Dependent ILR extension

Dear Sir/Madam
My wife applied ILR application in October 2019 and it was kept on hold with the reason that she hasn’t finished 5 years as dependent. This situation is creating issues in her career....

As a background, my wife was granted ‘partner (tier 1)’ visa in August 2014 and she came to Uk on 04 September 2014. As I have received my British citizenship in September 2016 , she had to extend her dependent visa ( in July 2017) as British spouse and received an extension till 06 April 2020 with a title on BRP as‘spouse/partner leave to remain’.

But her recent application for ILR in October 2019 was kept on hold with reason mentioning that she hasn’t finished her 5 years under ‘spouse/partner leave to remain. She made efforts to explain the case worker that she was in UK for 5 years on dependent visa even titles of visas are different due to my citizenship change. But Case worker is still asking my wife to extend the visa as dependent.

So could anyone kindly explain if my wife is currently eligible for ILR or she should apply for extension as dependent once again . If she is eligible for ILR, what documentation should She submit to convince the case worker for further proceedings.. currently application is on hold..

Your advice is very much appreciated

Many thanks in advance...

She cannot combine PBS dependent time with FLR m spouse visa time to make up 5 years. You are misunderstaning the rules, it is 5 years as FLR m spouse visa OR 5 years as a PBS dependent. Not just a combination of both to make up 5 years residence.

She doesn't qualify for ilr yet, she needs 5 years a a for m spouse visa holder, as the rules clearly state.

If you got ilr based on 5 years tier 1, there was no reason for her to switch to FLR m spouse visa. She could have simply continued extending her pbs dependent visa till she qualified for ilr. By switching to FLR m, her ilr clock was reset to zero.

However if you got ilr based on 10 years long residence, then she only had the option to switch to FLR m.