English Language A1 test

I have a wife who I married in Moldova, outside the EU. She wants to visit me here in the UK in December, for which is is applying for the new Standard Visitor Visa. This replaces the general visitor and family visas.

While she is here in the UK as a visitor with me, she is wondering whether she should take the A1 English language test at a local centre run by Trinity College.

However, the cost of this test is quite high and when she passes the speaking and listening test here in the UK in December, the certificate she gets only lasts for 2 years.

Why I am asking this. I may want my Moldovan wife to live in the UK with me in the UK in the next 5 years, I am not sure when exactly. She would want to settle in the UK with me. However, will it be better in this situation for her to take this A1 test if and when we are ready for her to live with me in the UK (ie when we know for sure she is coming here permanently)?

Presently, she lives in Moldova and I see her there while being resident most of the year in the UK and having my primary home in the UK.

Or is it better to take this test while she visits me in December on a visitor basis, to save time later? Trinity say they have no problem with her taking the test on a visitor visa basis for this purpose.

I understand that if she later wants to apply for the former family visa to live here with me, she needs to have FIRST passed the A1 test to get into the UK with the former family visa (now the Standard Visitor Visa). So if she does not take the A1 test in December, presumably the only way in the future she could take the test (to get the former family visa) is after she comes here on another visitor visa basis?

Thank you.

ukthesis wrote:I have a wife who I married in Moldova, outside the EU. She wants to visit me here in the UK in December, for which is is applying for the new Standard Visitor Visa. This replaces the general visitor and family visas.

While she is here in the UK as a visitor with me, she is wondering whether she should take the A1 English language test at a local centre run by Trinity College.

However, the cost of this test is quite high and when she passes the speaking and listening test here in the UK in December, the certificate she gets only lasts for 2 years.

Why I am asking this. I may want my Moldovan wife to live in the UK with me in the UK in the next 5 years, I am not sure when exactly. She would want to settle in the UK with me. However, will it be better in this situation for her to take this A1 test if and when we are ready for her to live with me in the UK (ie when we know for sure she is coming here permanently)?

Presently, she lives in Moldova and I see her there while being resident most of the year in the UK and having my primary home in the UK.

Or is it better to take this test while she visits me in December on a visitor basis, to save time later? Trinity say they have no problem with her taking the test on a visitor visa basis for this purpose.

I understand that if she later wants to apply for the former family visa to live here with me, she needs to have FIRST passed the A1 test to get into the UK with the former family visa (now the Standard Visitor Visa). So if she does not take the A1 test in December, presumably the only way in the future she could take the test (to get the former family visa) is after she comes here on another visitor visa basis?

Thank you.

Your last paragraph is concerning, as you appear to be under the misapprehension that your wife can settle in the UK on a visitor visa. She would have to apply for a Spouse Settlement visa. https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview
She would be unable to switch from visitor to any other visa category from within the UK. At present you would have to show minimum earnings of £18,600 p.a although if you don't intend to apply for five years or so, the requirements are very likely to change and may have tougher conditions.
Currently the visa fee is £956 + £600 NHS surcharge for the first 2.5 year probationary period. Visa fees tend to increase annually and the route to permanent settlement is 5 years at present.
The language test requirements may well change again, so you might want to weigh up the convenience of your wife taking the A1 test now while she is in the UK with the cost of two fees if she has to re-take a test in the future.

No you have it wrong. She just wants, using a visitor visa, to see where I live before deciding if she is happy applying to come here under the family visa system. To see if she will be happy living here. In this case, while she is seeing how nice the UK is, she wants to take the A2 test run by Trinity College. This will save time (like the A1 test) when she decides if she likes the UK enough to apply for the family visa in Moldova.

While you are there. I can get a residency permit to visit her in Moldova whenever I please. I can for example only go to Moldova 1 week in a year or 50 weeks in a year, it makes no difference to the government. The permit simply allows me to go there whenever I wish. Moldovan citizenship is a completely different matter.

Now my wife and I plan to run a small business next year in Moldova. However, my health is not too great and I might at some stage need to return to the UK permanently because of my health. Who knows?

