Set M or Set O ??

[Bhaveshvasoya84]

Hi

it seems like a stupid question but I totally confused in between form Set M and Set O??

I got British citizenship in 2016 under Tier 1 general
My wife arrived in uk in may 2011 as my depandent under Tier 1 partner.
She supposed to apply for ILR with me but unfortunately couldn’t clear Life in uk so we apply for FLR-M in 2014.
In 2016 she had to stay in India for 6-7 months due to family emergency so we couldn’t apply for ILR again due to more than 180 days stay outside of uk.
So we applied for another Further leave to remain on 2017 and she granted Spouse/partner leave to remain until 2019.
Now since November 2016 she hasn’t fly overseas so we are going to apply for her ILR end of this month under 2 year route as she came in uk before 2012 (hope we are applying under right catagory)

But I am still not sure which form should I use?
SET (M) or SET (O)?

Mind you I ( husband) and my son (4 year old) both have British nationalities already.

Please help me to clear my confusion in between Set M and Set O

Thank you

[CR001]

What date exactly in 2014 did she apply on form FLR(M)??

There is no 180 absence limit for spouse visa holders.

[Bhaveshvasoya84]

Thanks for quick response

I don’t remember what exact date we applied in 2014 but on biomatric card visa granted for 22/07/2014 to 22/01/2017

Someone advised me that your application is not valid if she is away for 180 days in last 12 months on the time of applying for ILR so I didn’t go for that in Nov 2016 as my wife was away from may 2016 to Nov 2016 which is more than 180 days in a row.

Thanks

[CR001]

By applying for FLR(M), it has reset her clock to zero for ILR, if she applied after 6th April 2014 (the rules changed on this date for PBS dependent switching to FLR(M), link below). She loses the time spent on PBS dependent visa.

immigration-for-family-members/dependan ... l#p1008938

She would not have qualified for ILR in 2016 anyway. She only qualifies in July 2019, 5 years on FLR(M).

The 180 days is not relevant, suggest stop listening to 'someone'.

[vinny]

I don’t remember what exact date we applied in 2014 but on biomatric card visa granted for 22/07/2014 to 22/01/2017

Unfortunately, it may be significant that they granted leave for a period of 2.5 years instead of 2 years. This indicated that they considered her to be under the 5-year FLR(M) to SET(M) route, under Appendix FM.

Should find out when she applied for FLR(M) (34G).

[Bhaveshvasoya84]

Right
Thanks for clarification

So what is 2 year route as ‘the partner of person settled in the UK and a biometric immigration’??
As I m the British citizen since 2015 and my son since 2014, can’t she apply for ILR earlier than July 2019 ??

Thanks

[CR001]

Right
Thanks for clarification

So what is 2 year route as ‘the partner of person settled in the UK and a biometric immigration’?? That is for spouse visas applied for before 9th July 2012, which is not relevant to your case as your wife appears to have applied at some point after 6th April 2014, when the transitional provisions were removed for PBS Dependents switching to FLR(M). This is why I asked about the date she applied for FLR(M), it is really important to determine if she is covered by transitional provisions, however, as vinny has pointed out, a 2.5 year spouse visa would indicate that she is not covered and applied after this date in April 2014.

As I m the British citizen since 2015 and my son since 2014, can’t she apply for ILR earlier than July 2019 ?? No she cannot.

Thanks