paulat.pron@tiscali.co.uk.1330535426
17 years ago
Hi Mohammed

Yur wife will, I'm afraid, have to wait until her ten years are up before applying for ILR herself; whether you have become a British citizen by then will make not difference to that.

BUT, if you are a British citizen by the time your wife gets ILR, she should immediately qualify for naturalisation herself, on the day her ILR is granted.

One further point I should make: you say "I am now in the process of applying for Naturalisation...".  Don't forget that you need to have ILR for 12 months before applying. So that'll be January, at the earliest, from what you've said

rgds

paul

Sponsor
m.algholmy@btinternet.com.1330535426
17 years ago

Dear Paul,

Many thanks for your prompt response.

I had a feeling my wife would have to wait for the whole 10 years before applying for Indefinite leave to remain.

With regard to my application for Naturalisation as a British Citizen, I was informed by my Immigration Soliscitor, that since I have resided in the UK for 10 years (ie longer than five years), then I would be in a position to apply for Naturalisattion at NINE Months following ILR as long as I could prove strong ties to the UK in the form of ownershiup of property and bank account etc..

It is on that basis that we have gone ahead and lodged the application.

I hope that this information is correct. If you know otherwise, I would be grateful if you could let me know so that I may take further action.

As always many thanks for your help.

Kind regards,

Mohammed

paulat.pron@tiscali.co.uk.1330535426
17 years ago

Hi Mohammed

The Home Office Nationality Instructions do give the caseworkers some leeway over the need to be "free of time limits" for twelve months, and your lawyer has clearly looked at them; the particular paragraph he/she presumably has in mind says that discretion should normally be exercised if :-

"d. the period of limited leave was between 10 and 90 days at the beginning of the 12 month period, if other statutory requirements, including the other residence requirements, are met and the applicant has demonstrated established links through the presence here of home, family and a substantial part of estate...."

So I imagine that you'll be OK. I think it just shows that different people have different approaches! My own natural inclination is to be conservative (note the small "c"!) and not to take advantage of "discretion" except when it is actually necessary to do so - ie my preference is to make the application as easy as possible to deal with, to minimise any risk of delay caused by the need to give it special consideration. Your lawyer has obviously thought "Here's a way that means I can get Mohammed's application in early"...

Different strokes for different folks...

Do let us know how it goes, though - and how long it takes. My (completely untested) theory is that the need to consider whether to exercise discretion might delay the application a little, reducing the benefits of getting it in early. But since the Home Office are so completely unpredictable as to how long they take, we'll never know!

all the best

paul

m.algholmy@btinternet.com.1330535426
17 years ago

Dear Paul,

Many thanks for your prompt response. It is late on Friday and you might not read this reply until Monday.

I take your point of view and agree with it completely. There was no hurry what so ever in putting my application early. I am a simple surgeon Pual, and I just took my Immigration Lawyer's advise for face value.

So, C'est La Vie. I will post a response on this website once I have a response (hopefully a positive one) from the Home Office, just so as to answer the queries you had about length of processing time etc..

Many Thanks anyway for all your help.

Kind Regards,

Mohammed

sababio@hotmail.com.1330535428
17 years ago
i thought your wife could apply for ILR, after she has done the 2yrs and u guys r still married.Look into it further.
paulat.pron@tiscali.co.uk.1330535426
17 years ago
Better late than never...



If you re-read the original post, you will see that Mohammed's wife did
not switch to a spouse visa until early 2006. This is when the two year
countdown started for ILR as the spouse of a person settled in UK. She
would therefore qualify for ILR on that basis in early 2008.



But she arrived in UK in September 1997, and so will be eligible for ILR under the ten year rule in nine months - several months before she becomes eligible as a spouse.



houns9@yahoo.co.uk.1330535424
17 years ago

@Pron,

Maybe a silly question, but does it matter when Mohammed's wife took the spouse visa?

For example if someone comes to the UK on a work permit & his / her spouse comes on a dependent visa, then does the spouse not get the ILR the same time as the WP holder gets the ILR?

paulat.pron@tiscali.co.uk.1330535426
17 years ago

I can't quote chapter and verse, but I don't think so, Hounslow...

AFAIK, the routine is that first, the WP holder gets ILR, and then his/her spouse applies to "further leave to remain" as the spouse of a person "settled" in the UK, using (Form FLR(M)). This is granted for two years, and is the sometimes described as switching to a "spouse visa". Shortly before the "further leave" is due to expire, the spouse applies for ILR.

I'm fairly sure I'm right on this - and it is, it seems to me, borne out by what has happened to Mohammed and and his wife, as described in his first port above.

I have to say that I think it the whole thing is unnecessarily bureaucratic. The main point of the two year "probationary period" for spouse visas is to weed out marriages of convenience. I guess it hasn't occurred to IND that a WP couple who have been married and living together for 8 or 9 years have already proved that theirs isn't a marriage of convenience, and have, effectively, already served the probationary period several times over. Or perhaps it has occurred to them, but they want to make things difficult...

rgds

paul

m.algholmy@btinternet.com.1330535426
17 years ago

Dear Lifeintheuk.org Team,

Great Website. Many thanks for all your effort.

A question about my wife's eligibility to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

I came to the UK in 1996. My wife came to the UK in September 1997 when we got married. Through out the years she has been my dependant and has had whatever visa the Home Office granted to me. These visas have mainly been, Permit-free training visas and more recently HSMP Visas.

In January 2006 I qualified and obtained Indefinite Leave to Remain on the basis of Long Residency (10 Years). BUT, we were informed that my wife could not obtain Indefinite Leave as she had to earn her own 10 Years of Long residency before applying for hers and we were advised to apply for a Spouse Visa for her at the same time as my Indefinite Leave to Remain. That we did and now I have Permanent Residency and she has a two Year Spouse Visa.

I am now in the process of applying for Naturalisation as a British Citizen. Once I obtain British Citizenship, when may my wife apply for her Indefinite Leave to Remain?  keeping in mind that she has been a resident since September 1997. Does she have to wait until her 10 years Long Residency are up (September 2007) or can she apply sooner and after that apply for Naturalisation in her own right?

Apologies for the long story. I hope you can shed some light on this matter.

Kind Regards,

Mohammed Al-Gholmy

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