Spouse visa about to run out, what next?

[sreeni]

Hi John,
its me again I have a few questions for you. My wife and baby son are currently on holiday in india, we went to india last november and I came back to the uk after 2 weeks due to work but she stayed there. I am going back in March to bring them back to the uk again on the 1st of April. Her spouse visa runs out on April 13, now I cant quite remember wether to apply for ILR or FLR, (I am british she is indian, we have been married since december 2004 and she came to the uk in June 2004. I was planning to send the ILR/FLR on the 12th April as I seem to recall that was the best way for her to avoid getting an extension on her spouse visa rather than ILR/FLR. Also will the length of their holiday in india have any bearing on wether she gets the ILR/FLR?

I have been reading some of the other posts and one mentions about applying before or after 1st April as the rules are changing. any help regards what these are?

Our baby son who is british and has a british passport will be 1 yr old in April 17th will this have any bearing on what we should apply for next?

one last question, i tried to get an OCI visa fom the HCI in london when I went to paddington for a work related trip but there wasnt enough time and it was proving more of a hassle and a longer line of people waiting than getting a 5yrvisa so got a 5 yr visa instead, is it possible to get the OCI visa in india?

[John]

sreeni, it sounds like that your wife currently has a 2-year spouse visa, and thus needs to apply for ILR, or something, prior to the expiry of that visa.

I am going to be blunt ... arriving back in the UK on 1st April is extremely bad news! Is it possible to change the flight, so that she is back in the UK by say Friday 30th March? If so, do make that change!

As you hint ... the change of legislation coming into effect on 2nd April .... affecting ILR applications made on or after 02.04.07 ... need to be accompanied by a pass certificate from the Citizenship Test. Let me guess sreeni, your wife has not even started to study for that test, let alone pass it? So if the application for the new visa is made on or after 02.04.07, in the absence of a pass certificate from the Citizenship Test, all she can do is to apply for a further 2-year time limited visa.

If she does arrive back in the UK on say Friday 30th March, and then the ILR application is posted .... Special Delivery ... on say Saturday 31st March ... that is fine ... she beats the new regulation. For visa applications (as distinct from Citizenship applications) it is the date of posting that counts as the date of application. And you will be posting on 31/03 .... and can prove it. And yes, IND do retain the envelopes!

Just a final thought ... absolutely not ideal .... if impossible to change the flight ... what time of day does the flight arrive in the UK? Especially if in the early morning ... get the application posted on Sunday 1st April ... into a postbox having a Sunday collection .... obviously before the collection time. In this part of the UK that means a postbox situated outside a post office, or better (because later collection) outside a main sorting office. If posted on Sunday 1st April, clearly not possible to get it sent Special Delivery or even Recorded Delivery .... but at least it will get a postmark of 01/04 and thus beat the new regulations.

But if plane landing in the evening on 01/04 then that ploy cannot work.

OCI in India? Sorry, I have not got a clue. Hopefully someone else can answer that question.

[sreeni]

Hi john
unfortunatelymy wife wont arrive till 1pm on the 1st this will probably be too late, I will arrive at 10.40 though as we are traveeling on diferent flights but, I am thinking do she herself have to fill in the forms?cant I fill them in for her here before I go? Also the form is the SET(M) form i think.

I suppose maybe if she has to sign the forms we could fill in the forms whilst in india and send them with any relatives who maybe going back to the UK before we return and ask them to post it straight away( not possible i suppose if the pasport has to be sent also )

Also John we are not loking to make my wife a british citizen, but I want to avoid her having to pay every 2 yrs to get a visa. We want my wife to stay an indian citizen as we own property and land in india, and if she were to become british our rights over them would dimnish compared to local residents. Long term we want to keep the option of moving to india when older, which i think would be easier if she retained indian citizenship.

I have looked at this Citizenship test study guide and the practie questions in there i couldnt answer myself :D:D it means i would have study long & hard to pass it

[John]

sreeni, the form can be pre-filled, that is not the problem. The problem is ensuring that the application is posted on 01.04.07! And not a day later.

If I were you I would find out where my nearest sorting office is (if not already known) and go there and read the time of the latest collection from the box outside the sorting office (unless you happen to know that already).

Remember we are talking about a Sunday here. Outside a sorting office I would expect the latest (possibly only) collection to be about 6.00.pm, but that no doubt varies from one sorting office to the next. You do need to check.

Noted that your wife does not intend to go for British Citizenship. But for ILR applications made on or after 02.04.07 it is necessary to supply a pass certificate from the Citizenship Test ... even though there is no intention to later apply for British Citizenship.

[sreeni]

Hi John,
It seems My wife will not be coming on the earlier flight but that her ticketis onthe correct day but on the afternoon flight so that she can come back with our uncle and his family who are also returning the same day. This means she will come back about 7pm our time . I will check the last collection outside the sorting office though. Also I have a lot of relatives who work in the post office sorting office itself in Preston so maybe can get one of them to take it for me even after the last collection time.

