Citizenship querie

Hello all,

Thank you for your time and help on here.
This is my first post.
My wife and I came over via ancestral visa with our child.
We were not actually made aware by the agency we applied that my wife is actually British by decent.
We would like to now "switch" over to my wife applying for her British passport, our child applying for citizenship through MN1 form, and myself to go forward onto a spousal visa. We recently paid £100 to speak to an immigration lawyer who advised this is definitely do-able.
We have been here for the 3 years, living and both working full time.
We do meet all the requirements, I would just like to hear anybody else's point of view on this?
Here's some information below

We were all born in South Africa, my Wifes father and grandparents all British, born in England.
My wife's father was married to her South African mother before her birth.

We have currently been living in the UK on ancestral visas for approximately 3 years and 2 months.

Reasons for the switch are: My wife would be able to get her driving license, we would be able to claim child benifits ect the list goes on. Life would be easier.
I wouldn't mind starting all over to work on the 5 years again before I am eligible to apply for Ilr.

Any thoughts or concerns?

Thanking you,
Ash

Unclear why your wife can't get her driver's license as a South African?? Nothing prevents her from doing this.

Your route to ilr will reset to zero if you apply for a spouse visa and a new 5 year residence route, 2 X 2.5 year visas, before you can apply for ILR.

You will have to meet the English and financial requirements.

You will have to pay the visa fees and IHS again. IHS is increasing in October from £400 per year to £625 per year.

As she is British by descent, she technically should not have been granted an Ancestry visa as she is not subject to immigration control as a British citizen.

Thanks for the reply,
She tried to apply for the provisional license and it said she is not a permanent resident and she could not proceed with the application as far as I am aware.

Yes I do understand it will be reset which I am OK with.

Yes we are able to meet the English and financial requirements

Yes that is the thing, we are not sure why they did not advise us that she is already British by decent when we started the process to move over here...
Would of saved us alot of headaches if we did this there and then.

Do you think this will cause some kind of problem?
I'm not sure what you mean about subject to immigration control?

Thanks

Yes that is the thing, we are not sure why they did not advise us that she is already British by decent when we started the process to move over here...
Would of saved us alot of headaches if we did this there and then.

The information is freely and clearly published on ukvi's website and various internet forums and has been for years. Never rely on an advisor to offer the cheapest route, they lose money then. She could have applied for her passport directly but the likelihood is that you would not have been able to live as a family at the same time as she would have needed evidence of UK income to meet the financial requirements for a spouse/child visa if you did not have substantial levels of savings.

Do you think this will cause some kind of problem?

No issues.

I'm not sure what you mean about subject to immigration control?

A visa is immigration controlled migrant. A British citizen cannot hold a visa as they already have right if abode without restriction.

Thank you for clearing that up, we are still unsure about the agency and my wife is going to contact them to find out why in the world they put us on this route.

Somebody else has posted on another website that we should definitely switch and make right the wrongs as when the time comes to apply for ILR there could be a problem as, like you said, she isnt supposed to hold a british visa. They said this is actually against the law.