Immigrationboards.com

Hello guys,

My wife and I came to the UK in 2018 on Student visa. We switched to the Skilled Worker Visa in 2022. I switched again to the Global Talent visa early this year (but my wife is still on Skilled Worker dependent visa which is valid until mid 2027). I’m eligible to apply for ILR this week, but my question is about my wife. Can we apply for her as well considering that:
1. She’s still on the Skilled Worker dependent visa (not GT dependent visa), and
2. The time she spent on Skilled Worker dependent visa is less than 5 years, but overall with Student dependent visa it’s more than 5 years (since 2018).

Many thanks

The rules for the work related routes (like GTV route) do NOT care about the immigration route of the dependant. They just need you to have been the main applicant's dependant partner for a total of 5 years. Hence, any time spent under any dependant route (including the family route) counts.

See my advice and ILR success in a similar case here: https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 2#p2166414

Many thanks, zimba, for your reply. So, my main concern is when I switched my Visa from Skilled Worker to GTV, we didn’t change my wife’s visa, and she stayed on the Skilled Worker dependent visa. When I checked the gov website, the first eligibility criteria is: “they have permission to be in the UK as your partner (as a ‘dependant’ on your tier 1 visa)”. As she’s not a dependent on my tier 1 visa (but Skilled worker dependent visa), I thought maybe we didn’t meet this condition. So, you mean it’s not the case and her current visa isn’t important?

The immigration rules do NOT care about the routes of the dependants at all, so your concerns have no basis in the rules. The requirement is simply 5 years as your dependant and the route does NOT matter at all. Study the rules/links and the advice I provided above.