But as a fallback I have got a copy of the British Citizenship Study guide book from a friend who passed recently and will take it with me when i go to india march 18th so that my wife can study for it
and hopefully i can book a test for her just before april 13th so that she can take the test as soon as she gets back and then send off the application striaght away(assuming she passes) - if not it isnt the end of the world i suppose just means waiting another 2 years.

I have looked on some websites selling a interactive cd ( wife hates studying but likes quiz type learning on the pc) for the citizenship test and it says the test will be different and harder after april 2nd is this true?

[John]

I have a lot of relatives who work in the post office sorting office itself in Preston so maybe can get one of them to take it for me even after the last collection time.

As long as that ensures a postmark on the letter of 01.04.07!

As you say, if all that fails, she will just need to study for and pass the Citizenship Test.

[Marie B]

I have looked on some websites selling a interactive cd ( wife hates studying but likes quiz type learning on the pc) for the citizenship test and it says the test will be different and harder after april 2nd is this true?

The citizenship test will be different after the 2nd April, a revised book (second edition) should be available in shops now, if your wife is taking the test after 2nd April you have to make sure she studies the second edition. The test as it stands at the moment is based on chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the handbook. The new test will be based on chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the new handbook, so perhaps it is more difficult as you have to study more but according to the HO information the new edition is easier to understand.

You should also note that new application forms are being produced for applications for settlement after the 2nd April, these will be available from the beginning of March. A consultation on the fee is also currently underway and if the HO decide to increase the cost of applying this will also be introduced from 2nd April.

To download the information published by the HO on the new rules for applying for settlement go to:

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/applyi ... plication/

and click on the questions and answers link.

It really would be worth it to get your application in before the deadline. Unfortunately my husband isn't due to apply until the end of April so he is already studying for the test. No doubt the fee will also be increased.

[John]

The citizenship test will be different after the 2nd April, a revised book (second edition) should be available in shops now, if your wife is taking the test after 2nd April you have to make sure she studies the second edition.

(with my emphasis)

Yes Marie, it should be, but it isn't yet published. The best indication if that the new version of the official book will be available at the end of this month, but personally I am not going to hold my breath!

[sreeni]

Hi All,

the new book will be released on 28th Feb, so will be available in a couple of days, but wont be in most book shops till 6th march. Waterstones bookshops said they are getting a shipment from tso.co.uk on the 28th Feb though and on the TSO site itself they themselves confirm this date for release. Be careful though as alot of shops still selling the old versions and not aware about the new version being for a different test.

[sreeni]

Hi John,
Sorry I havent replied back in ages Ive been real busy at work, but anyways

We came back from india on April 1st the sunday, my wife came back at 7pm, I came back at 1 so had time to get the tion ready, unfortunately even though I had taken all the documents etc to india to fill in the set M form there I never actually got round to doing it so back in the UK it was a bit of a mad rush, anyways after 7pm we rushed home and finished the form, the evidence of 2 years though was a bit of a nightmare though I was ok with bank statments and payslips for almost 2 years but other things like bills etc I was stuck for, as we have a gas card and electric card but these are in my dads name, the house is too , I grabbed any document I could that had a name and address of either me or my wife, this was allsorts of things like council tax bill and home shopping magazine bills, baby club letters, inland revenue letters, even junk mail,

It was all much of a rush job since my uncle was going to come to pick up the application at 11pm so that he could take it to the post office so that it could be stamped for the 1st april thereby saving my wife having to do the citizenship test,

the application evidence was a bit of a mess and all mixed up, and my wife didnt have bank/payslips for all the 2 years as she came to the uk a couple months after getting her visa and also was off on maternity leave and also spent 4 months in india after the baby was born, after sending the application we were quite worried that it would get rejected but the worst that could happen would be she would get an extension.

To our suprise we got a letter about 2 weeks later saying they had recieved our application , also we got a letter from the bank saying my wife had gone overdrawn ( very lucky infact we had forgot that she had hardly any money left in her current account since she hadnt been working for a long time and it had almost all gone but luckily the bank had let the cheque payment go through and transferred the money from her savings account to make the payment ) about 2 weeks later we found a card from the royal mail saying that they were unable to deliver a recorded delivery package for us, we rushed in just before closing time on saturday and collected it, we were expecting a rejection and all our documents but.....YESSSS she had got it , the visa is a new style one with a photo giving her indefinte leave to remain

After all that I have decided to ask my wife to do the citizenship test now incase we ever decided to apply for her british citizenship in future, as I expect the test will get even harder over time and even though we think it unlilkely who knows in 20 or 30 years we may decide to make her British.

[John]

Congratulations, glad it worked out.