Graham Weifang wrote:The October 2013 is the date stamped in her passport across her Entry Visa, when we entered UK.
So until October 2018, we work and wait.
There is a scheme that might enable you to apply in October 2016, but it's not been tried, and there may be an overlooked flaw. Think of it as an emergency procedure, and only use it if the EEA route looks likely to be closed before you can finish using it. Review the statutory instruments before you use the method - if anything goes wrong you may lose the naturalisation fee.
There seems to be a method of removing the time limit or equivalent on your wife's stay in the UK that depends on the way the Irish are 'automatically settled' on arrival in the UK -
The Immigration (Control of Entry through Republic of Ireland) Order 1972[url] as amended by [url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2475/contents/made]The Immigration (Control of Entry through Republic of Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2014. It depends on using the exemption of travel in the CTA in Section 1(3) of the Immigration Act 1971. The method has not been tested.
The steps are as follows:
1. Get a normal Irish visitor's visa for your Chinese wife.
2. Take the ferry to the Republic, and have your wife enter using the visa. The passport stamp will prove she was admitted to Ireland.
3. Return to the UK. Your wife enters as an EEA family member.
Now, normally, as a visa national, the UK-Irish border would be a normal non-Schengen intra-EU border for her on the way back. However, because of the Irish visa, and because she is Chinese, it counts as a border within the CTA for her - she is described by Article 3A of the amended order. Then, because she is "a person who is entitled to enter or remain in the United Kingdom by virtue of an enforceable EU right or any provision made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972", Article 4 does not apply to her. (This exemption used to be restricted to Irish citizens.) Her entry into the UK is therefore free of the restrictions of the Immigration Act 1971, just as it is for Irish citizens.
She is then settled in the UK! She is free of any time limit or equivalent because of the return using the CTA, and she is not 'in breach of the immigration laws' because of Surinder Singh. She can then use the three years' residence in the UK under the EEA Regulations to qualify for naturalisation as your wife. (She still needs LitUK and English at the B1 level.)
I suppose the Home Office could have a policy that they will not naturalise anyone who uses such trickery. Some people fear that not even the Irish can use this scheme.
The only visa nationals this trick works for on paper are the Chinese and the Indians. It should work fine for EEA nationals.
Note that she will lose her settled status if she enters the UK from any overseas country but Ireland.
