Settling in the UK

[salman k]

i my wife is a British national and was born in uk, we have been married for 8 years and have 2 children aged 6 and 5, both were born in pakistan and have british passports, we had gotten married in uk while i was on student visa( hve done my undergraduate and masters degree from UK)and than moved bak to pakistan where we hve recided for all this time, children going to school here as well.

With the bad law and order situation in Pakistan, my wife wants to move back to the UK, i hold a valid visit visa 4 the UK and have 9 months remaining on it. the question being that can we move back to the UK and apply for my settlement visa from within UK, i understand that for husband and wife having lived together fro over 4 years, one can get an Indefinite visa rather than @ year visit visa. The requirement of life in the UK test has also been fulfilled by myself as i cleared it last year as well.

The main question being that can i apply and change my visit visa to resident one while being in UK, as with young children they cannot stay without the father if i apply from Pakistan, also my wife wants to go ASAP.
Please reply whoever can as we need to decide at the earliest, any help would be highly appreciated.

[Lucapooka]

Even though you may have long-term visit visa it permits entry for only six months per entry. So, the no-switching rules apply equally to your circumstances.

[salman k]

Appreciate the prompt reply, i understand that the law states that the visa needs to be applied in your home country rather than within UK, but what i have been advised that in my case where the children are quite young, than under humanitarian law would allow me to apply from within UK...as the children cannot live without their father.... please advise on your thoughts....

[Lucapooka]

If you apply from inside the UK citing your rights to a family life it would be an an application outside the normal scope of the immigration rules. If granted this would be a period of Discretionary leave for three years that would require a mandatory extension for a further three years before you became eligible for ILR.

However, this is purely academic theory, as you have already stated that all your family are currently living in Pakistan and you have no established family life in the UK. It's clear that you could apply from PK now while your children are with you and therefore need not be apart while you await the outcome of the visa application.

[salman k]

Appreciate your response, with the deteriorating law and order situation in Pakistan my wife wants to go straight away, also the process of applying from here can be tricky and long, also my wife is confident of getting a decent job in the UK, thus would want to go at the earliest..i was advised that while in the UK i would be granted a visa on humanitarian grounds(of being with family) whereas applying in Pakistan i could be refused as well

The 3 year discretionary visa that you have stated, how long does it take to process while applying from within UK, . also once i get this visa i can work? and how to go about applying for this visa...........awaiting response.....

[salman k]

i guess i did make the mistake of putting multiple posts, sorry for any inconvenience caused, and i did ask the question but there were still a few questions on my mind that i wanted to clarify......

The 3 year discretionary visa that you have stated, how long does it take to process while applying from within UK, . also once i get this visa i can work? and how to go about applying for this visa...........awaiting response..

[Lucapooka]

Every case is different and yours appears to be very weak as your family would have only just arrived in the UK rather than having an established life there. You should really take professional advice on this.