ILR following Tier 2 and Dependent extension

[adnirb]

Hi there,

I’ve now completed five years as a Tier 2 sponsored migrant and am beginning to prepare the ILR application process. My husband, who is my dependent, joined me later and is still two years short of completing the 5 year period; and if I’ve understood rightly, we can extend his current visa one more time until he’s eligible for ILR in his own right.

We’re planning to apply in person at a PEO hat I’m a bit confused about is whether it’s okay for us to book our appointments together on the same day, or slightly apart on the same day as I’ve seen suggested elsewhere on this thread. The other thing I’m not sure about is whether the maintenance requirement of £630 for the last three months would be applicable in my husband's case. For his last renewal, he was exempt from the requirement as we were applying together and it was a matter of extending visas for the both of us. Would it be the same in this instance, or would the fact that I’m applying for a separate visa be a factor? Judging by Clause 65 in the policy guidance for PBS Dependents he would still be exempt as I wasn’t required to show evidence of maintenance when I last applied to renew my current visa; but I’m not sure I’ve interpreted this correctly,

65. If you apply separately from the main applicant you will need to have the necessary funds to meet the maintenance requirement or have a written undertaking from an A-rated Sponsor, unless the main applicant already had leave in a Tier 2 category and when applying for their most recent period of Tier 2 leave was not required to show evidence of satisfying maintenance requirements.

Additionally, as my husband needs to have completed 5 years as a PBS dependent before qualifying for ILR, will the cohabitation documents needed at the time of his application need to date back over the last five years, or would it just be needed for the previous two years preceding the application?

It would be really great if anyone could shed some light on these queries.

[CR001]

Hi there,

I’ve now completed five years as a Tier 2 sponsored migrant and am beginning to prepare the ILR application process. My husband, who is my dependent, joined me later and is still two years short of completing the 5 year period; and if I’ve understood rightly, we can extend his current visa one more time until he’s eligible for ILR in his own right. Yes, he can apply for a Tier 2 General dependent extension which will be for 3 years.

We’re planning to apply in person at a PEO hat I’m a bit confused about is whether it’s okay for us to book our appointments together on the same day, or slightly apart on the same day as I’ve seen suggested elsewhere on this thread. The other thing I’m not sure about is whether the maintenance requirement of £630 for the last three months would be applicable in my husband's case. For his last renewal, he was exempt from the requirement as we were applying together and it was a matter of extending visas for the both of us. Would it be the same in this instance, or would the fact that I’m applying for a separate visa be a factor? Judging by Clause 65 in the policy guidance for PBS Dependents he would still be exempt as I wasn’t required to show evidence of maintenance when I last applied to renew my current visa; but I’m not sure I’ve interpreted this correctly,

65. If you apply separately from the main applicant you will need to have the necessary funds to meet the maintenance requirement or have a written undertaking from an A-rated Sponsor, unless the main applicant already had leave in a Tier 2 category and when applying for their most recent period of Tier 2 leave was not required to show evidence of satisfying maintenance requirements.
You will need to show maintenance for him as you are will no longer be on tier 2 and therefore no longer 'sponsored by your employer'. You can book appointments for the same day but they must be separate appointments, his appointment a couple of hours after yours.

Additionally, as my husband needs to have completed 5 years as a PBS dependent before qualifying for ILR, will the cohabitation documents needed at the time of his application need to date back over the last five years, or would it just be needed for the previous two years preceding the application? Only two years preceding the date of extension application.

It would be really great if anyone could shed some light on these queries.

[adnirb]

Thanks so much for the quick response! I do have one more question regarding the maintenance funds; I have two bank accounts, a current one which is my main account, and a savings account, both with the same bank. Can I use the statement from the savings account as proof of maintenance? My current account hasn't held £630 consistently for the last few months, so I'd have to wait another three months before I could use those statements for the application, but my savings account has sufficient funds. The statement would be an electronic statement stamped by the bank on each page. I do know though, that the UKVI are very particular about documentation of this sort.

[CR001]

Yes, savings account is fine.

[adnirb]

Hi CR001,

Thanks again for clarifying. Apologies but I think I may not have been entirely clear when asking about the cohabitation documents - just to confirm, I wanted to check how many years worth of evidence my husband would have to provide when he applies for ILR, once he is eligible. Will he need to provide cohabitation documents for extending his current visa as well, in additionl to the maintenance? And if so, is there a minimum amount of documents as in the case of the ILR application?

[CR001]

2 years if required.

[adnirb]

Hi CR001,

Thank you, this is very useful. If we are to book our appointments on the same day, I imagine there would be some documents which we would both have to submit as part of our individual applications such as my passport and BRP, and possibly original bank statements or similar. Would you have any advice on how to deal with this if our applications are going to be processed separately? Would I need to flag this up at the time when I hand in in my papers?

[CR001]

You can book appointments for the same day but they must be separate appointments, his appointment a couple of hours after yours.

I already answered your question in an earlier post.