Extension of Tier 1 (General) Dependent visa

[vtaneja]

Dear experts,

My wife and I have been in the UK since November 2008 as follows:

a) I was on Tier 1 (General) from 19 August 2008 to 6th December 2013
b) My wife was on Student visa from August 2008 to October 2012
c) In October 2012, she switched to Tier 1 General Dependent visa - this one was valid till 19th August 2013
d) In March 2013, she got an extension on Tier 1 General Dependent valid until March 2016
e) In January 2015 I became a British Citizen

Now, I want to know:

a) What visa should we apply for my wife since she will not be eligible for ILR any time soon. Should this visa be the FLR(M) ?
b) When can we apply for this visa ? I mean, her current visa runs out in March 2016 so we have more than a year left, but are we allowed to apply for her new visa say in June 2015 ? (this is because we might be travelling from October 2015 to March 2016)

Any help / tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot

[vtaneja]

Hi,

Could anyone shed some light on this, please ?

I'd be very grateful

Thanks

[CR001]

Did you get your ILR based on Tier 1 5 years residence?

If so, your wife can continue to extend her existing visa till she meets the residence requirment.

If she switches to FLR(M), it resets her ILR clock to zero and it is a new 5 year route.

[vtaneja]

Thanks for your reply

Yes, my ILR was based on Tier 1 General 5 years residence

As for the second question, can we apply for her extension of Tier 1 General dependent now even though her visa expires on 26th March 2016 ? Basically, is there a rule that says we can't apply for the extension say 8 months before it's due to expire ?

Thanks again

[CR001]

I am not sure but it does seem early to apply for an extension.

Can you not come back slightly earlier to apply for her extension?

What date do you plan to be back in the UK in March 2016?

[vtaneja]

Hi,

We are not sure of our exact date of arrival in UK, but I guess we'll bring it forward so that we can come back and apply.

Thanks