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An introduction: I am 44 and a UK born citizen. My husband came to UK in 2007 but was denied refugee status as his asylum applications failed. However due to his country of origin - Bhutan - there was no mechanism to deport him. We also met in 2007, and in 2009 started an application for ILR outside of the immigration rules on the basis of:
i) the fact that Bhutan does not accept any ethnic Nepalese returners and would not respond to many written requests for a travel documents to be issued to him, effectively making him marooned in the UK
ii) he had formed a family and private life in the UK, with many written letters of support and offers of employment.
We were very lucky in that back in 2009 we were able to consult an excellent immigration lawyer in Exeter, Devon (2 hours away for us) under the Legal Aid rules. We were assisted to make the application by a skilled lawyer. The Home Secretary took a year to decide but in Summer 2010 decided to grant him ILR outside of the rules due to the factors above.
He obtained a Certificate of Travel (black) but we have not travelled for excessive amounts of time outside of the UK since (under 120 days in 5 years)
We married in the UK in summer 2012.
Now we are both 5 years from his award of ILR outside of the rules and 3 year from his marriage to me.
He has booked his LITUK test, and is confident of passing soon.
What is the situation concerning his grasp of speaking and listening English? He has proved himself pretty good so far, his written English is less good but he communicates well enough to hold down a restaurant job and fully interact with his family and wider UK community.
I have checked the HO website and other sources and am a bit confused - does he have to show a B1 level qualification, or not?
If he does need to, we live in a rural area in the south west so accessing regular courses between long work hours is a bit of an issue. Are there any courses that can be undertaken online then with a final exam in person? Do we need to go back to find a decent lawyer again?
Any advice is very gratefully received!