Perth

I am sure this has been asked but I looked and could not locate the answer. How long can you be out of the country on a spouse visa? I think it is 90 days per year?

BritInParis

Spouse visa, FLR or ILR? 180 days in any given year on an initial spouse visa.

Perth

Didn't know they had different requirements. Actually need to know for all 3. So 180 days for initial. And for FLR and ILR? Thanks so much BiP!

BritInParis

180 days on the initial visa, the same for FLR and no more than 90 days in the final year before applying for ILR, 450 days in total over the five years. It's worth starting a diary to keep track of any time spent outside the UK, both to make sure you don't go over and also as you can use it to complete the absences section of the form for all three applications.

After achieving ILR you cannot live outside the UK for more than two years without it becoming void however if the person concerned is married to a British citizen then they can apply to naturalise as soon as they achieve ILR which I would recommend.

feelbritish

Glad you asked this question! I had no idea about the 450 days in total so I had best keep a diary as well because we go south every year for 3 months so should make it just less than the 3 months to give wriggle room in case of emergency in my family!

Perth

Since our daughter will be staying back here, I was thinking that I needed to know these things. Hadn't even thought about keeping a diary for later applications. Thanks BiP. You are a font of good information

ukthesis

This is my understanding:
The ECO guidance rules on the internet say that this time out of the UK is negotiable. There is no "fixed" time you can leave the UK under the spouse visa in a year. However, the advice is that if you leave the UK for most of the year, they will start to ask if you really want to live in the UK. However, if you have a good reason, then it will be okay. So the time spent depends on how long for and the judgement of ECOs as to whether your time away is for a "good" reason.

I am told that this rule applies all the way through to ILR. However, if you want UK citizenship, then those tighter residence rules kick in after a few years. So for the last few years to ILR, you cannot leave the UK for over 90 days in a year. If you only want residence rights, those more flexible rules apply all the way through to the five years to ILR.

I am also involved in applying for a spouse visa and the first paragraph of this advice (initial entry clearance) is something that I know is on the official guidance rules (as I have seen it). As my spouse abroad also asked about it. This lasts for the first 33 months. The other part of my message is what I am led to understand, but best to check first if you are at the FLR stage.

spouse of scouse

After spending hundreds of thousands of pounds getting my initial leave to enter visa and buying/setting up a home, not to mention making a life with my husband in the UK, I wouldn't be risking my FLR visa on such vague concepts as 'a good reason', undefined periods of time (how long), and the discretionary judgment of individual decision makers!

I think a 90 day per year absence rule is perfectly acceptable and understandable, the visa's a settlement visa after all.

spouse of scouse

He/she is indeed Thanks for asking the question Perth, I'll be keeping a diary as well (used half my 'allowance' already this year!)

ukthesis

OK, and I understand. But if you want, I can dig out the advice which is actually on the internet on this (that I printed out). As I say, this was also something my own spouse was concerned about and asked me to research. I imagine that the UKVI would reply that they are trying to strike a balance through this flexibility between giving people the opportunity to return home to visit family, for example. And the requirement (which is explicit in the terms of the spouse visa) that they intend to live "permanently" in the UK. I also know (again because I needed to find out) that the rules if the applicant wants UK citizenship specifically at the end of the 5 years to settlement are stricter (ie the 90 days rule kicks in). When I told my own spouse, she said that she would be happy to just get UK residence, and not UK citizenship.

spouse of scouse

Hey don't get me wrong, I wasn't questioning your info, just saying it's not a risk I'd take.

I'll also be getting citizenship the second I'm eligible for it, I like the certainty of knowing I can come and go (I'm getting on a bit, not as 'by the seat of my pants' as when I was younger)

ukthesis

Here is that advice. I know that I also, on a forum, tried to pin down the experts there as to what this meant in practice. They gave their opinion that it meant that if you were away for 6 months per year from the UK, that "might" be acceptable to UKVI. But there is nothing in the rules to confirm this. It's just common sense that if you are out of the UK most of the year, people will ask if you really want to live here.

It is only a subjective opinion as to what the ECOs consider as acceptable time out of the UK, so you really cannot quote any fixed figure if you have a problem over the time away from the UK. This UK residency issue, as the guidance says, will be something they look for when the applicant applies for FLR and for ILR.

Home Office, Immigration Directorate Instruction Family Migration, Appendix FM Section 1.0A, Family Life (as a Partner or Parent) 5 - Year Routes (2015) page 26

Lmr529

Thank you all for starting this thread. I had also been asked by my spouse but couldn't find anything definitive. This will be good info to save for the future.

LondonSquirrel

This is at best anecdotal, but on another forum that I used to be a member of, an American girl got her ILR despite frequently being outside the UK because she worked as cabin crew on a US airline. So I think the reason for the absences is taken into consideration.

BritInParis

Exceptions will be made but they will still be the exceptions rather than the rule and difficult to predict.