igypsy

Hi there, any help would be most welcome!

I came to the UK in May 2012 from South Africa on an ancestry visa. My husband came along with me with a dependent/spousal visa based on my ancestry visa.

I have since discovered I am eligible for a British passport through double descent (crown service 1981), so will be applying for the passport soon.

What does that mean for my husband? Will he need to reapply for a different type of visa, or could he carry on as is on the dependent/ancestry one?

Because we have been here since May 2012 - before the July 2012 changes that were put in place, would my husband be able to apply for ILR after 3 years of being here? Or would he need to do a full 5 years on a spousal visa along with the financial requirements (I would have had to have earned 18 600 GBP etc etc)?

Thank you very much in advance - all of this makes my head spin!

igypsy

OR - should I NOT apply for the British passport now at all if it means that my husband will need to 'start from scratch' (stay here 5 years, financial requirements) after changing to a spousal visa? Since we've already done almost 3 years on ancestry visa?

If only I had known before we came here!

BritInParis

An interesting one. I would suggest carrying on with the ancestry visa until your husband achieves ILR. It's cheaper and doesn't carry the risk of having to start afresh given that your ancestry visa may be deemed invalid given that it was issued to a British citizen.

Once your husband has ILR then would be the time to obtain your British passport so he can apply to naturalise immediately as the spouse of a British citizen.

Mat_Walsh

Hi igypsy

How did you go about applying for your British Passport through Double Descent?

I would like to find out more about it as i think i might fall into the same category and be able to apply for a British Passport via Double Descent.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank You