Was Spouse visa - now what?

Hi there

I am a British citizen but my wife and son are both Israeli citizens. While we lived in Israel she applied for (and received) a spouse visa. This was given to her for 2 years. Now the visa has expired so we are not sure what to do now...

She can apply for an indefinite leave, but that is very expensive (500 pounds if we need it done quickly...). Also, if she is intending on applying for a british citizenship (as she will do after 3 years here), then we will need to go through the whole process again and pay more...

I read somewhere that if you can prove that you have been living together for more than 4 years (as is the situation with us), than perhaps all this is not neccessary. Is that so?

also, what, if anything, do we need to do about our son's visa?

Many many thanks !

The Rubins

Pay the £500 and get the ILR for your spouse.

Also you can apply for sons registration - you could have actually done this long time ago depending on how long you have lived in the country (and being married makes life far much easier)

Rubin777, as a Moderator I can see the IP address you used to post your message, so possible to work out where you are in the world. But where are your wife and (step-)son at this moment in time? Are they in the UK or in Israel, or where?

If they are in the UK, on what basis are they here, given that their visas have expired?

How long ago did their visas expire? Very recently? Or ages ago? When?

How long have you lived with your wife outside the UK?

Above I have assumed your "son" is actually your step-son. Is that correct? If not and you are the biological father, where was he born, and why does he not have a British Passport?

oh, I see I have managed to confuse you !

Sorry - here it is with clarifications:

We lived in Israel for 20 years (both of us were born there but only I have a British passport, because of my parents). Our son (mine too...) was born In Israel and therefore does not have a British passport.

When we thought of coming over to the UK (Where we are right now), my wife applied for a spouse visa and received one. The visa expired literally a week ago - our fault for not noticing this earlier !

Hope this is clearer now - thanks...

rubin777 wrote: When we thought of coming over to the UK (Where we are right now), my wife applied for a spouse visa and received one. The visa expired literally a week ago - our fault for not noticing this earlier !

Hope this is clearer now - thanks...

You have left it a bit late am afraid- unfortunately your wife may have to go back to Israel and apply for a spouse visa again - as at the moment she has no 'legal stay' in the UK

Chess, I agree .. but because they have lived together outside the UK for over four years the visas should be ILR. But it is worth pointing that out to the British Mission because they are not all up-to-speed with that possibility.

Separate VAF2 forms needed for wife and son ..... at £260 each ... or rather the defined equivalent payable in local currency.

Also note that the clock for naturalisation has been wiped! The three year period will be started again when your wife gets back with her new visa.

Rubin777, I have just had a further thought! The visa you say expired a week ago ... can you actually quote verbatim what it says on the visa? (No need to include any name details.)

My thought is that because the immigration rules were changed over two years ago to bring in the provision about ILE being granted if the couple had been together outside the UK for more than four years, are we absolutely sure that ILE was not granted in Israel two years ago?

Certainly the "expiry date" on an ILE visa does cause confusion.

quoted word by word...


"Type - Visa Settlement Wife"

"Obsrv - Indefinite leave to enter the UK"

but it also says Valid until 11/2/2006

Rubin777! Great news! My suspicion was correct!

That date on the visa is merely the final date that visa could be used to first enter the UK. But clearly she did enter the UK before that date.

Accordingly the date can be ignored. The visa really is "Indefinite leave to enter the UK" .... indefinite ... as in without time limit!

Your son's visa no doubt also says "Indefinite leave to enter the UK", and he too entered the UK using that visa before that stated date.

You are not the first person to be confused by the date on an ILE visa ... and I am sure you will not be the last!

In short ... they both have visas that are valid at the current time ... no applications needed. Your wife can apply for Naturalisation three years after she first arrived in the UK. But she needs to study for, and pass, the Citizenship Test in order to enable her to apply.

