Thank you very much for all your help on this. I also did further research and can add to my questions and your replies (just in case anyone else out there requires this information):
I finally got through to Home Office on the phone and they confirmed-
1. There is no max amount of time you can be out of the country on a UK spouse visa. They have advised us to keep all the details of our travels together which includes tickets, invoices, photos etc.
2. We won't encounter any problems with Passport Control / Immigration Officers when re-entering the UK, after our travels as we will be returning together.
3. Home Office could not advise if the 7 months would affect our ILR application and stated that this would be down to the caseworkers discretion. They proceeded to say that as it is a UK spouse visa, the caseworker will be more interested in the state of our relationship rather than the amount of time we have been away.
I also asked if we needed to apply for FLR(M) to make up the time he was abroad. Home Office said not necessarily but recognised this may strengthen our ILR application.
4. If my partner's ILR application is rejected they will tell us why and if we are illegible to appeal. If the visa has not already expired by the time we receive the response (you can only apply for the ILR a month before the visa expires) then they said we can always apply for the FLR(M) and the re-apply for the ILR after the extension has been exhausted. However if you think about it, this method could potentially end up costing a further GBP 1075 (FLR(M) costs GBP 475, and you would have to submit another ILR application which costs approx GBP 600). If the ILR is rejected and the visa has expired by the time they have replied then my partner will have to leave the UK.
5. No, you need to apply in your home country and have the paperwork sorted before arriving in the UK. It was just a very hopeful question lol!
I also read the following from: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/partnersandfamilies/partners/indefiniteleavetoremain/
Time spent outside the UK
The Immigration Rules do not say that you must have been in the UK for the entire two years of your permission to stay as a husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried/same-sex partner. Your application to settle here will be judged on its merits, taking into account your reasons for travel, the length of your absences, and whether you and your partner travelled and lived together while you were outside the UK. If you have spent a limited time abroad in connection with your job, for example, this should not count against you.
However, time spent outside the UK does make a difference to applications for British citizenship. If you apply to be naturalised as the husband, wife or civil partner of a British citizen, you must show that you have been living in the UK for the last three years (the 'residential qualifying period'), and that you have spent no more than 270 days outside the UK during those three years. Also, you must have spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the three-year period. (We have discretion to allow absences above the normal limits in some circumstances.) There are different requirements if you want to be naturalised and you are not a husband, wife or civil partner, but there is still a limit on the amount of time you can spend outside the UK.
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Just to add to this- the three years they are referring to doesn't necessarily need to be the first 3 years your spouse is in the UK. I.e, in our case, we could always apply for this (if he is interested that is) 4 years after he arrives in the UK so that it doesn't count our 7 month travels as part of the 270 days.
Home Office than gave me details of an independent Advisory Service - www.iasuk.org and advised my partner to speak with the British Embassy in his home country.
Thanks again for all your help and advise on the matter. We still haven't made a decision as to whether to apply now or after our travels, but this forum will certainly assist in making an informed decision.
Thanks :)
MrLookford and June A- thank you for taking the time to respond. As you both seem to know quite a lot about immigration, I would like to ask you both:
What would you do in my case? Would you:
A) Higher Risk, Faster Outcomes:
- Apply for the Spouse Visa prior to travels as you are pretty confident there will be no problems in the ILR being granted, but also keeping in mind that you can potentially be a further GBP1075 out of pocket (please note, we are not made of money, nor are we struggling to feed ourselves. We could budget for this problem… it’s more of the stress of him having to leave that concerns me).
Or Lower Risk, Slower Outcomes:
B) Apply for the Spouse Visa after travels and accept that the ILR will be pushed back further, and you could both potentially be waiting around in the US for up to 3 months, doing nothing whilst waiting for the visa to be issued!
THANKS AGAIN!
PS I do have some questions about the benefits of becoming a British Citizenship and dual nationality but I will open a new discussion for this.
Edited by user
8 years ago
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Reason: Not specified