Post
by imogenb » Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:21 pm
I’m British, my Ghanaian husband joined me on a spouse visa in April 2018; we had a baby in May 2018. He’ll be applying to extend his visa in Dec. 2020. I’d appreciate any advice on whether travelling together, with our child, to my husband’s home country for around 3 months a year is likely to jeopardise his application for leave to remain after 2.5 years.
Since he arrived, we have been to his home country three times, me for around 4 weeks each time and he for around 5 weeks: he went a week ahead of me on two occasions. Each time, I did about a week’s work (meetings and fieldwork, I’m a researcher and we met when I was on fieldwork there years ago) but also several weeks holiday seeing his elderly and unwell mother. We’ve also had to make several other short trips together for my work to other countries when the baby was nursing and under 12 months old. I have read that when applying for leave to remain after 2.5 years on a spouse visa, there are no official absence limits (and anyway he would be inside them, as he has not spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any annual rolling period). We are wondering whether the absences to his home country in particular are going to jeopardise his application for visa extension. He is keen to visit his mother again soon, and reasons that as long as he stays within the 180 day limit he’s OK. We can’t find official advice on this but would like to gather others’ opinions and experiences, if possible. Many thanks for any guidance.
For further info, when it comes to his extension, we are quite sure we be able to provide all the other necessary documentary evidence, i.e. income and accommodation requirements etc.
I’m new to posting, though I’ve been reading this board avidly for advice over the past 2 years. Hope I’ve stuck to the forum rules…