Does time spend on the Student visa count for a dependent on the 5-year route?

[DreamerBeliever]

Hello Moderators,

I am a Global Talent Visa holder and am due for my ILR appointment next week.

I came to the UK in December 2018 on a Tier-4 student visa along with my spouse (Tier-4 dependent). I switched to the Global Talent visa in September 2020. While I will be completing 3-years on the GTV and so will be due to apply for ILR, my question is about my spouse.

Fundamental question: does my spouse become eligible for ILR on the 5-year route, if the first 20 months of her stay in the UK was as a Tier-4 student dependent and the remaining time since Sept-2020 as a Global Talent dependant?

Can someone kindly guide me and cite the relevant UKVI notifications in this case.

Thanking you in advance

[lolo2]

Yes, that time also counts

Your partner can include time they’ve spent as your dependant on another visa to count towards the continuous years they need to qualify. They cannot count any time spent on their own visa (not as your dependant).

GTV - ILR eligibility for partners

[DreamerBeliever]

Yes, that time also counts

Your partner can include time they’ve spent as your dependant on another visa to count towards the continuous years they need to qualify. They cannot count any time spent on their own visa (not as your dependant).

GTV - ILR eligibility for partners

Many thanks for your kind reply and sharing the relevant link, @lolo2

[DreamerBeliever]

Yes, that time also counts

Your partner can include time they’ve spent as your dependant on another visa to count towards the continuous years they need to qualify. They cannot count any time spent on their own visa (not as your dependant).

GTV - ILR eligibility for partners

Related question on Calculating the continuous residence period

I refer to this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... -residence

I quote:
"CR 6.1. The continuous residence periods in CR 2.1 and CR 2.2. will be calculated by counting back from whichever of the following dates is the most beneficial to the applicant:
(a) the date of application"

In our case, the date of application is the most beneficial to the applicant.

So what is the date of application? - I am assuming this is the date on which we paid the fees to UKVI for booking in the biometric appointment for our first visa - the Tier-4 student visa - based on which we entered the UK in Dec 2018? The application was obviously made in the 'home country'. Is this interpretation valid/correct?

Relevant details for my spouse:
Date of payment for student dependent visa: 19-Oct-2018
Date of biometric appointment for student dependent visa: 25-Oct-2018
Date of entry in the UK: 16-Dec-2018
Calculating 28 days before date of application (if first date is indeed to be taken as 19-Oct): 21-Sept
Validity of current global talent dependent visa date: 17-Sept-2023.

Query: Given that I would have already received my ILR decision by then, if I pay for the ILR appointment BEFORE 17-Sept and take an appointment AFTER 21-Sept, would my spouse be eligible for the ILR under the 5-year route? I mean, would she have applied too early to be granted an ILR?

[CR001]

The date of application reference means date of ILR application, NOT the initial visa date of application.

The para quoted clearly states "calculated counting BACK.......".

[DreamerBeliever]

The date of application reference means date of ILR application, NOT the initial visa date of application.

The para quoted clearly states "calculated counting BACK.......".

Many thanks, @CR001 - sure, it is clear now.

In this case, the current gap between my spouse's Global Talent visa expiry (17-Sept) and earliest ILR eligibility (18-Nov) is approximately 2 months.

I read somewhere that in case of GTV dependent extension, the 'minimum' duration for an extension is by paying IHS for 3-years! In summary, financially, I will have to end up paying close to £6k within 2 months in this situation, which feels like a lot.

Is there any provision or approach that you can suggest that may help us reduce the outlay, in our specific situation?

Many thanks for your time and guidance.

Best regards,

[secret.simon]

One approach I have seen advised on these forums (though I have no personal experience of it myself) is to apply for an extension of the current visa (Global Talent visa) and pay the fees and IHS before the current visa expires, so a day or two before 17th September (and it must be before the date of expiry to engage Section 3C).

If your application is not decided by the date you become eligible for ILR (18th November in this case), you can apply to vary your application to ILR. You will need to pay the full ILR fees as well, but you should eventually, in a few months, get a refund of your IHS (not sure if there is a refund of your Global Talent visa fees).

It all hinges on how efficient your Global Talent visa caseworker is.

[lolo2]

It's not clear to me the first dependant visa issue date. I only can say that it was issued between 25 Oct 2018 and 16 Dec 2018.

It seems OP is considering the date of arrival and not the visa issue date for the qualifying period, or am I wrong?

I also could think of applying for ILR - using standard service - just before the expiry date of the current leave, and then delay biometrics until the very last few days of the timeframe given, i.e. two months. The applicant would be eligible when a decision is made.

[DreamerBeliever]

It's not clear to me the first dependant visa issue date. I only can say that it was issued between 25 Oct 2018 and 16 Dec 2018.

It seems OP is considering the date of arrival and not the visa issue date for the qualifying period, or am I wrong?

That's a good point you mentioned @lolo2.

Sure, let me clarify the various dates between 19-Oct 2018 and 16-Dec-2018

Date of payment for student dependent visa: 19-Oct-2018
Date of biometric appointment for student dependent visa: 24-Oct-2018
Decision date of granting visa: 25-Oct-2018
Vignette entry valid from: 09-Dec-2018
Date of actual entry in the UK: 16-Dec-2018

Can I consider visa issue date (or the date of granting visa) as the start of the 5-year qualifying period? If YES, then it will completely change the calculations of ILR eligibility timeline, with the first date of ILR eligibility becoming 27-Sept-2023 (i.e 28 days before visa issue date 25-Oct)

In this case, I can then think of applying for ILR - using standard service - just before the expiry date of the current leave (ie 17-Sept-2023), and then delay biometrics until after 27-Sept-2023 when she becomes eligible.

