Tier 2 or Residency route / Channel Islands

[James4826]

Hello there,

I am a British citizen married to Barbadian. I currently work abroad and my wife is on a tier 2 visa I the UK and has been for 3.5 years.

She has been on a student/tier 2 visa for 8.5 years. I don't want her to lose the opportunity of gaining ILR so I am going to return to the UK or the Channel Islands rather than she join me.

I have two questions really. First, between the long residency (10 year) route and the tier 2 (5 year) route, is there a preferable route to take?

Secondly, I was wondering how it would work if my wife and I move to Jersey. My understanding is that it would remove the long residency route but - assuming she finds a job in Jersey or Guernsey - she could still rely on the tier 2 visa route. Does anyone know if that is correct? If so, does anyone know the type of equivalent visa my wife would have to obtain in the channel islands?
Many thanks for any guidance on this - I finding it sooooo complicated!!