Banno0141

I was born in the UK and moved to Aus as a child 41 years ago, I have just applied for my british passport again. In January I want to take my wife of 25 years of marriage and who is suffering from a eye disease and is now legally blind to the UK for a holiday. Our plans are to use my cousins place in Wales as a base and the every week or 2nd week fly to somewhere in Europe, so we could possibly be leaving and entering the UK 20+ times during the 12 month period.

We own our house in Aus and own our own business so we have no intention to live in the UK and we will have more than enough money to support us for 12 months.

After searching for weeks and sending emails to various gov departments I cant get an answer as to what Visa we should apply for for my Aus wife.

Can someone please help?

Thanks in advance.

Pulaski

Does your wife have any recent British or European ancestry? Irish, Italian, or Hungarian ancestry are the ones usually cited as been potentially the most useful with respect to getting a passport from that country.

Banno0141

She apparently has some great grandparents from either Scotland or Ireland, however she only knows a surname with no other information. We arnt trying to obtain a passport for her rather a visa of some sort.

Pulaski

If she has a right to a European passport it would be a lot cheaper and/or easier to obtain than a visa that would allow 12 months of continuous residence. That said, I think that great grandparents would be too far back.

Banno0141

So we really havent got any options for her to travel in and out of the UK over a 12 month period?

SanDiegogirl

There is no visitor visa for 12 months. Your wife could enter the UK for 6 months for tourist purposes without a visa.

As said if she was eligible for say, an Ancestry visa , then she could stay for longer than 6 months.

Getting a settlement visa would be far too expensive and laborious for a 12 month stay.

Would a 6 month stay not be suitable? Don't forget you would need to have continuous health insurance cover as the NHS would not be available for either of you.

Banno0141

It is looking as though 6 months will have to do, I was going to obtain 12 months of travel insurance anyway. You mention "too costly for a 12 month period" What sort of costs are you thinking?

Pulaski

Well if they have £62,400 of cash literally sitting in a bank account, and can afford the fees, then a settlement visa would certainly work. It really depends whether they are planning a visit on a shoe string or have ample funds and can afford the fees (£811, I think), for a settlement visa, which they would then abandon after 12 months, which is perfectly OK. On the basis of that visa they could then register with the NHS, (there would be a fee for his wife) as they would have all the documentation in place to legally "prove" that they had settled in the UK.

An ancestry visa has the stated assumption that you are intending to work, so his wife may not qualify.

Banno0141

Well that looks like the option, we have the €62k in the bank so thats not a problem and €800 isnt a drama to solve my problem....good call thanks.

Pulaski

You're welcome. I hope it all works out for you and your wife.

If you need help with the forms or process, please post in the Moving Back to the UK - visas subforum. And be sure that you remember you are "returning to the UK to settle".

Banno0141

Thanks heaps for the advice, its much appreciated.

SanDiegogirl

The settlement visa fee is current 1,195 GBP.

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk

You have to prove financial, accommodation and relationship criteria.

Financial requirements are set out below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

The visa takes up to 12 weeks to process, unless you have priority service where you live. Your wife will need to have an interview to have biometrics taken.

Banno0141

Just a thought. If we were to leave the UK and went to say Africa for example and came back after a couple of weeks, would her visitor visa not start again for a further 6 months?

SanDiegogirl

Unfortunately not...... the rule of thumb is 6 months visit in any 12 months.

You could also come across a border official who thought you were "trying"to live in the UK on a visitor status.

Pulaski

BiP said that interviews were discontinued for spouse settlement visas (that all the paperwork from around the world is processed in Sheffield), and I looked up the fee this morning and it said £811 for a spouse from Australia - does your higher figure include some other ancillary fees?