PBS Dependent Renewal - Spouse on PBS employed overseas

[kag2384]

Hello,

My husband and I have a very unique situation and would appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on this issue. I am preparing to apply for my ILR from a Tier 2 General visa 5 year route and my husband will have to renew his PBS dependent visa associated with me when his expires in a year.

For background, I am an American citizen and my husband is an Indian citizen. We met whilst living in Shanghai years ago. Post Shanghai, I moved to London and he moved to Frankfurt due to job opportunities available within our respective fields. We have maintained a long distance relationship for years, flying back and forth every weekend. We got married last year and he obtained a PBS dependent visa under my Tier 2 G. However he has not found the right position yet in the UK (he has a very niche skill set in pharma...and thank you Brexit) and has been very successful in his current job in Frankfurt. Thus, he has remained employed in Germany. We are both high earners (>£250k combined annual income) and are quite senior in our respective fields so we have decided that we would not sacrifice our careers in order to live together full time and we can easily afford the travel between London and Frankfurt on a weekly basis, which we proved to the Home Office in our first PBS application.

We would assume this could be easily understood as other couples in higher level positions we know manage similar arrangements. However, I have recently come to understand two things 1) upon renewal of the PBS dependent visa, we must prove that we live full time together in the UK and intend to do so indefinitely. Essentially the Home Office needs to see that I brought my husband here permanently with me 2) my husband must make the 180 day rule in five years on the PBS dependent and this visa is no longer renewable. We thought the only change to this visa was the 180 day rule for ILR but I'm being told that since he did not make 180 days in his first year, he will have to leave the UK after 5 years on this visa

Looking for support:
1) Is the Home Office likely to deny my husband's spousal renewal and rule our case to be one in which my husband does not intend to live in the UK permanently with me or discount the validity of our marriage because he holds a senior, high paying role in Germany since he cannot find the appropriate role to date in the UK? He would live here permanently if he could find the right role at the right salary and we intend to make this our home. But my concern is that while we have a life here in the UK that we can prove to the Home Office (own a house, spend most weekends here rather than me going to Germany, he sometimes works from the UK for a week at a time, evidence of him speaking to headhunters to look for a role here) he has had to obtain permanent residence in Germany and he must rent out a permanent flat there because he is an Indian citizen and requires a visa / registered flat to work in Germany. Does anyone have a view on how the Home Office will respond to our situation? Do we even have a chance of getting his visa renewed if he doesn't live here full time with me?
2) If we have a chance of the gov accepting our situation...Since he did not make his 180 days in his first year on his PBS dependent visa, can he renew his visa on a FLR(m) to reset the ILR path? We understand at that point he would have to arrange to spend 180 days per year in the UK on a continuous basis, but just wondering if this is an option and if there is any cooling off period between a PBS Tier 2 dependent and a FLR(m)

If anyone has any views or similar experiences, it would be immensely helpful to hear your thoughts, although I suspect we need a proper lawyer.

Many thanks,
Kristin