Immigrationboards.com

Hi all,

Background:
In 2016 I came to the UK on Tier-2 General. In 2018 I got married (not in the UK) and brought my wife to the UK as a PBS Dependant. I got my ILR in 2021 and citizenship in 2022. I have a child who is also registered as a British Citizen. My wife in the meantime had her PBS Dependant extension visa done since the earlier visa would only cover her until 2021, in line with the expiry of my original Tier-2 visa. Her extension was based on my (expired) Tier-2 visa which I held just before settlement (this is all according to the rules). Her new PBS Dependant expires in 2025, but this year she would be eligible for ILR (5years as PBS Dependant of a Tier-2 General).

Questions:

1) She is a housewife looking after our children and hence doesn't work and has no income. She has a bank account but very little money there. My family is therefore dependent on my income and I'm employed and have sufficient funds. There's a question about being financially able to support herself and her dependants. What should she show for this? Would my bank statements suffice? I'll submit it along with a letter that I look after my family and financially provide for them and would continue to do so. Would that be sufficient?

2) For "degree taught in english", she has a Bachelor's degree and then a Post Graduation Degree (which is thus the highest qualification she holds) from her country of origin. However she is only able to procure the necessary documents needed by Ecctis/UK-NARIC for her Bachelor's degree as she has folks who can easily get that from the university on her behalf. Is that OK or does the ILR Application/Ecctis always want the highest/last degree that was held?

3) Is there a time frame for Ecctis-certification and Life-in-the-UK-test Documents? Could we do both of these several months (almost a year) in advance or should we do it close to the Application time?

4) For staying together ("genuine and subsisting marriage" clause), we have of-course been living together in various places in the UK (as I changed my rental accommodation). When she applies we would have been in the current residence for around 20 months. For every address we stayed since 2019, I have got the council-tax bill in both our names. For the current residence we also have 2 NHS Appointment letters with her name+address and of-course her bank statement. However the only documents that cover for 2years or more are the various council-tax bills. So is just producing the council-tax bills sufficient? If not there isn't much we have, unless we start asking all the NHS GPs she was registered with to write our addresses on their records - which spans England and Scotland. I don't know if they provide such a service.

1) She is a housewife looking after our children and hence doesn't work and has no income. She has a bank account but very little money there. My family is therefore dependent on my income and I'm employed and have sufficient funds. There's a question about being financially able to support herself and her dependants. What should she show for this? Would my bank statements suffice? I'll submit it along with a letter that I look after my family and financially provide for them and would continue to do so. Would that be sufficient?

There is no financial requirement or evidence of such needed for PBS Dependents applying for ILR. Simply answer the questions based on your circumstances.

2) For "degree taught in english", she has a Bachelor's degree and then a Post Graduation Degree (which is thus the highest qualification she holds) from her country of origin. However she is only able to procure the necessary documents needed by Ecctis/UK-NARIC for her Bachelor's degree as she has folks who can easily get that from the university on her behalf. Is that OK or does the ILR Application/Ecctis always want the highest/last degree that was held?

Any degree. Or simply just do the B1 English test.

3) Is there a time frame for Ecctis-certification and Life-in-the-UK-test Documents? Could we do both of these several months (almost a year) in advance or should we do it close to the Application time?

You are overthinking. LIUK does not expire. English requirement, ideally not older than 2 years if doing the B1 test.

4) For staying together ("genuine and subsisting marriage" clause), we have of-course been living together in various places in the UK (as I changed my rental accommodation). When she applies we would have been in the current residence for around 20 months. For every address we stayed since 2019, I have got the council-tax bill in both our names. For the current residence we also have 2 NHS Appointment letters with her name+address and of-course her bank statement. However the only documents that cover for 2years or more are the various council-tax bills. So is just producing the council-tax bills sufficient? If not there isn't much we have, unless we start asking all the NHS GPs she was registered with to write our addresses on their records - which spans England and Scotland. I don't know if they provide such a service.

Any correspondence can be used, as in anything.

Thanks @CR001 - as usual, always indebted to you for your advice!