Kindly advise.

Many thanks in advance for all your support and help.

[DreamerBeliever]

One approach I have seen advised on these forums (though I have no personal experience of it myself) is to apply for an extension of the current visa (Global Talent visa) and pay the fees and IHS before the current visa expires, so a day or two before 17th September (and it must be before the date of expiry to engage Section 3C).

If your application is not decided by the date you become eligible for ILR (18th November in this case), you can apply to vary your application to ILR. You will need to pay the full ILR fees as well, but you should eventually, in a few months, get a refund of your IHS (not sure if there is a refund of your Global Talent visa fees).

It all hinges on how efficient your Global Talent visa caseworker is.

Thanks @secret.simon

This exact approach has been my thought process too. Though I am genuinely not sure on the date you become eligible for ILR? I was taking the safest interpretation, i.e - date of entry into the UK, in our case 16-Dec-2018

But if for example, the ILR period were to start on the date of visa issued for qualifying period (in our case it will be 25-Oct, still need to check this) and if so, then the grey period to navigate in our case is a mere 10 days (i.e between 17-Sept and 27-Sept), which is easily manageable.

Thank you for your time. I am immensely benefitting from these helpful conversations.

[DreamerBeliever]

It's not clear to me the first dependant visa issue date. I only can say that it was issued between 25 Oct 2018 and 16 Dec 2018.

It seems OP is considering the date of arrival and not the visa issue date for the qualifying period, or am I wrong?

I also could think of applying for ILR - using standard service - just before the expiry date of the current leave, and then delay biometrics until the very last few days of the timeframe given, i.e. two months. The applicant would be eligible when a decision is made.

Hello Moderators

I refer to this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... le-version

I quote from this link:
"You must check how long they have been in the UK on the relevant route. You will need to check the route (to ensure it is a route that the person can count towards their qualifying period). You can check this in the person summary section of the casework system. You can also check any documents that show their immigration history such as their passport if available.

You must count backwards from whichever of the following is most beneficial to the applicant to see whether they meet the qualifying period:

the date of application
any date up to 28 days after the date of application
the date of decision
for a person seeking settlement on the UK Ancestry route, the date of their last grant of permission"

Based on this (and case history presented above), the most favourable to the applicant is - the date of decision.

The following dates present the case history for my dependent spouse, on the first visa through which we entered the UK.

Date of payment for student dependent visa: 19-Oct-2018
Date of biometric appointment for student dependent visa: 24-Oct-2018
Decision date of granting visa: 25-Oct-2018
Vignette entry valid from: 09-Dec-2018
Date of actual entry in the UK: 16-Dec-2018

Query: Can I consider 25-October-2018 as the start of qualifying period for the ILR of my GTV dependent spouse?

Kindly confirm.

Thanks in advance.

[CR001]

The start of the qualifying period for your dependent is 9th December 2018.

The 'date of decision' you are referencing, is the date of ILR decision, not the date of entry clearance decision. The paragraph you quote clearly states 'You must count backwards from whichever of the following is most beneficial to the applicant to see whether they meet the qualifying period:'

[DreamerBeliever]

The start of the qualifying period for your dependent is 9th December 2018.

The 'date of decision' you are referencing, is the date of ILR decision, not the date of entry clearance decision. The paragraph you quote clearly states 'You must count backwards from whichever of the following is most beneficial to the applicant to see whether they meet the qualifying period:'

Thank you, @CR001 - all clear to me now. Will now apply to extend the visa. Thanks for your valuable inputs.

[DreamerBeliever]

Hello moderators - @CR001, @lolo2 and @secret.simon - many thanks for your guidance on this subject. I did apply for and have now got the visa extension confirmation for my spouse. Much appreciate it.

[DreamerBeliever]

Hello moderators - @CR001, @lolo2 and @secret.simon - many thanks for your guidance on this subject. I did apply for and have now got the visa extension confirmation for my spouse. Much appreciate it.

Further update:

Earlier this morning, I got the ILR approval confirmation for my spouse.

A few months back, I had started this thread to ask if time spent on Student visa counted for a dependent on the 5-year route. The moderators here - @CR001, @lolo2 and @secret.simon - really helped clarify the situation for me. A big thank you to them.

Had I not checked here, I would probably have waited 2 more years before applying for my spouse's ILR. Because there is a big prevailing misconception that time spent on student visa does not count for ILR. I mean, sure it doesn't count for the main applicant. But it DOES count for the dependent if they have completed 5 years in the UK on a dependent visa (including student visa).

Many thanks once again.

[lolo2]

Great news, congratulations.

[globelly]

This is good news. Please I got similar issue and I need to know if this also applies to us. But, my spouse is on a skilled worker visa and not the global talent as yours.

He was on my student visa as dependent and switched to skilled worker visa after a year. Can he now apply for ILR and count that one year as part of the 5 years continuous living eligibility criteria to apply as ILR or this only applies to global talent?

Thank you.

[CR001]

This is good news. Please I got similar issue and I need to know if this also applies to us. But, my spouse is on a skilled worker visa and not the global talent as yours.

He was on my student visa as dependent and switched to skilled worker visa after a year. Can he now apply for ILR and count that one year as part of the 5 years continuous living eligibility criteria to apply as ILR or this only applies to global talent?

Thank you.

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