spouse visiting me in the UK prior to making a spouse visa application from her home country

Hello,

I tried the search function, but couldn't find a response to my query.

I am British and my wife is South Korean. We have been married for over 5 years, and for the entire period of our marriage we have lived in South Korea.
We now want to relocate to the UK. Is it possible for my wife to do a short term ESOL course on either a 6 month or 11 month tier 4 study visa, and then apply for a spouse visa while she is studying in the UK?
My hope is that my wife can switch visa without having to return to her home country to apply.
I think it should be possible so long as her spouse visa can be processed and approved before her study visa expires - is that correct?

Note, I am aware of the earning/savings and other document that are required to apply for a spouse visa.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Switching to another visa category from within the UK isn't permitted on a short-term study visa.

Charriere wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:19 am

Is it possible for my wife to do a short term ESOL course on either a 6 month or 11 month tier 4 study visa, and then apply for a spouse visa while she is studying in the UK?

That sounds like a Short-Term Study visa, not a Tier 4 visa. In that case, she cannot switch to spouse.

But either way, I don't understand the point of applying for a study visa at all, and an entry clearance officer may well doubt that she is a genuine student, and suspect that she is just using a study route to move to the UK with her husband -- which does indeed seem to be what she is planning. If you are relocating to the UK, she needs to apply for a spouse visa before she travels to the UK.

See https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

Thanks for the replies.
The purpose of going for a study visa first was to prevent my family from being broken up for 6 months or more.

Hello,

My wife plans to make a spouse visa application in mid-July this year. We both currently reside in South Korea.
I will return to the UK in April. To avoid us having to be separated for a long period, is it okay for her to join me for a couple of months on a tourist visa, prior to returning to South Korea to make the spouse visa application?
(Note, we will apply for the visa using the savings route - and currently the money has only been deposited for 3 months - ie, we need to wait another 3 months before we can apply).

South Koreans have 6 month visa-free access to visit the UK as a tourist, so I don't see any issue with this, do you agree?

Really appreciate the work of contributors here.

Thanks in advance.