How old is your son?

thank you thank you thank you!!!
we are so relieved, thanks so much.
our son is 2 and nine months.
'the spouse'

Glad to be of service! Your son can be registered as British when your wife applies for naturalisation. Or indeed if there is any delay to your wife applying for naturalisation after she has been here in the UK for three years ... for example because she has not passed the Citizenship Test .... then your son can be registered as British using form MN1. This webpage covers the possibility. It seems that Section C applies to your circumstances.

John wrote:Glad to be of service! Your son can be registered as British when your wife applies for naturalisation. Or indeed if there is any delay to your wife applying for naturalisation after she has been here in the UK for three years ... for example because she has not passed the Citizenship Test .... then your son can be registered as British using form MN1. This webpage covers the possibility. It seems that Section C applies to your circumstances.

It is however very important that the son, plus both parents, have lived in the UK for 3 years before the son is registered as British.

This is a prerequisite for registration as a British citizen under section 3(5) of the 1981 Act, which gives British citizenship *otherwise than by descent*. As John notes, this is explained by Section C of guide MN1.

In some circumstances a child can be registered as British sooner than 3 years in the UK, using the discretionary provisions in section 3(1) of the 1981 Act. However this is normally not such a good idea if one parent was British at the time of birth, as in this situation s3(1) registration gives British citizenship *by descent* which may impact the next generation if they are also born outside the UK and its Territories.

The original poster should check if Israeli citizenship is revoked when a citizen naturalises as British (if this would be a problem, it may not be for some).

Thank you all for these excellent replies. We are of course very relieved to find out that the visa has not expired...the expiry date is very misleading, to say the least...

As for naturalisation, there is no problem with Israeli citizens holding two passports. Do we start the whole process only after 3 years?

The process, as you say, needs to start with your wife studying for and then passing the Citizenship Test. She can do that now or as soon as she is ready. Have a look at this topic.

If she already has the pass certificate she will be able to apply for naturalisation as British as soon as she is able to pass the "was in the UK exactly three years before IND receive the naturalisation application" test.

For example, for the sake of illustration, if she first entered the UK on 25.02.04 then she could apply from say 26.02.07 onwards. I am assuming that there have not been excessive periods outside the UK since she first arrived using the ILE visa? And will not be in the next year?

Prior to entering the UK on that ILE visa did your wife legally spend any time in the UK, for example as a visitor? If any such time in the year prior to February 2004, please post the exact dates of her time in the UK.

On completing the form AN(NEW) your child's details should be entered as well and will end up being Registered as British at the same time as his mother is Naturalised.

It is highly recommended that the application is made using NCS .... it speeds up the process considerably.

Once again, thanks a lot. This has been most helpfull.

I am going to check out all the initials you mentioned and get the ball rolling...

Hi there,
I read this discussion and there is one question which is not clear to me.
John whites:

Prior to entering the UK on that ILE visa did your wife legally spend any time in the UK, for example as a visitor? If any such time in the year prior to February 2004, please post the exact dates of her time in the UK.

Could you please explain why this is important?

In a sense it is not important at all! It is certainly not a requirement! But any time spent in the UK ... legally ... might assist with a naturalisation application.

For example, and I am clearly inventing lots of "facts" here :-

With your ILE in your passport you move to the UK on say 01.04.06 and apart from the odd short break on holiday you live here all the time.

But prior to moving here you visited ... legally ... let's say over Christmas and New Year ... say 23.12.05 to 03.01.06.

In order to apply for naturalisation as the spouse of a British Citizen there is a three-year qualifying period. At first glance it would seem you can apply from April 2009 but you do in fact pass the "was physically in the UK exactly three years before IND receive the naturalisation application" test during the last part of December 2008. So let's assume the application reaches IND on Tuesday 30th December 2008.

You would pass the test mentioned above, and another test to show that all your time in the UK in the three years was time here legally, you would pass (we shall assume) the "not out of the UK more than 270 days in the 3 years" test, and also the "not out of the UK more than 90 days in the last year" test, and assuming you have passed the Citizenship Test, you would be able to apply less than three years prior to moving to the UK with that ILE visa.

Does that help?

Wow, that is really useful to know for future reference. Thanks, John!