just have to wait and see what develops whilst she in America caring,  worse case scenario is we may have to start it all over again or maybe she just keeps coming back here to visit me as a visitor and resides back in USA :-)   IF prioirty opens up again then that could help out but being here for 6 months under current and possibly future circumstances will not work :-(

Thank you for the detailed response, it gives us something to think about but I guess we just have to wait and see what develops whilst she in America caring,  worse case scenario is we may have to start it all over again or maybe she just keeps coming back here to visit me as a visitor and resides back in USA :-)   IF prioirty opens up again then that could help out but being here for 6 months under current and possibly future circumstances will not work :-(

I hope for your sake that priority opens up. It adds a bit of certainty to the whole process and takes out the pain of waiting. Just thought I'd jump in to mention that provided your wife did come back to the UK to renew her visa and something did unfortunately happen where she'd need to get back to the US urgently, she could request that the Home Office escalate her application under compassionate reasons.

I'm going through this process right now due to an unexpected death in the family and I have a pending visa application. I started off by calling the Home Office myself, and had I known how bad they were with communication I would've called my MP first and have him handle this. Should your wife find herself in this position, get in touch with your MP and they can help with the escalation. The Home Office will tell your MP exactly what is needed to process the escalation. My escalation began 12 calendar days ago, and after a full week of nothing from the Home Office and many calls to the call centre (don't bother with them), I had to get my MP involved. In my case, the Home Office had claimed they contacted me via email, but they hadn't. The call centre could not tell me what I had been emailed as they don't have acess to the system. My MP was able to find out what I had been sent, and it was a request for the death certificate. From there, I sent the death certificate to my MP and he forwarded it to his contact at the Home Office.

I just thought I'd mention this, though I really hope you don't have to cross this bridge. I'm sending you both positive thoughts, and I hope everything works out.

Hi SWFG

ITs funny you mention my local MP, I already thought todsy about contacting them now, even if I am not asking for any help just yet but so they are at least aware of cirumstances if I need them i nthe future.   Next step is to find who my MP is :-)

I hope your situation also resolves itself

Take care

Go for it! It never hurts to reach out. Here's how you can find out who your MP is: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

Thank you, and best of luck to you both.

Thank you for the detailed response, it gives us something to think about but I guess we just have to wait and see what develops whilst she in America caring,  worse case scenario is we may have to start it all over again or maybe she just keeps coming back here to visit me as a visitor and resides back in USA :-)   IF prioirty opens up again then that could help out but being here for 6 months under current and possibly future circumstances will not work :-(

There is never a good time for illness or death but the timing in your case is desperate. I really hope it all works out for you. 

Hi Ksand24

In terms of the ILR Visa.  YOu mentions she has been here nearly 5 years so it would make sense to apply for this.   My query looking at the application process is I can only see this
https://www.gov.uk/long-residence/eligibility

It only seems to talk about 10 years though although i did see somewhere earlier that there was a 5 year route?

In terms of having to be in UK, then we will face the descision closer to the time and I have also pre warned my MP we may need there help due to the circumstances of my wifes family etc see if they can help!...

Thanks in advance

One of the ways to qualify for ILR is through a route of long residence, where you are legally in the UK with various visas for 10 years.  You can qualify for ILR through other routes (such as work or family), and those routes are typically 5 years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-to-settle-in-the-uk-form-setm

Hi Ksand24

In terms of the ILR Visa.  YOu mentions she has been here nearly 5 years so it would make sense to apply for this.   My query looking at the application process is I can only see this
https://www.gov.uk/long-residence/eligibility

It only seems to talk about 10 years though although i did see somewhere earlier that there was a 5 year route?

The Long Residence ILR is a specific type of visa for people who have legally lived in the UK continuously for 10 years on various different visas, but where those visas did not necessarily allow them to qualify for ILR after 5 years, so they have had to wait an extra 5 years before they can apply based on Long Residence.

In your wife's case, though, she is already on a settlement visa route which allows her to qualify for ILR after 5 years, so she will not need to worry about the Long Residence visa, and will just need to apply for ILR using form SET(M), which is 'Settlement based on Marriage to a UK citizen'

This is the application she needs:
https://www.gov.uk/settle-in-the-uk/y/you-re-the-family-member-or-partner-of-a-british-citizen/no/partner/you-re-still-with-your-partner

As an example of how someone would qualify for a Long Residence ILR visa, a friend of mine applied for Long Residence ILR a few years ago.

Her visa situation was:
- she moved to the UK from Hong Kong at age 12 on a student visa (which does not lead to ILR)
- she lived in the UK on student visas until she was 22, going through secondary school, Sixth Form and university
- after 10 years in the UK on those student visas, she applied for ILR based on 10 years of legally living in the UK (Long Residence)

Unfortunately, her Long Residence application was refused because she had a gap between her student visas when she started Sixth Form (due to some kind of administrative error) - she was in the UK the whole time but she had a period of a couple of weeks where she didn't have a valid visa, and that made her ineligible for ILR based on Long Residence.

In order to stay in the UK, she would have had to qualify for and reapply for new visas every 2.5 years until 10 years had passed since the gap in her student visas. She decided it wasn't worth it, and moved back to Hong Kong, where she has lived for the last 13 years.

Thanks all as always for informative advice.  I'll take a read of it all see if it makes sense to me over next few weeks. 

Last question because she is always hoping over to USA in last 5 years to see her family will that go against her?

Thanks all as always for informative advice.  I'll take a read of it all see if it makes sense to me over next few weeks. 

Last question because she is always hoping over to USA in last 5 years to see her family will that go against her?

No, as long as you can show that the UK has been her main residence and that you have been living together for the last 2.5 years, by providing 1 item of mail in each name dated every 5 months, it will be fine.

ILR has all the same requirements as for the last visa you applied for, except she must have passed the Life in the UK test before applying, and you have to cover 2.5 years of living together, rather than just the last 2 years.