Spouse visa extension - is the system perverse?

[WetJeans]

Hi all,

I'm British, wife is non-EU. Wife is due to extend her spouse visa next month, but circumstances have changed quite significantly in the last 9 months and from what I can tell of the system, it just seems utterly perverse.

We have a disabled child with very complex needs that requires caring both day and night. We share the caring needs. I used to work and met financial requirement for initial visa, but was made redundant last year as the coronavirus crisis started. Instead of claiming job seekers allowance, it made sense for me to declare myself my disabled child's full-time carer (my child was shielding, i didn't want to leave the home unnecessarily etc...) - the home schooling aspect itself was just simply too much for my wife alone. Hence for the last 9 months we have survived on Universal Credit (obviously without my wife directly receiving benefits - but she is stated as a carer for my child and hence not obliged to seek work) and Disability Living Allowance. I have continued to seek employment, but the current job climate isn't conducive to this at the moment it seems.

With spiralling costs and debt, I'm not actually even sure if I can gather together the money needed. We simply haven't the available funds and I'm not sure how much more I can borrow from bank to pay for extension of spouse visa. The system just seems utterly perverse. I understand that given my caring status, that the financial requirements for obtaining a spouse visa extension might be relaxed, but this still doesn't help me to pay the costs of the visa extension and the NHS surcharge. Is there something that I'm missing? From all that I've seen, my only recourse is to "scrounge" money from charities which makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable and quite honestly quite depressed about myself and the situation. How did it come to this? A voice of insanity in my head just keeps saying "don't bother applying for the visa", but I keep having to remind myself that this line will never end well.

Any help or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[CR001]

You can change visa route to the 10 year FLR FP partner/child route and ask for a fee waiver. IHS is still payable and a fee waiver of the visa fee is not guaranteed either.

This will reset your spouse clock for ILR and out them on a 4 X 2.5 year visa route.