What visa to get now in the UK.

[365016]

I have just married an American citizen in the UK, and Im a UK citizen.

She has been here for 4 years and her visa states that she has

Definite leave to remain for another 2 years.

Now that we are married what do we need to do, can we wait until the end of the 2 years to apply for a new visa or do we have to straight away and apply for a spouse visa.

The immigration board is a about as clear as mud water!

[365016]

Sorry not definite leave to remain...her passport states.

Limited leave to remain in the UK.

[paulp]

You can apply for a spouse visa on form FLR(M) for her. You can get it from the UKBA site. http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk

[vinny]

As suggested, apply for FLR(M) as soon as possible.

Subsequently, don't forget the KOL requirements and start collecting the 20 documents needed for a SET(M).

[365016]

So even though she has 2 years to run on her visa we should apply for an FLR(M) right away?

[Wanderer]

What's her current visa?

[bebe2]

your best bet would be to apply for a spousal visa now so after 2 years she can apply for ilr if you wait till her visa expire then she will be getting 2 yrs before her ilr .that will be 2012. depending on the visa she has now.

[365016]

What's her current visa?

She came over here 4 years ago as a dependent of her father.

The dependancy was stated on her visa, although she applied independently of her parents last year and they gave her a new visa with no requirements on it for 3 years, at this moment in time it is now only 2 years left.

She has a residence permit, all it says is her name, valid until, place and date of issue, dob, type of permit (limited leave to remain) and remarks (Limited leave to remain, no recourse to public funds)

So there is no mention of dependancy like her previous visas.

Now we are thinking of going to live in the USA in 2 or 3 years so you see why I'm unsure what to do! Although for now I'm only concerned about the British side of things and making sure she is here legally!

[sakura]

Now we are thinking of going to live in the USA in 2 or 3 years so you see why I'm unsure what to do! Although for now I'm only concerned about the British side of things and making sure she is here legally!

Your best option would be to apply for a spouse visa. She should be able to obtain ILR by 2010. Then sometime in 2011, she can naturalise as a British citizen and then would have absolutely no immigration problems here. If you want to move to the US before then, she can retain her ILR to return to the UK, but note that if she spends more than two years outside the UK, she might lose it. So it might be best to wait until she naturalises.