ILR Dependent spouse discretionary absence due to covid

[rubyracer2]

Dear gurus,

My wife entered the UK in 2018 October and would normally be eligible for ILR on 2023 October. However hre 5 year continuous residency was broken when she left for pregnancy to India in July 2019. However we were planning for her to return in April 2020. Due to covid, this wasnt possible and she finally re-entered the UK in October 2020. She had valid leave to remain throughout and renewed the visa in April 2022 (Till May 2025)

Have people asked for discretionary consideration to ignore absences due to covid? Does the Home office consider these requests?

Many thanks in advance

[zimba]

I assume your spouse is under the skilled worker dependant route. This is up to the UKVI. Your spouse had already broken her continuous residence by the end of 2019 when there was no issue with the pandemic. The pandemic issues started in March 2020. That is close to 9 months after she left the UK. How is that related to the pandemic ??

[rubyracer2]

I assume your spouse is under the skilled worker dependant route. This is up to the UKVI. Your spouse had already broken her continuous residence by the end of 2019 when there was no issue with the pandemic. The pandemic issues started in March 2020. That is close to 9 months after she left the UK. How is that related to the pandemic ??

Thanks Zimba for you reply. Yes, my spouse's continuous residence was broken before the pandemic. So I am going to apply for their ILR only in 2025, not October 2023 when the 5 year period completes.

However the pandemic caused the return date to be delayed by 6 months (April 2020- October 2020). I was wondering if I can can apply 6 months earlier in 2025 asking Home Office to ignore the absence on a discretionary basis as it was caused due to covid

[Ticktack]

I assume your spouse is under the skilled worker dependant route. This is up to the UKVI. Your spouse had already broken her continuous residence by the end of 2019 when there was no issue with the pandemic. The pandemic issues started in March 2020. That is close to 9 months after she left the UK. How is that related to the pandemic ??

Thanks Zimba for you reply. Yes, my spouse's continuous residence was broken before the pandemic. So I am going to apply for their ILR only in 2025, not October 2023 when the 5 year period completes.

However the pandemic caused the return date to be delayed by 6 months (April 2020- October 2020). I was wondering if I can can apply 6 months earlier in 2025 asking Home Office to ignore the absence on a discretionary basis as it was caused due to covid

You've been advised that it wouldn't work. You can gamble with it if you like. Quite a lot of money to throwaway.
Your absence would not be looked at in bits and bobs, it would be looked at in summation.

You got caught out in the pandemic because you've been out there for too long already. It's plain as day.

[zimba]

I assume your spouse is under the skilled worker dependant route. This is up to the UKVI. Your spouse had already broken her continuous residence by the end of 2019 when there was no issue with the pandemic. The pandemic issues started in March 2020. That is close to 9 months after she left the UK. How is that related to the pandemic ??

Thanks Zimba for you reply. Yes, my spouse's continuous residence was broken before the pandemic. So I am going to apply for their ILR only in 2025, not October 2023 when the 5 year period completes.

However the pandemic caused the return date to be delayed by 6 months (April 2020- October 2020). I was wondering if I can can apply 6 months earlier in 2025 asking Home Office to ignore the absence on a discretionary basis as it was caused due to covid

You may apply earlier as she held a valid visa. You simply need to make sure the absence do not go above 180 days

[rubyracer2]

Thanks all, based on your posts, I'll wait till my spouse qualifies without depending on discretion. The reason I wanted to apply a few months earlier is that her qualification period will be very close to her visa expiry date. If the ILR application is rejected for any reason, they wont have valid leave to remain and I will have to quickly make another application