Offered a job abroad, worried about Spouse's ILR

[Eaglez]

Dear moderates/forum members,

I am a British citizen and my wife is on a Spouse visa (4 years currently out of the 5 year route). We have been married for 4 years and we have a 6 months baby together.

I have been offered a job in Australia and this job will improve my career (which is stagnated at the moment in the UK) and I am desperate to go.

However, we have just been reading about what will happen to my wife's immigration status in the UK.

My questions are:
1. If my wife joins me in Australia, and let's say we stay for 2 years, can she come back to the UK? and if she does what will happen to her Spouse visa?

2. If my wife decides to stay in the UK to complete her 5 year route to get SPOUSE ILR, do I have to be in the UK for that? and does anyone know what are the restrictions on time spent apart?

3. My wife will complete 10 year legal stay in the UK next year, if I move and wait for her to complete that, can she claim ILR through her 10 year stay rather than spouse ILR?

I am very grateful for your input as this is giving me sleepless nights. I really don't want to be away from my wife and daughter.

Thanks all and have a great Good Friday.

[CR001]

1. If my wife joins me in Australia, and let's say we stay for 2 years, can she come back to the UK? and if she does what will happen to her Spouse visa?

Yes, she can come back, but will have to start again from scratch with a new 5 year route on a spouse visa.

2. If my wife decides to stay in the UK to complete her 5 year route to get SPOUSE ILR, do I have to be in the UK for that? and does anyone know what are the restrictions on time spent apart?

Yes, her status is WHOLLY dependent on you being 'present and settled' in the UK. Being a job in Oz, it isn't like you can just pop home every weekend. She will only have to declare absence of 6 months or more.

3. My wife will complete 10 year legal stay in the UK next year, if I move and wait for her to complete that, can she claim ILR through her 10 year stay rather than spouse ILR?

Yes, but again, her spouse visa is dependent on you being present and settled in the UK. HO might not know or find out but then again they might. Even with ILR, this too is lost if she leaves the UK for 2 or more years.

[Casa]

Highly likely that your overseas earnings will flag up when the time comes to apply for ILR as you'll have to submit your pay slips + the corresponding bank statements for the last 6 months prior to submitting the application.

It will then be obvious that you are no longer residing in the UK with your wife.

[Eaglez]

Thank you CR001 for going through all my questions.

Thanks Casa for the clarification.

I just have one more question please (to clear my mind completely) before we decide on going.

Say if we want to come back in 3 years and her Spouse visa is expired, do we need to apply from Oz for a visa or will she be allowed to come back and apply from the UK?

I have been reading the gov.uk website but it doesn't provide me with these clarifications. Is this the page that I am meant to be reading? (https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk)

Thanks once again.

[Casa]

Thank you CR001 for going through all my questions.

Thanks Casa for the clarification.

I just have one more question please (to clear my mind completely) before we decide on going.

Say if we want to come back in 3 years and her Spouse visa is expired, do we need to apply from Oz for a visa or will she be allowed to come back and apply from the UK?

I have been reading the gov.uk website but it doesn't provide me with these clarifications. Is this the page that I am meant to be reading? (https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk)

Thanks once again.

Your wife will have to apply from outside of the UK and you (as her sponsor) will have to meet the financial requirements in place at the time of application.

[Eaglez]

Your wife will have to apply from outside of the UK and you (as her sponsor) will have to meet the financial requirements in place at the time of application.

So when I am coming back I will be unemployed in the UK (temporarily) so that makes it very hard to get this done through the 22.4K financial requirement. Is there any other way?

Thanks a lot btw.
Do you recommend any immigration lawyers/solicitors that we can speak to before we make a rash life-changing decision?

I surely do not want to be stuck in Oz away from family & friends for eternity.

[Casa]

The forum Ts&Cs don't permit the posting of professional recommendations.

Under the current Immigration Rules in order for your wife and child to meet the financial conditions you have the following options:

1. Return to the UK alone and the family settlement visa can be submitted in Oz once you have been employed for 6 months with an annual salary of £22,400.

2. Show you have been earning the equivalent of £22,400 p.a in Oz for the 6 month period prior to submitting the settlement application AND have a confirmed job offer starting in the UK within 3 months of arrival (again with a salary of £22,400)

3. Hold £72,000 of savings in an accessible bank account for a minimum of 6 months. The savings can be joint.

[Eaglez]

2. Show you have been earning the equivalent of £22,400 p.a in Oz for the 6 month period prior to submitting the settlement application AND have a confirmed job offer starting in the UK within 3 months of arrival (again with a salary of £22,400)

Hi Casa, thanks for the information, I am very grateful.
I will qualify for the Oz salary part here, but I am self-employed in the UK so I can get a job offer sorted. Are there different rules for self-employed vs the employed?

