Spouse visa, ILR?

[z85]

Hi everyone

My husband moved to the UK after obtaining a spouse visa in Dec 2012. He is originally from Pakistan and he undertook the necessary City and Guilds Intl Esol (iesol) diploma (A1). He has now enrolled on a ESOL Entry Level 1 course at a local college which has taken quite a few months to sort out. This course runs til June 2015 which means it will end 4 months after his spouse visa expires.

I'm confused as to what the next step should be. Does he need to apply for further leave to remain or ILR? And when should he do that?

Any advice would be helpful.

[Casa]

For ILR he needs B1 level English and a pass in the Life in the UK test. I don't believe that ESOL level 1 will meet with the B1 requirement. Can he check with the course provider to establish whether the course is UKBA approved for this?
If he isn't able to meet the English condition he can apply for an extension on form FLR(M). This would give him a further 2 years but he could apply for ILR at any time once he's able to pass both tests.
If he has to apply for FLR(M) he won't need to do this until the end of his current visa (i.e before expiry).

[Amber]

He should apply by post for FLR(M) and once B1 English and LIUK completed, if a FLR(M) decision isn't made, vary to SET(M). ESOL Skills for Life Entry 3 meets B1 English, level 1 is only A1 and you'd still need to do LIUK as a separate entity.

Ensure the English test is on the approved list and as Casa states meets B1 English as per - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _tests.pdf

[z85]

I forgot to mention he is also studying for his LIUK test.

What's SET(M)? And how long does it take to make a decision about FLR?