# Spouse VISA extension



## mc1974tiger (Jan 9, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

My wife is on a 27 month UK spouse VISA commencing May 2011 and finishing July 2013. For personal reasons we were unable to arrive in the UK until May 2012 and therefore won't reach the required 24 months of being in the UK for settlement purposes before her VISA expires. She wants to settle here. What is the best course of action to reach the 24 months in the UK?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Get the current leave extended by same-day premium service to cover the remaining probationary period of 24 months, pass your Life in the UK test and apply for ILR.


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## mc1974tiger (Jan 9, 2013)

Thanks Joppa. 
We are thinking of just applying via snail mail to save some money. 
Do you know how long in advance we are able to apply the extension (current visa expires in Jul 2013)?


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## laurastew (Oct 15, 2012)

mc1974tiger said:


> Thanks Joppa.
> We are thinking of just applying via snail mail to save some money.


Just so you're aware these postal applications are taking approx 9 months at the moment, so you and your spouse will not have your passports for that time. I highly recommend the premium appointment as it's only an extra £300 and about 30000000000x less stressful.


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## mc1974tiger (Jan 9, 2013)

Thanks Laurastew for letting us know! Would definitely save us a lot of trouble  
We didnt realise it will take that long as we got it within a few weeks in Australia. 
Do you know if we can apply for it now via the premium appointment as the current visa is only expiring in July this year?


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## laurastew (Oct 15, 2012)

mc1974tiger said:


> Do you know if we can apply for it now via the premium appointment as the current visa is only expiring in July this year?


Yep, you can apply at any time before your current visa will expire. The start date of the new residency permit will start immediately and you will "lose" the left time on your YMS. It's not a big deal as YMS doesn't count towards residency so you will still be on the 5 years until IRL application path. 

Good luck. I just switched over from YMS to FLR(M) so if you have any other questions just let me know!


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## creweman (Feb 12, 2013)

*visa extention*

Need of some urgent help.
I am a UK citizen and my wife is Colombian and as lived with me and my farther for the past 2years on a spouse visa. When I applied I was on around £22,000 plus. However we heard about the new test life in the UK and have registered there for the test this Friday, but I am now concerned as when she passes do we apply for an extension or residency on there website there's no advice at all and I am worried as last year in August I left my job to start a burrito bar with my wife as we wanted to better are life's and used any funds we had and borrowed, unfortunately my wife at to have a operation and are overheads we too expensive so we temporary closed the business in December until she recovers which meant I was unemployed and on Jobseekers till this day. I now worry as her visa runs out on the 5 of March 2013 and have heard you need to be earning £18500 or those that only apply for new visas and not extending. Please can someone shed some light on this. PS sorry about my grammer


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