Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Hi all
I moved to the UK in late 2014 on an Ancestry Visa.
Later this year I will be applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain and a year after that British Citizenship.

My Issue. I've recently had a heart attack and am having multiple weekly medical follow ups each week. I no longer meet the ABLE TO WORK condition of the Ancestry Visa.
This is not a huge problem financially as I have regular income from Australia that more than enough covers my living expenses and should do at least another 30 years.

I married a UK Born citizen 4 years ago so I also qualify for a Spouse Visa.
HOWEVER although we live near each other, we don't live together as he is the primary carer for his mother and the nature of her condition means there cannot be a 3rd person living in the house permanently. She gets upset at any changes in the day-to-day order of the house.

Our families and neighbours are aware of the reasons for this seemingly odd living arrangement and can confirm our ongoing and committed relationship

Does anyone know if it is MANDATORY that we live together to get a Spouse Visa or with adequate medical reasons , is there discretion for this requirement to be ignored?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

When did you stop working? Are you signed off on sick leave? When will you reach five years in the UK?

Also, which grandparent(s) was/were born in the UK?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

If you are married to a British Citizen you can apply for citizenship as soon as you have ILR.

The wording on my ILR application states the following evidence if you are out of work;

"If you are unemployed at the date of application, please provide alternate evidence to
show your employment record throughout the five year period in this category of leave,
and of any attempts to make and find work. If you have been unemployed for long
periods over the five years, you must provide reasons why you have failed to find work
and evidence to show you have been looking for it. You must also provide evidence of
how you can support yourself without a regular income."

Perversely for those that live outside the UK and going through the Spousal Visa process is that the UK Spouse lives and works in the UK, and you as the applicant must live in your home country while your application is being assessed. I'm not sure of the requirements if you apply from within the UK. I would suggest pursuing the ILR route if that's possible since you are so close to your 5 years.

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Slight miswording in the title. At the end of the year I intend applying for ILR rather than extend or get a new Visa.
My understanding is applying for ILR is under the same categories as applying for a Visa.

"If you are married to a British Citizen you can apply for citizenship as soon as you have ILR."
My reading of the government Citizenship site is that to get Citizenship I need to have had ILR for 1 year and to get ILR I have to have lived here 5 years. If I can apply straight away this is good but I still need to be granted ILR

Regarding Working in the UK
As per the conditions of the Ancestry Visa, when I arrived I intended to work but as it turns out I never did.
I registered with a site that sent me available jobs but I live in a high unemployment area and there were few suitable jobs.
On top of this my now Husband had a heart attack so I ended up helping him with heavy work around the home a lot rather than getting a job myself.
As I said I had the finances so not working wasn't a financial strain.

As stated above, I intend going the ILR route but its a matter of which way. Apply under Ancestry conditions or as a Spouse

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Can you qualify for a spouse visa under the financial requirements?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Did you ever register as a jobseeker?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

My Grandmother on my Mother’s side was from London

Yes, I do qualify for a spouse visa under the financial requirements. On top of this, my Husband receives one of the government benefits that means we wouldn’t need to qualify

No, I was registered with an non government job site.The applications are now online but I have a set of the old Further Leave to Remain Forms, so that I can anticipate the questions I will be filling in on-line.
The forms seem to suggest if I have a job at the time I am applying, I don't need to supply a full 5 year employment history.
When I say I can't work, its more I'm not employable as I would be constantly taking time off to go to appointments.
I suppose if I had to find a job I could but I can't think who would employ me. I know as an ex supervisor I wouldn't employ me at present.
I would prefer to go down the Spouse track, the only issue being not living together.

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Hi Glen. What you're proposing (obtain a spouse visa but not live with your husband) is not something I've seen before. I think you're quite right to be concerned about this, as you obviously know, one of the primary criteria for a spouse visa is that you must intend to live with your partner permanently in the UK. Unless anyone else can suggest an alternative, I really think your best best is to have a consultation with an experienced migration agent.

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Can I ask the years of birth for you, your mother and your grandmother?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

1959,1932,1907

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

And your grandmother was born in London? And both your parents and your other three grandparents were born in Australia?

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Yes. My Mother's mother was born in London.
My 3 other Grandparents were born in Australia 1890-1910 and my Parents in Australia early 1930's, making all my Australian relatives British Subjects until they acquired Australian Nationality when this was created in the in the late 1940's

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Here is the link - https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-spouse it says you must have been living in the UK for 3 years and you can apply as soon as you have ILR.
Just so we're clear, you are asking if it's possible to switch to a spousal visa from within the UK, and then apply for ILR based on that category? From what I understand you can only apply for ILR based on the category of visa you are currently on. So by switching visa and doing it this way would add additional cost, and so it may be more cost effective to look at ways to satisfy the employment requirements of the Ancestry Visa for ILR instead. (Note this can be self employed, so having a small business, like say selling Avon, may suffice to tick this off.)
Maybe another option is to extend your Ancestry Visa for another 5 years, but again it's extra cost, and there is still the employment requirement.

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

Thanks for the link. I've seen this before and it is contrary to other areas on .gov which state you need to have lived in the UK 5 years (no matter which category) and have ILR for a year before applying for Citizenship.

And to be clear I'm trying to decide on whether to apply for ILR (not a new Visa) under Ancestry Category or Spouse Category when my current 5 year Ancestry Visa expires at the end of this year.
The Spouse category closer matches my circumstances except that my husband doesn't live with me as he is caring for his mother.

Thankyou for the self employed suggestion, I will look into it. I'm also looking at having a family member nominally employing me.

Re: Spouse Visa or Ancenstry Visa?
 

You can’t switch category without resetting your clock to ILR. You can either apply for ILR when you reach five years on your UK Ancestry visa or switch to a spouse visa and spend five years on that before applying.

If you haven’t worked, or actively looked for work, for the last five years then you won’t qualify for ILR on your current visa so the last five years will have been effectively wasted in respect to your path to ILR.

If you cannot live with your spouse then I don’t think a spouse visa is a viable option either. At this point I would be renewing my UK Ancestry visa but if health problems means you can no longer work then I think you have a real problem. Self employment may be a solution; being nominally employed by a family member is not.