PPDal

Hi There!

Need some help on my wife status....

I got my British Citizenship through the HK Act 1990 (though I was British Subject since birth and had British Passports only) and got married to a Malaysian in 1995 with 2 kids who are both British Citizens too.
We moved back to UK 6 years ago and since under the Act my wife should be able to get British Citizenship too, I only applied for her when we were back in England which was refused as they don't have info on the HK Act 1990 but more on the HK Act 1997.
Since then my wife have applied for a spouse visa and have been there for neary 6 years by renewing her visa twice already. Somehow her last renewal letter mentioned her visa as GRANT OF LEAVE TO REMAIN, TEN YEAR PARTNER ROUTE on the basis of Family & Private Life in the UK?

So did we made a mistake in the visa as according to this visa she can only apply for settlement after completing 10 years under this route.

And according to the official home office site I did not find any deadlines for spouse application - only for the main applicant under section 1(1) have a deadline and I got it way before that. (only deadlines I found are in Wikipedia sites which cannot be official esp if official site have nothing mentioned)

Under Schedule 2 - Section 1(4) (Registration of Spouses & Minor Children) The following is stated which my wife fulfill all criteria :-
This Schedule applies to a spouse whether the marriage took place before or after the registration of the person mentioned in paragraph 1(a) above except that if it took place after that registration this Schedule applies only if that person was at the time of the marriage settled in Hong Kong.

The fact is no one in the Home Office is able to answer regarding the HK Act 1990 which seems to have just disappeared

Appreciate if anyone can guide me on the above - thanks!

Invisible

I just googled it and it states that no person could be registered under the act after 30 June 1997.

The full text of the legislation is here. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/34/contents

PPDal

Hi Invisible,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Yes I did saw that too but it is not for the spouse & children but for the person under Section 1(1) which is me and I got registered before 1992 etc already....

Below is what is stated in the official act from the link you have sent....

1 Acquisition of British citizenship.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, the Secretary of State shall register as British citizens up to 50,000 persons recommended to him for that purpose by the Governor of Hong Kong under a scheme or schemes made and approved in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act.
(2)No person shall be registered under subsection (1) above after 30th June 1997.
(3)The Secretary of State may direct the Governor to make not more than a specified proportion of his recommendations in a period or periods specified in the direction; and any such direction may make different provision in relation to recommendations in respect of persons of different classes or descriptions.
(4)Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect for enabling the spouse and minor children of a person registered under subsection (1) above to acquire British citizenship by registration; and no spouse or minor child to whom Schedule 2 to this Act applies shall be registered under subsection (1) above.

Hope my interpretation is correct...

Invisible

British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990

If you go to the link above and read point 4. I read it as saying that if you and your wife were married before you were registered (1992) then she could get citizenship, and if you were married after you were registered then she would be able to get citizenship only if she was settled in HK when you were married.

HOWEVER, reading and interpreting this type of text correctly is a skill, you really need someone that knows what they are looking at so I will bow out of it as I don't want to start suggesting things which are totally incorrect!

I'm sure someone will be along who knows about this sooner or later. Good luck with it!

BritInParis

If you wanted to register your wife as a British citizen you should have done so before the handover.

PPDal

Hi BritInParis - yes now I regret but according to the Act on the Home Office website I still can’t find any deadline for registering spouse which is why I still hope I can do it. And meanwhile, because I did not get her settlement visa before going to UK and now wonder whether the visa I have been applying for her is correct or not and whether can I change to another immediately change to another visa?
Visa charges are killing as they are going up each time with new restrictions too

Thanks and hope will get more suggestions so can try to solve the problem ASAP

PPDal

Dear Invisible

I replied you but somehow it was not posted - anyway thanks and I totally understand what you meant.

My wife did settled in HK before 1997 too.

Hope I will get more suggestions soon so I can get things done properly soon.

Thanks!

BritInParis

Under the 1990 Act your wife would need to have the approval of the Governor of Hong Kong in order to be registered. Given that there hasn't been a Governor of Hong Kong since the handover then you've missed the boat on that one. If you didn't go through the correct procedure to obtain a spouse settlement visa for your wife six years ago then that is probably why she has been placed onto the ten year route to ILR.

Registering your wife as a British citizen in 1995 would have saved you a lot of time, money and hassle.

PPDal

Guess I missed the boat and also applied for a wrong visa 6 years ago....so now any chance for me to change the visa immediately or on our next renewal time if it can help?

BritInParis

To be honest you should probably be speaking to a reputable immigration adviser. What knowing exactly what visa your wife is on, and how she came to be on it, it's difficult to give you specific advice other than to say if she is five years into the ten year route then she might as well stay on it.

PPDal

Yes already will be talkng to another lawyer soon for 2nd opinion since we cant do anything on the ACT 1990 now....just trying to see if even we can save few years by changing to another visa now could be helpful as all fees are only going to rise in the next 5 years and stressful to wait for decision for every renewal.

Anyway, really appreciated your time, advises & suggestions.

BritInParis

Switching visas usually resets the clock towards ILR so even if you switched now it may very well be another five years. The requirements may also be more onerous.

PPDal

Vert true too - thanks!

BritInParis

No worries, good luck!