Previously,
319E wrote:(d) The applicant and the Relevant Points Based System Migrant must have been living together in the UK in marriage or civil partnership, or in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership, for a period of at least 2 years.
Currently,
319E wrote:(d) The applicant and the Relevant Points Based System Migrant must have been living together in the UK in a marriage or civil partnership, or in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership, for at least the period specified in (i) or (ii):
(i) If the applicant was granted leave as:
(a) the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant, or
(b) the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules
under the Rules in place before 9 July 2012, and since then has had continuous leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points based System Migrant, the specified period is 2 years
(ii) If (i) does not apply, the specified period is 5 years, during which the applicant must:
(a) have been in a relationship with the same Relevant Points Based System Migrant for this entire period,
(b) have spent the most recent part of the 5 year period with leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant, and during that part of the period have met all of the requirements of paragraph 319C(a) to (e), and
(c) have spent the remainder of the 5 year period, where applicable,
with leave as the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules.
(
d) not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days during any 12 month period in the continuous period, except that:
(1) any absence from the UK for the purpose of assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas shall not count towards the 180 days, if the applicant provides evidence that this was the purpose of the absence(s), and
(2) any absence from the UK during periods of leave granted under the Rules in place before
11 January 2018 shall not count towards the 180 days.
When writing "if A, B", there is an implicit "then" after the comma. Explicitly, it may be
written as "
if A, then B".
Putting in the missing "then" may make it
clearer.
(d) The applicant and the Relevant Points Based System Migrant must have been living together in the UK in a marriage or civil partnership, or in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership, for at least the period specified in (i) or (ii):
(i)
If the applicant was granted leave as:
(a) the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant, or
(b) the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules
under the Rules in place before 9 July 2012, and since then has had continuous leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points based System Migrant,
then the specified period is 2 years
(ii)
If (i) does not apply,
then the specified period is 5 years, during which the applicant must:
(a) have been in a relationship with the same Relevant Points Based System Migrant for this entire period,
(b) have spent the most recent part of the 5 year period with leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant, and during that part of the period have met all of the requirements of paragraph 319C(a) to (e), and
(c) have spent the remainder of the 5 year period, where applicable,
with leave as the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules.
(
d) not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days during any 12 month period in the continuous period, except that:
(1) any absence from the UK for the purpose of assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas shall not count towards the 180 days, if the applicant provides evidence that this was the purpose of the absence(s), and
(2) any absence from the UK during periods of leave granted under the Rules in place before
11 January 2018 shall not count towards the 180 days.
Now let's see what (i) explicitly says.
(i) If the applicant was granted leave as:
(a) the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant, or
(b) the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules
under the Rules in place before 9 July 2012, and since then has had continuous leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points based System Migrant, then the specified period is 2 years
I think this is of the form: "If (A or B) and C, then D."
This is equivalent to "If A and C, then D" or "If B and C, then D".
Where:
A = "the applicant was granted leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points Based System Migrant under the Rules in place before 9 July 2012".
B = "the applicant was granted leave as the spouse or civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner of that person at a time when that person had leave under another category of these Rules under the Rules in place before 9 July 2012".
C = "since then has had
continuous leave as the Partner of that Relevant Points based System Migrant".
D = "the specified period is 2 years".
Note that (A or B) just means that the applicant was granted leave as the (PBS or non-PBS) partner prior to 9 July 2012.
Note that the "since then" in C may refer to a time on or after 9 July 2012. Otherwise, (B and C) is false or B is redundant.
Note that C implies that the applicant must have leave as the PBS partner at the time of the application.
(ii)[(b) and (c)] requires that the applicant must be have been granted leave as the partner during the entire specified period of 5 years.
If there was a requirement in (i) that the applicant must have been granted leave as the partner for the entire specified period of 2 years, then (i) would have been written in the similar way as (ii), with only the specified period being different.
Therefore, I believe 319E(d)(i)
still does not require the applicant to have leave as the partner during the entire specified period of 2 years.
