Confused: Remain in the UK with family - Exceptions

Hi all,

I am going to apply for the FLR(M) visa as the spouse of a british citizen. My wife just got her British Citizen last year, 2016. My wife was on Tier 2 (General) visa, then she got her ILR and finally became a British Citizen.

I am confused about some texts in the Exceptions page on this link https://www.gov.uk/remain-in-uk-family/exceptions

Your partner originally had a temporary visa as a worker
If your partner was in the UK on a temporary visa before settling or becoming a British citizen, you may have to apply as a ‘dependant’ (partner) in their original visa category.

Find out how to apply as a ‘dependant’ (partner or child under 18) if your partner or parent settled as someone with a:

Tier 1 (General) visa
Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa
Tier 1 (Investor) visa
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa
Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa
Tier 2 (General) skilled worker visa
Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) visa
Tier 2 (Sportsperson) visa
Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) visa
Tier 5 (Temporary Worker – International Agreement) visa

Does it mean that I cannot use the FLR (M) if my wife had been on the above visa types?

I am currently on Tier 2 (General) visa on my own and has never become the dependent of my wife. We were on separate visas all the time.

This is the first time I am going to apply the FLR(M) visa as the spouse.

Could you please help me to explain about this? Actually, I was going to apply FLR(M) next week and being paranoid at this time. I just found out this text and feel really shocked.

If you had been a dependent of your spouse while she was on T2G, you could have continued down the same route until your ILR.

However, if you have not been a dependent of your spouse while she was on the T2G visa, then the only alternate is the FLR(M).

Be aware that the FLR(M) resets your ILR clock to zero and that you will need a further 5 years from the date of grant of your FLR(M) to qualify for ILR. That is to say that the time you spent on Tier 2 G yourself will not count.

You may be better off trying to extend your T2G.