Citizenship for wife who has been on different visas.

[antfer]

I have been married since April 2010. I was then on Tier 1 visa. My wife (who is also a doctor) first came to the UK on Tier-1 dependant visa in May 2010. Unfortunately the visa (Tier 1 dependant) did not allow her to work as a doctor in training. She had to apply for a independent Tier 2 visa in August 2011 to get the training job.

In Dec 2011, I got my ILR. An ILR dependant could work as a doctor in training. We thought getting citizenship for her will be easier and quicker if she becomes my dependant again. We were under the impression that she will need Life in the UK test for the application. She didn't get time for the Life in the UK test until May 2012. We finally applied for the visa in July 2012. We were extremely unfortunate that the rules got changed just the week before. Instead of getting ILR dependant visa for 2 years she was given visa for 2.5 years. She now has to apply for another extension (FLR-M) in Jan 2015 which will be another 2.5 years.

My queries are as follows-
1) If she already has Life in the UK test results from May 2012, does she have to give KOLL test when she applies for extension in Jan 2015 ?

2) After the 2.5 years extension period does she get ILR or does she citizenship directly? If she does get ILR how many more years would she have to wait for Citizenship?

3) I am now naturalised as a British Citizen and our daughter born this year also has British Citizenship. Does that change anything in terms of my wife getting Citizenship any quicker ? (Probably a daft question)

4) The period (15 months) when she remained on a Tier 1 dependant visa(prior to shifting to independent Tier 2 visa) - will that be taken into consideration for citizenship??

Many thanks for your patience to read this long-winding post. Can someone please guide me.

[Amber]

1. She can use the LIUK test for settlement KoLL in addition to B1 English, however, for flr(m) - the extension it's just an English A1 requirement, which she'll meet as per the previous application.

2. After 2.5 years, it'll be another 2.5 years, then she'll have to apply SET(M) for ILR. Satisfying the financial requirement each time.

3. Yes it does, it means your wife should be able to naturalise straight after getting ILR, without the need to wait 12 months.

4. Yes, but she'll only need 3 years residence so it's immaterial.