Dependant Partner visa extension - SKill Worker route

Hi,
My wife needs only 4 months to be eligible for ILR. We applied for spouse visa extension. She met financial requirement, but she could not take English test before application submission, however we have a child born in UK. So, how long processing time take? Still 8 weeks? We submitted application on 16th Jan 2025, nearly 8 weeks ago.(today is 15th March)
My wife passed English test, but is it possible to submit it to home office and ask them to add this document to her application?

An extension, if granted, is for 2.5 years.

What English test did she used before? What is her full immigration history?

Failing to meet the English requirement means she will likely be put on the 10 year FLR(FP) route.

Thanks for reply.
My wife came to UK as dependant partner of Tier 2 skill worker on June 2020 with B1 English test. Since I have been british, she applied for visa extension to complete 5 years, then apply ILR on June 2025. But she did not submiy English lang test because of having a baby born in UK as british. She applied for extension on Jan 2025.
Then, she took her English test In Feb 2025 and got the certification. I am wondering, will she get email/letter from Home Office to send her English test for decision? Or she will automatically go to 10year route? Because 10 years route is very hard decision just because of a missing document. Or is it possible to contact Home Office and send her English test result?

My wife came to UK as dependant partner of Tier 2 skill worker on June 2020 with B1 English test.

This visa route has NO English requirement and the test would simply have been diregarded.

she applied for visa extension to complete 5 years,

She applied for extension on Jan 2025.

Which visa extension category did she apply an extension for, skilled worker dependent or something else? There are many different routes and all have different rules. Unless you can give absolutely clear details of what visa categories have been applied for, not sure how we can offer accurate advice.

But she did not submiy English lang test because of having a baby born in UK as british

Having a British baby does not exempt a person from meeting the requirments of any visa.

I tried to extend her visa via same dependant partner route, but I could not, because my COS is no longer valid (because I am on British) and I had only one solution, to extend her visa via Family Route. In the application, I mentioned that she came from "Dependant Partner leave to remain" for extension. However, home office has the full immigration histroy of my wife, isn't it?

Do you think, just because of a minor mistake, will they more likely ask us to submit English test? Or other decision?

You should have extended as skilled worker dependent and put the last CoS details before your ILR in the form. That is the normal process. It would have been a 3 year extension.

You are still not listed the full immigration history with dates as asked for.

If you switched her visa category to spouse of dependent and she does not meet the English requirement, which is mandatory, she will likely be put on the 10 year FLR(FP) visa route.

When does or did the last dependent visa expire?

Her dependant visa expired on 2nd March 2025, 13 days ago. On the dependant skill worker form, it asked me my COS expiry date, since it was on 2022, the application did not go through and it asks me the valid date, not expired date. That was the reason I could not do it, and I did Family route visa as I am now british.


What do you suggest now? Please advice, it seems we are in a big trouble.

I just applied for dependant visa extension via skill worker route, the same route as she was. However, it asked me my Sponsorship expired date, but it actually expired 3 years ago. So, I entered a random date until Sept 2025 for 6 month extensions of my wife's visa. Then, I attached a cover letter to ask home office to withdrawn my first application which was a wrong application.
But, we get one more challenge, we applied 2nd application 12 days after my wife's visa expiry!!! Since we were waiting for decison on 1st application which was wrong!!! What happen in this case? Thanks

Hi Channel,
My wife is currently on "Dependant Partnet" of SKill Worker (Tier 2 General) and she needs 4 months extension to be eligibile for 5-year ILR route. I (her husband) have been british from Sept 2022. So, we submitted the "Dependant Partnet" application last week and they said it takes 8 weeks for processing. at the time of submission, they did not ask any document, neither biometric nor additional documents/proofs. Is it good news?

we receive this email today from home office:

Thank you for your application for permission to stay in the UK.

Although we would normally decide your application within 8 weeks from the date your biometrics were submitted, unfortunately this is not going to be possible in your case.

The UK Decision Making Centre is currently assessing the application, but we are unable to conclude the application currently as we require additional action from yourself.

You have not paid the required amount for the Immigration Health Surcharge.

You will receive a separate email with the details on how much to pay and how to pay.

Please note, as we have requested additional information for us to conclude your application, it may not be possible to make a decision within service standard in this instance.

Kind Regards,

UKVI Decision Making Centre

- we paid IHS as calculated online, why they asked for this? this is vague to us.
- how long normally take for Home Office to send us additional email for extra IHS payement?
- and most important: how long decision-making will take longer on our application, as they said they cannot process within 8 weeks, is it like 2-4 additional weeks?

How much IHS did you pay?

A Skilled Worker dependent visa is for 3 years if the main visa holder has ILR. You cannot choose less time and must pay the correct fees.

We asked for 6 months extension in the application and we paid 517.50 GBP for IHS.

I came to UK with Skill worker visa on 2016 and I got my ILR on 2021 and now I am british (from 2022), but my wife needs to extend her depedant visa to stay in a same route to be eligible for 5-years ILR. Is it? that is the reason we applied for 6 months extension on a same route as she is.

The immigration rules state dependents will get a 3 year extension, there is no doscretion on this. You cannot choose a lesser time because it suits you.

If you don't pay the IHS for 3 years, you risk a refusal.

Thanks for your advice.

I believe, the good news is that, home office did come with refusal decision, because they asked us for full IHS payement. As I shared on above, home office is going to send me an another email to pay remained IHS, and then make a decision.

My question is that, how long it will take for home office to process our application? as they said they cannot do it in the standard timeframe as 8 weeks. your advice and idea is greatly appreciated.