Also, by settlement application do you mean ILR or a new 5-year-spouse visa?

3. Hold £72,000 of savings in an accessible bank account for a minimum of 6 months. The savings can be joint.

Does it have to be actual cash in a bank account or investments/property would count too?

Many thanks again.

[vinny]

See also Appendix FM-SE for details.

[Casa]

A new 5 year route to settlement (ILR).

The UK confirmed job offer would have to be on an employed basis (not self-employed).

One important point. Doesn't your baby hold British citizenship

[CR001]

Does it have to be actual cash in a bank account or investments/property would count too?

It must be immediately available, ie liquid funds/cash. Property will only count if it has been recently sold and you have the funds and papertrail. Investments no as it is not immediately available, i.e. stocks and shares.

[Eaglez]

One important point. Doesn't your baby hold British citizenship

Yeah she does. Does that change anything or offer any glimpse of hope?

[Eaglez]

Does it have to be actual cash in a bank account or investments/property would count too?

It must be immediately available, ie liquid funds/cash. Property will only count if it has been recently sold and you have the funds and papertrail. Investments no as it is not immediately available, i.e. stocks and shares.

Oh God! Thank you for your explanation this will mean a lot of planning from now (if we decide to take the plunge and go).

[CR001]

One important point. Doesn't your baby hold British citizenship

Yeah she does. Does that change anything or offer any glimpse of hope?

No glimmer of hope unfortunately but it reduces the financial requirement slightly, i.e. £18,600pa income or £62,500 in savings held for 6 months.

[Casa]

One important point. Doesn't your baby hold British citizenship

Yeah she does. Does that change anything or offer any glimpse of hope?

No glimmer of hope unfortunately but it reduces the financial requirement slightly, i.e. £18,600pa income or £62,500 in savings held for 6 months.

As the Tesco slogan ...Every little helps

[Eaglez]

One important point. Doesn't your baby hold British citizenship

Yeah she does. Does that change anything or offer any glimpse of hope?

No glimmer of hope unfortunately but it reduces the financial requirement slightly, i.e. £18,600pa income or £62,500 in savings held for 6 months.

As the Tesco slogan ...Every little helps

Casa & CR001 thank you so much for your help.
That's £10,000 that we should stop worrying about!

I would like to thank you guys for being so helpful. Yesterday, we had a panic attack and we almost decided not to go to Oz.

But after reading your comments and the links that was posted here, we have decided to go to Oz and save as much money as we can so in case if we had to return to the UK, my wife can rejoin me back here.

It is being prepared and knowing the rules/regulations that can help reduce stress (and prevent heart attacks & wrinkles), so special thanks to ImmigrationBoards.com for helping us with this.

[Casa]

You're welcome...and CR001 and I are both 'gals'

[Eaglez]

You're welcome...and CR001 and I are both 'gals'

Apologies ladies, Happy Easter!

[Casa]

You're welcome...and CR001 and I are both 'gals'

Apologies ladies, Happy Easter!

You too...and no problem it's a frequent misconception on the forum

[Eaglez]

Hi Casa & CR001,

I hope you are having a good weekend.

So I have done some research and I think my wife may qualify for ILR through the 10 year route but I am not very sure, I would be very grateful for your opinions on this.

Wife's history is like this:

Student visa July 2008 (3 years)
post-student visa 2011 (2 years)
Spouse visa 2013 (2.5)
Renewed spouse visa 2016 (2.5)

In July 2018, she will have spent 10 years in the UK with around 100 days away from the UK (spread out through the 10 years).

Can she apply to ILR through the 10 year route?
or does the spouse visa override this?

[CR001]

Yes she can provided she meets ALL the requirements for long residence ILR, including being within the absence limits and no period of overstay and has met the requirements of all the visa she has held.

She would qualify to apply anytime within 28 days before the 10 year anniversary that she ENTERED the UK in 2008.

Did she by any chance have a visitor visa before she applied for a student visa??

[Eaglez]

Yes she can provided she meets ALL the requirements for long residence ILR, including being within the absence limits and no period of overstay and has met the requirements of all the visa she has held.

She would qualify to apply anytime within 28 days before the 10 year anniversary that she ENTERED the UK in 2008.

Did she by any chance have a visitor visa before she applied for a student visa??

Thank you for the confirmation.

No visitor visa prior to the student visa and she has not overstayed and I think so far she has 166 days absence in total spread over 10 years.
How do they check the absence days btw? We have documentations for the past few years but her passport has been retained by her home country when it was renewed so we have no proofs of her absence prior to 2011.

[CR001]

She will need to complete the absence table in the form as accurately as possible.

The issue of not having the old passports is a problem as all the passport would usually have to be submitted with the application. In the absence of these, she will have to submit a substantial amount of documents to prove residence from date of entry to the UK.