Family Member eligibility for 2-year route

[Shogun75]

Hello,

1.I've lived legally in the UK for more than 13 yrs. I'm currently applying for BC and awaiting the approval letter and ceremony.

2.My UK born daughter was granted BC as soon as I got ILR.

3.My wife and non-UK born son (16yrs old) joined me in the UK in Oct 2007 and have had the following status:
Oct 2007 -> Aug 2008: Student Dependants
Aug 2008 -> Apr 2011: Tier1(PSW) - PBS Dependants
Apr 2011 -> Nov 2014: Tier1(G) - PBS Dependants
Nov 2014 -> May 2017: Family Member of Settled Person

The Immigratoions Rules were changed in Apr 2014, thereby preventing my dependants from applying for FLR(M)+SET(M).

Also, had they remained under Tier1(G) - PBS dependants, they would have qualified for ILR in Apr 2016.

Given that my wife applied as partner (i.e. Student Dependant) before 9 July 2012 and that she has continuously kept her legal status in the UK through out, is she eligible to apply under the "Partner (2-year) route"? Or is she implicitely already under that 2-year route?

The perceived advantage of applying under the "Partner (2-year) route" is that, she wouldn't have to wait until the expiration of her current stay,i.e. May 2017, to spend £3,000 (for both dependants) to extend for another 2.5 years, then 6 months into the 2.5 years, i.e. in Oct 2017 spend another £3,000 to get their 10-yr ILR and then be eligible for the BC only around Mar 2019. Assuming of course, than no other adverse changes are added to the Immigration Rules before next general elections, which is extremely unlikely.

Thanks in advance.

[CR001]

On what basis did you obtain ILR?

[Shogun75]

On what basis did you obtain ILR?

10-Year Long Residence.
I actually applied for Tier1(G) extension to enable my familly to qualify for ILR quicker.
However, when the HO were unecessarily complicating things (post-decision evidence !!!), I just requested the variation into 10-Year Long Residence which was granted.

[CR001]

By applying for ILR based on long residence, you have complicated things for your dependents and your dependents cannot use the time as PBS Dependent or apply for ILR under any '2 year partner route'. The two year route does not apply in their case due to their switch to family of settled person visa.

They will need to extend their current visas shortly before the expiry in May 2017 and will be granted another 2.5 year extension before qualifying for ILR based on 5 years residence (or 10 years long residence in October 2017).

[Shogun75]

By applying for ILR based on long residence, you have complicated things for your dependents and your dependents cannot use the time as PBS Dependent or apply for ILR under any '2 year partner route'. The two year route does not apply in their case due to their switch to family of settled person visa.

They will need to extend their current visas shortly before the expiry in May 2017 and will be granted another 2.5 year extension before qualifying for ILR based on 5 years residence (or 10 years long residence in October 2017).

Thanks a lot CR001....
That was my worst fear. We'll cross fingers so that new legislations don't come out to undermine all this time, prior to the dependants meeting their eligibilty criteria.