ILR for a dependant who arrived with a delay

[MihailP]

Dear administrators,

I am looking for suggestions on the following case (preferably with some references to official documents. I was reading them for some time. E and still haven't got full understanding)

I'd arrived to UK with Tier 2 visa on 31/05/2013. Visa was valid until 31/06/2016. I applied for an extension with different employer through premium service on 30/06/2016 and got it approved. COS was issued to be valid from 11/07/2016 to 10/07/2018 and visa expiring on 24/07/2018. However, due to a technical fault of HO, which they officially accepted after a year of complaints, I have got my visa only on 25/08/2016 and could start my employment on 26/08/2016. So now I have a visa valid until 24/07/2018 and a contract expiring on 25/08/2018. My employer is happy to give any COS and support any application of mine with new contract expiring not later than 25/08/2019. HO accepted their fault and agreed to extend my visa for free until 25/08/2018+2 weeks. This will cover my current contract, but not the proposed extension.

Based on the above I would like to ask the following :
1) Am I able to apply for ILR starting from May 2018, using 5 years route? I have concerns because of 2months gap in my employment, caused by HO fault.
2) My wife got a tier 2 dependant visa in November 2013 and first arrived to UK in December 2013. Then she left until August 2014 (so gap for 8 months) to finish her studies, and after 6/08/2014 lives continuously in UK. Am I right that in the case I apply for ILR in May 2018 she will be able to live in UK until her tier 2 visa expires, and then she will need to switch to some other partner visa? And by doing this she will lose her previous continuous 4 years of living in UK?
3) if I postpone my application for ILR and instead apply for one more tier 2 visa then I will get it valid only until 30/05/2019 because of 6years restriction, is it right? If yes then it means that there is no way to accumulate 5 years for my wife before I will apply for ILR, and then it seems like she will lose her previous 4 years experience in UK in any way, right?
4) And the final and easiest one is about our kid. He was born in UK and am I right that after getting ILR I can register him as British? Or should I wait for his mother ILR as well?

I would be very grateful for any help and comments,
Kind regards,
Misha.

[CR001]

1) Am I able to apply for ILR starting from May 2018, using 5 years route? I have concerns because of 2months gap in my employment, caused by HO fault.

Yes, there is no penalty for employment gap.

2) My wife got a tier 2 dependant visa in November 2013 and first arrived to UK in December 2013. Then she left until August 2014 (so gap for 8 months) to finish her studies, and after 6/08/2014 lives continuously in UK. Am I right that in the case I apply for ILR in May 2018 she will be able to live in UK until her tier 2 visa expires, and then she will need to switch to some other partner visa? And by doing this she will lose her previous continuous 4 years of living in UK?

She can continue on her existing visa and extend it if required till she meets the ILR residence requirement.

3) if I postpone my application for ILR and instead apply for one more tier 2 visa then I will get it valid only until 30/05/2019 because of 6years restriction, is it right? If yes then it means that there is no way to accumulate 5 years for my wife before I will apply for ILR, and then it seems like she will lose her previous 4 years experience in UK in any way, right?

The 6 years cap DOES NOT apply to dependents. She can extend her visa as many times as she wants after you get ILR.

4) And the final and easiest one is about our kid. He was born in UK and am I right that after getting ILR I can register him as British? Or should I wait for his mother ILR as well?

Yes, you can register the child as British once you get ILR.

[MihailP]

Dear CR001,

Thank you very much for clarification.

The 6 years cap DOES NOT apply to dependents. She can extend her visa as many times as she wants after you get ILR.

This question was about myself and the idea of waiting for my wife to accumulate 5 years. So I guess your answer should read as I am not eligible to live in UK after 30/05/2019 under Tier 2 visa and at that time she will not accumulate 5 years.

On the other side, after reading carefully "Counting 5 years....." documents, I noticed that her absence spent before 11/01/2018 is not counted at all. Am I right?

So as soon as she entered UK on 21/12/2013 she can apply for her ILR 28 days before 21/12/2018. One more question I still have on the case is about starting date. The document says that I can count starting from the date of visa being valid from and not the date my wife had entered UK. Is it also right? By this I can start counting from November, 2013 for her.

While checking your answer, I also could not understand

She can continue on her existing visa and extend it if required till she meets the ILR residence requirement.

If I apply for ILR in May 2018 and get it (fingers crossed) until her current visa expires, what type of visa can she get after that? Is it Tier 2 Dependant? I would not have Tier 2 visa any longer, so wondering how can she get this type of visa. I just don't want to lose her previous 4 years of living in UK towards her ILR application.

Thanks one more time for your help!

[CR001]

She can apply for ILR within 28 days before the date of her visa grant date in November 2013.

Absences for visas issued before 11th January 2018 are not counted for PBS Dependents.

If you have ILR, she can still continue to extend as PBS Dependent. It will be a 3 year extension.

immigration-for-family-members/dependan ... 14832.html

[MihailP]

Dear CR001,

Thanks one more time. I will try to read carefully all the information you provided.

[MihailP]

It will be a 3 year extension.

Thank you for your links and now I think everything is clear for me in my case except the length of extension. In the case we don't need it for 3 years, can we apply for a shorter one? In this way we are supposed to save 200 NHS payment for every unused year. But it seems that this application is supposed to be for three years only and there is no way to reduce it when applying online. And, I haven't tried yet, but it seems to me, that online system will take three years payment by default.

[CR001]

In the case we don't need it for 3 years, can we apply for a shorter one?

No, you cannot. The Immigration Rules state that a PBS Dependent extension will be granted for 3 years if the main PBS migrant has now got ILR or British citizenship.

In this way we are supposed to save 200 NHS payment for every unused year. But it seems that this application is supposed to be for three years only and there is no way to reduce it when applying online. And, I haven't tried yet, but it seems to me, that online system will take three years payment by default.

You will have to pay £600 IHS. There is no way to 'reduce it online'.