Spouse Visa - Second Extension Application

[JohnDraper]

Hi All,

My son (British born and bred) married (in Taiwan) a Taiwanese lady and moved back here to the UK with her and their 3 year old son in October 2012 having successfully gained a spouse visa for her. Their son has a British passport.
Since that time they have successfully applied for an extension for a further 30 months for her to remain in the UK and given birth to a daughter who obviously has a British birth certificate.

The subject of this topic therefore relates only to the status of my daughter-in-law now that the end of her visa extension is in sight. She has yet to meet the 5 year requirement for an ILR application and has yet to take the “Life in the UK” test although she obviously has the English (Cambridge ESOL Entry Level Certificate in ESOL, International (Entry 3)) test certificate to level B1. Indeed once their daughter starts at play school she intends to start studying for the UK Life test.

My questions are:

first,having been granted one extension to remain in the UK is she allowed to apply for a second one (I have been unable to find any statement on the government web site which states categorically that this is permitted);
second, how far in advance of the extension expiry date can a further extension be requested;
third, will her existing English test certificate (at level B1) be accepted for this second application, since there were further changes to these requirements last November (2016).

Thank you in advance for taking the trouble to read this lengthy topic and I do appreciate any help which can be provided.

Regards, John Draper

[twrist]

Hi there John,

Yes she can apply for the second leave to remain (FLR (M)) - in fact, that is the expectation.

Your son and daughter-in-law can apply 28 days before the 2.5 year anniversary of their arrival in the UK. They will need more or less the same documentation as they did for their initial FLR (M) application, plus also proof that they live together (bills in both names).

The guidance on the language test reads "The test must have been taken no more than 2 years before the date of application. However, for settlement applications,
you must accept a qualification from one of the providers on the current SELT that has passed the expiry date, if it has previously been accepted by us in connection with another immigration application, e.g. for entry clearance."

My understanding of that is that she will indeed need to take another test, but then she won't need to do it yet again for the settlement visa in 30 months. I could be wrong on that, though - someone else?