Tier 1 General to Tier 1 Dependant

[deepakborse]

A brain twister for Gurus.

Situation:
1. Varun is on Tier 1 general ( valid upto May 2012)
2. Sandhya is on Tier 1 general Visa (valid upto April 2012)
3. In April 2010, Sandhya went to India started working.
4. In Dec 2011 Sandhya and Varun got married.
5. Both came back to UK on Tier 1 Visa after marriage as it was valid for both.
6. As Sandhya was working in India for significant time, her tier 1 general extension is not possible due to insufficient points as uplift factor is not considered any more. (this is my understanding, please correct me if I am wrong)
7. Another option is to get Sandhya as a dependant on Varun (Varun is working in UK continuously, straight forward tier 1 extension application)
8. However I got to know that Sandhya cannot get dependant visa within UK but will have to travel to home country (India) to get the tier 1 dependant visa.

Questions
1. Is it possible for Sandhya to get tier 1 dependant visa within UK?
2. In case 1 is true, is it possible to apply for varun’s tier 1 extension and Sandhya’s tier 1 dependant at the same time?
3. If 1 and 2 are not possible, is it valid for Sandhya to apply for tier 1 dependant visa from india before the current tier 1 general leave expires?
4. Assuming Varun gets tier 1 extension in Feb 2012, Sandhya gets dependant visa in April 2012. In April 2014, Varun will be eligible to apply for PR, Sandhya wouldn’t have completed 2 years as a dependant with Varun. Will this cause any issues for Sandhya’s PR?

Please suggest. Any help will be highly appreciated. Many thanks.

[vinny]

1. An in-country PBS dependant application will probably be refused. Probably have to appeal. However, see also Should I stay or should I go 2 (Hayat).
2. See 1.
3. Yes. There's no requirement to have leave prior to applying for entry clearance.
4. Probably ok, if current time is in the UK is included. However, it's subject to changes.

[Greenie]

1. Perhaps (Hayat).
2. See 1.
3. Yes. There's no requirement to have leave prior to applying for entry clearance.
4. Probably ok, if current time is in the UK is included.

UKBA would not grant an application such as this on the basis of Hayat, it would go to appeal, and if the appeal was successful, only discretionary leave would be granted, not leave under rules.

They have only been married for 2 months so I struggle to see how they would win an appeal on article 8 grounds as in Hayat unless there was something about their circumstance which would warrant it.

[vinny]

Thanks, Greenie.
I agree and had already edited my post.

[deepakborse]

Drawing conclusion here,

Sandhya needs to travel back to home country in order to get dependant visa. She can do it so even before current leave under tier 1 general category expires. She can go as soon as Varun gets tier 1 extension.
Better to get both Visas with minimum difference in terms of days.

Presumably in Feb 2014 (provided no changes in rules), Varun will be eligible for ILR, at the same time Sandhya will have completed 1 year 10 months as a dependant, also 2 years 3 months in UK married to Varun with all the co-habitation documents for entire stay in UK(council tax, rent agreement, bank accounts etc). ILR application looks fine for both.

Many thanks for your help.

[vinny]

Don't forget to show all of 319C.

[deepakborse]

Thank you for the links.
Would below documents be sufficient for dependant visa from India.

-Marriage certificate
-Wedding photographs
-Engagement photographs
-Pre marriage photographs
-Wedding Cards
-Flight tickets for marriage
-Flight tickets for engagement

As both are staying together in UK at the moment, below documents are also available...
-Joint bank account statements (UK)
-City council letter having both names
-Rent agreement made for both
-Vehicle insurance has sandhya as an additional driver. this document could also be made available.

Would it be safe to submit these 4 documents as well in addition to other documents?

Many thanks.