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We are aware that in order to be eligible for ILR there is a 2 year residency requirement and the visa holder must arrive in the UK within the first 3 months of the visa to be eligible to apply for ILR rather than FLR.
My wife will visit within the first 3 months of the visa, but wishes to return to her home country as she wishes to save up more money for our future and to buy a house here.
She has a very good job there and she can make enough if she stays a few more months to make sure we can have a house and have some savings too.
She would like to stay until February of next year before coming to live permanently here. On arrival we will look for a house together and buy one for cash. This also hopefully means we can rent out a room if necessary if she has trouble finding a job here in case the labour market proves uncooperative.
She intends to live and work here permanently from then (apart from short visits now and then to see her family overseas). Buying a house we hope will help put the seal on showing she and myself are deadly serious about making a life here together and we hope will help satisfy the UKBA that her being overseas an extra while is reasonable and worthwhile planning for our secure future here when it comes to the ILR application stage.
Our question is that we would like to clarify how long she can stay overseas in that 27 month period of her visa especially as the UKBA website is vague about the number of days/months/time allowed. To quote the site:
"The Immigration Rules do not say that you must have been in the UK for the entire 2 years of your visa or permission to remain. Your application to settle here will be judged on its merits, taking into account your reasons for travel, the length of your absences, and whether you and your partner travelled and lived together while you were outside the UK. If you have spent a limited time abroad in connection with your job, for example, this should not count against you."
I will not be living with her overseas until she arrives in Feb given my health issues. I will be staying here. I am settled in the UK having been born here.
If Feb is an issue, then how long would likely be acceptable?
Any help to pin down if and how this affects us would be appreciated.
Asgard