At any rate, if I have to return, my wife will expect to accompany me (using the family visa system). However we are concerned that if this is the situation, and she lives with me here, she can then only return to Moldova up to 90 days in a year.

In this situation, our business for example in Moldova might be negatively affected. And she also has family over there who she might need to return to support, at least temporarily. Again, who can say?

So if she can only return to Moldova for 90 day maximum, this might be a practical problem for both of us. Or have I understood the system incorrectly?

Frankly, she is not interested in getting UK citizenship anyhow, but it seems that the UK immigration system (unlike that in Moldova) locks people into the citizenship route (and into this limiting 90 days rule) regardless of the circumstances of specific people. Or have I got this back to front please, and her residence in the UK does not mean she cannot leave the UK for over 90 days in a year?

This is the sentence that confused me "I understand that if she later wants to apply for the former family visa to live here with me". I assumed that you were referring to the 'former Family Visitor visa' which is now the Standard Visitor visa.
You'll be relieved to know that you have misunderstood the absence rules. The 90 days you mention refers to British citizenship which doesn't permit more than 90 absence within the 12 month period before submitting the BC application.
Under the terms of a Spouse Settlement she can travel freely as long as time spent outside of the UK is 'reasonable'. Typically, the Immigration Rules don't stipulate a limit, but holidays, compassionate reasons, visits to family are all acceptable as long as she can show that your relationship is subsisting and her residence is in the UK.
By the way, she is under no obligation to apply for British citizenship at the end of the 5 year period when she is granted permanent residence (ILR) if she chooses not to.

That's a relief and thanks of course.

Yes, the Standard Visitor Visa. She is now in the process of filling the form out. Moldova, where she presently lives, is a country with rather a poor reputation for people leaving there on visas and then working illegally in other countries. So the situation is not easy. I met her online and we married this year in Moldova. I paid for an apartment for us to live in, in Moldova. She is applying to visit me here in the UK, as I said.

We hope next year to start an online marriage service in Moldova featuring ladies in Moldova. Clearly, this service cannot be operated from the UK (since we always need to be in Moldova to recruit more ladies there and to resolve problems). This will mean I have to spend more time there myself in 2016.

I am 64 years old and although I hope my health will stand up, naturally as we get older there is more risk of something serious happening. And Moldova, officially the poorest country in Europe, is simply not up to the job of caring long term for people. This is why I have to consider the possibility of us moving to my home in the UK if necessary. I will keep my UK home for this purpose.

So the situation is that if I need to return for health reasons to the UK, she will want to come here with me. In this case, she needs to complete the Standard Visitor Visa process (the family visa is now part of this visa also). But she is 51 years old and has a lot of family ties in Moldova, which is why she would need to return there when necessary from the UK.

Then it depends if my health in the UK improves. Or not. But to access NHS care, I need to be officially resident in the UK. So far as I know, when she comes to live here with me, she can get the same NHS treatment that I can get.

Can you show me a webpage that goes into this situation I described related to the 90 days rule? Where did you get the information from please?

I was Skyping her yesterday. She wants to visit me, as I said before, in December under the Standard Visa rules. She was originally thinking of taking the A1 English Language test in case she needs to apply for the former family visa at a later date. It saves time and money for her to take it in December.

However, can she instead take the A2 test in the UK test centre? Is this allowed? Or does she have to take the A1 test first? Trinity College run the exams around here.

If she needs to join me in the UK, I imagine her having an A2 certificate will be more useful than her having an A1 certificate, if it is possible for her to take A2 in December.

Best.

You still appear to be confusing what you call the 'former family visitor visa' as a spouse settlement visa. It isn't and has never been permitted for settlement. It was purely a visitor visa.
British Citizenship;
2. You must not have had more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom in the
three year period before making the application (but see the section on
Absences on page 7).
3. You must not have had more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the
12 month period before making the application, (but see the section on
Absences on page 8.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... n_2015.pdf

It's highly unlikely that she'll be granted a visit visa with a spouse already in the UK.