Switching from Ancestry to Spousal Visa?

[lainybug]

Hi everyone,

We'd really appreciate any help we can get regarding our situation, please...

In February 2011 my husband, myself and his (now) 15 year old son entered the UK on my husband's Ancestry visa (with me and my stepson as his dependents).

Just the other day, we found out that my husband is actually a British Citizen through UKM (born prior to 1983 to a British mother). This has been confirmed by the UKBA, who have said he can attend a citizenship ceremony soon.

We release that once this happens, my stepson and I will need to change visa categories, so our questions are:

- Which category do we switch to?
- How many years will we have to wait until we can apply for ILR?
- Do the almost two years we've spent in the UK already (as a spouse and child dependent of an Ancestry visa holder) count towards anything?

I assume this situation is not very common and may be complicated, so we are happy to pay for advice from an immigration consultant if anyone can recommend one.

Many thanks!
Elaine

[CR001]

Hi,
I switched from Ancestral to Spouse in 2010. So it is definitely possible, in your case though, the timing will be the main thing as I was not an Ancestral Dependent but my own Ancestral Visa as it was the cheaper option at the time we moved to the UK compared to the cost of a spouse of british citizen visa.

You will need to fill in Form FLR(M) with all the relevant documents for both you and your child. The time you have spent here on your current visa unfortunately does not count towards the qualifying time under the spouse visa category. I had been here for 18 months on Ancestral and once I switched, I had to stay on the spouse visa for the full qualifying period, which at that stage was only 24 months after which I received my ILR in March 2012 and November 2012 I was approved for citizesnship.

As the rules changed on 9th July this year, you will now need to spend 5 years on a spouse of BC visa to qualify for Citizenship.

You are more than welcome to send me a private message on the forum for any advice, it is an easy process to switch and really not necessary to use and immigration adviser which will only cost you a lot of money.

Shout for any help.

Thanks

Char

[CR001]

p.s. - always happy to help fellow South Africans