E17Avenue

My US wife and I (UK born and bred) are planning to move to England to live and settle with our new family. Our first son is nine months old. We have been married for 11 years, and have documentation of our shared residence for most if not all of that time.

Forgive me if I am posting confusing questions or rambling. I have been on the UK Borders website for some time and feel like I am losing my mind or at least my sense of direction.

I understand the following:

• Indefinite LTR can only be applied for - via form SET(M) - if she is already in a temporary LTR status
• Initial LTR is granted via a standard entry visa with me as the sponsor via form VAF4
• If we have been married more than four years and lived together for all that time, we may be granted ILTR right away (source below)

Would we then apply for the standard visa and send them all the documents they would want to prove our relationship, letting them add 2+2 and give her Indefinite LTR; or should we apply for the ILTR; or what?

Mummy in the foothills

Try pming DDL she has just moved back as a USC wife of a UKC. I think after 4 years of marriage they don't ask for too much evidence.

E17Avenue

Not worried about evidence, I'll drop half a ream on them if I need it. Just wondering which process?

roaringmouse

You apply for the visa using the same form anyway, so the application itself isn't really much different. The applicant (your wife) should indicate in a covering letter that they wish to be considered for ILE due to more than 4 years of living outside the UK with a British spouse.

However, in order to obtain ILE/ILR the applicant needs to have passed the Life in the UK test (KOL).

So your choice here is for either your wife to fly over to the UK on holiday and take the test, then return and apply (she would need the postcode of where she is staying to take the test).

Or, obtain the normal visa, then take the test in the UK in order to get ILR. This would mean a new visa application, and therefore a new visa fee (which has recently been increased to £900 for a postal app, or £1,250 in person).

john5655

Roaringmouse is correct except for the above quote, as it is not necessary to provide a postcode, this is just one of the types of ID confirmation the test centre will want to see, a passport, preferably the same one to be used in conjunction with the visa application, is more than sufficient on its own.

Can I suggest E17 takes a look through my recent posts on this subject as his circumstances are exactly the same as mine. My wife has been given ILE (equivalent to ILR) on application. I, as the sponsor, provided the covering letter setting out specifically what we expected from the application (because the VAF4A is a generic settlement application form).

SET(M) is the form for applying for ILR for someone already in the UK.

ILE, or LLE, is given to people applying overseas. ILR, or FLR, is granted to people already in UK.

I'm happy to help out further if E17 would like to PM me

E17Avenue

Very good info, thanks. We happen to be going over around the New Year for a visit, so she can take the test then. We're even considering an in-person application although we don't know for sure how long it will take the rest of our paperwork to complete (for example, I am getting USC before I go so I don't throw away years of residency, wads of cash, fingerprinting, etc...)

pennylessinindia

"Roaringmouse is correct except for the above quote, as it is not necessary to provide a postcode, this is just one of the types of ID confirmation the test centre will want to see, a passport, preferably the same one to be used in conjunction with the visa application, is more than sufficient on its own."

Spouse did the test in September and you do need to give a post code but no proof needed so the post code of where you're staying is sufficient.

have sent you a PM I have to say the strap line did make me laugh,
"confused about taking my wife home", thought you had left her somewhere!!

Victor Meldrew

I am in a similar boat to you. I am UKC my wife is not. We met overseas in 2002, married in UK 2003 whilst back for a Christmas break.

We have lived together overseas in 3 different countries for the last 7 years (and have evidence of this).

We have a house in UK, plus sufficient funds to support ourselves (is there a set amount for this by the way?)

My wife already has a UK visit visa with 2 years left on it.

So I think I am right in saying we:
1. Fill in form VAF4 to make application for initial LTR
2.When we enter UK we ask for permanent LTR (which we should get immediately as we have been married for 7 years).
3. This will only happen if my wife has already passed the KOL test prior to entering (which we can do this Christmas as we are returning for holiday).

Like you say, it is a little complicated.

roaringmouse

On the UKBA website about the test it says the test supervisor will record "your full name, date of birth, nationality, country and place of birth, postcode, Home Office reference, and your purpose for taking the test."

Looking at my wife's "pass notification letter" from taking the test, her postcode at the time is recorded on it. They don't ask to see proof of the postcode (although I did hear recently of one example when it was asked, don't know why), but they do record it.

john5655

about the postcode, I admit I was wrong, it is recorded on the pass certificate but, like you say, no proof was asked for and none given, I had given my wife the postcode for my mother's house just in case, that is what is on her certificate

if anyone is reading this, I suggest having a postcode ready, even a hotel address postcode will suffice

apologies for not checking before blurting...

for Victor, a couple of points

1. even though your wife has a visitor visa, she cannot enter UK with the intention to remain, and then apply in UK for LTR, she MUST apply for a settlement visa from her country of ordinary residence

2. ILE will only be given if the relationship spans 4 years or more outside of the UK, and only if the applicant has already passed the KOL test, if not a visa called "ILE subject to KOL test" is issued. The applicant then has a 27-month visa in order to take the test and apply for ILR (yes, it's called ILR because it's applied for within UK). But in theory the test can be taken on the day of arrival and ILR can be immediately applied for.

3. there's no set amount of funds to succeed in a visa application, some people will have lots of cash, others will have relatively little but have good job prospects for the future, the bottom line is proving you have basic accommodation available to you on arrival and that you will not be reliant on state benefits to support yourself and your wife/family

E17Avenue

Based on the info given so far, here's our plan:

1) We travel to the UK over the New Year and she takes the test then.
2) We apply for a settlement visa via the VAF4, attach a letter asking for ILE and attach the test pass certificate.
QUESTION: When applying via the VAF4, do we pay the same rate as for a later ILR/E? Or is it the same price anyway?

We were thinking of splurging for the extra couple of hundred quid and applying for the visa in person while we're there, but that goes against immigration law - although in the timeline we are considering it's a legal intent. So maybe we'll leave that one just to avoid complications.

Has anyone filed the VAF4 with intent to obtain an ILTE from the US, where visa apps are made online, and if so, how did you attach your cover letter?

dunroving

I thought this was going to be a poll:

Take her

Leave her behind

john5655

Victor

the cheap option, leave her behind...

firstly, you do not have an option to apply in the UK, in person or otherwise, as I said before your wife must apply from outside the UK, in person. If the country of application accepts on-line applications what happens is this: at time of filing on-line you also request an appointment time. Your wife then appears in person to have her biometrics recorded and to hand in all of the documentation along with a signed printout of the online application. You as sponsor must provide a letter of support, this is when you detail the expected visa type just to make sure that the KOL test result is not overlooked.

Make sure you book ahead for the KOL test. I suggest you call the centre nearest where you will be staying to check their operating times and book a place, they are quite busy, so try to do this a month ahead.

http://classic.multimap.com/clients/...client=ufitest

Now is the time to get the book and start studying

http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/LIFE

application fees are:-

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoap...feessettlement

roaringmouse

I would say contact the preferred test centre way before 1 month ahead, even if it's just to check how far in advance bookings need to be made there.

When my wife took it, our preferred test centre was booked up for the next 3 months, and were only taking bookings up to 3 months in advance so we couldn't book her in for a test, which would have been far later than we wanted anyway. So we had to contact a different centre to find out how far ahead their test bookings were - fortunately with that one we didn't have such a long wait.

roaringmouse

Which is currently £655 according to that page - there's no difference in fee when applying for a settlement visa based on marriage, so it will be the same if your wife is requesting consideration for ILE.

After a bit of looking around (the British Embassy website for the US isn't the most helpful in finding this), it seems this currently translates to US$1,031 - according to the WorldBridge website.