# How long can we live outside UK?



## Ems (Mar 13, 2010)

My husband (Aussie) and I (English) got a spouse visa in Sept 2008 and moved to the UK. We stayed there until Sept 09 then moved back to Australia for personal reasons. We want my husband to get his permanent residency in England but don't want to return for another year or so. Does anyone know how long we can stay out of the country before the current visa is invalid? 

Cheers
Ems


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## suninspired (Nov 1, 2009)

What are the dates on the visa?

If he has a multiple entry spouse visa it will have an expiry date (around 27 months after the date it was issued).


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## Ems (Mar 13, 2010)

suninspired said:


> What are the dates on the visa?
> 
> If he has a multiple entry spouse visa it will have an expiry date (around 27 months after the date it was issued).


Hi,

It's valid from 14/09/08 to 14/09/2010 so guessing it's multiple entry. 

If we are still in Australia when it expires is it possible to apply for permanent residency for the Uk even though we plan to be here for another year or so?

Cheers
Ems


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## suninspired (Nov 1, 2009)

You can only apply for Permanent Residency from within the UK... and then only if your husband has passed the KOL test.

Normally, if you were not in a postion to apply for UK permanent residency you'd have to apply for an extension of your husband's ILE visa. 

Apart from the additional few hundred pounds that this costs, your husband will need to show that your circumstances (under which the original ILE was granted) have not changed and (I believe) there are some additional extra conditions required to be met. I haven't reviewed those extra conditions but I guess it's likely they'll want to know your reasons for not being in a position for applying for PR and why you're wanting to extend the ILE.

The info you need is here:

UK Border Agency | Partners and other family members

and here:

Settlement (SET) - Spouses


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## All good (Feb 27, 2010)

*...*

As others have already said, your Visa is valid for as long as it's valid. So if it was a two year Visa, it will be valid for two years after first entry into the U.K.

This is regardless for how long you have been out of the country for. Also from what I can remember, your husband will only be able to apply for PR after his current visa expires (pretty sure). I cannot imagine he will have any issues at all gaining PR being that he is married to you 





> You can only apply for Permanent Residency from within the UK... and then only if your husband has passed the KOL test.


This is wrong. In fact if you actually read the website they encourage to apply before you go there.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

All good said:


> As others have already said, your Visa is valid for as long as it's valid. So if it was a two year Visa, it will be valid for two years after first entry into the U.K.
> 
> This is regardless for how long you have been out of the country for. Also from what I can remember, your husband will only be able to apply for PR after his current visa expires (pretty sure). I cannot imagine he will have any issues at all gaining PR being that he is married to you


Your husband can return to UK until the expiry of his current visa in September. But then he will have to apply for an extension to his marriage (spouse) visa (further leave to remain), as he hasn't lived the specified minimum time in UK, which is 2 years (minus 4 weeks). He will have to spend the minimum time continuously (other than a few weeks' holiday abroad), so the earliest time he can apply for ILR will be in 2012, close to the expiry of his new visa (you can add the time spent on previous visa after returning to UK plus time spent on new visa to make up 2 years). If you intend to stay in Australia for another year, he will have to make a fresh application for marriage (spouse) visa, if you at that point haven't been married for 4 years. If you have, then you can apply for indefinite leave to enter.



> This is wrong. In fact if you actually read the website they encourage to apply before you go there.


Yes, under certain circumstances (e.g. someone already married for 4 years+), as I have outlined.


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## suninspired (Nov 1, 2009)

> This is wrong. In fact if you actually read the website they encourage to apply before you go there.


Nope. Not wrong at all. You've mistaken Indefinite Leave to Enter with Indefinite Leave to Remain (Permanent Residency). 

Application for Indefinite Leave to Enter the UK (ILE), one category of which is the multiple entry spouse visa, is applied for from outside the UK. (There are some exceptions).

This is the visa that the OP's husband has.

Indefinite Leave to Enter is not Permanent residency.

Indefinite Leave to Remain is Permanent Residency and can only be applied by proving to UK Immigration that you have satisfied their requirements for permanent residency - one of the requirements of which is that the applicant has resided in the UK for the prescribed period.

Joppa is correct as regards their being different rules depending on whether a couple has been married for 4 or more years at time of applying for Indefinite Leave to Enter (the multiple entry spouse visa). In that situation the applicant needs only to have passed the KOL test and can immediately apply for Indifinite Leave to Remain (ILR). 

If the original applicant of the ILE visa had not been married for 4 years then they would have to sit out the 24 month waiting period within the UK before being in a position to apply for Permanent Residency (Indefinite Leave to Remain - ILR).


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

suninspired said:


> Nope. Not wrong at all. You've mistaken Indefinite Leave to Enter with Indefinite Leave to Remain (Permanent Residency).
> 
> Application for Indefinite Leave to Enter the UK (ILE), one category of which is the multiple entry spouse visa, is applied for from outside the UK. (There are some exceptions).
> 
> ...


There is basically no difference in *efficacy* between indefinite leave to enter (ILE) and indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Both give the holder the right to live in UK indefinitely without any conditions attached (i.e. settlement or settled status). The only difference is while ILE is applied for when the applicant is living outside UK, and ILR when they are already in UK. Some categories of applicants can apply for ILE when living outside UK (such as those married 4+ years to a British citizen), while others have to apply in-country for ILR, as their eligibility follows on from having lived in UK for a specific length of time.


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## All good (Feb 27, 2010)

suninspired said:


> Nope. Not wrong at all. You've mistaken Indefinite Leave to Enter with Indefinite Leave to Remain (Permanent Residency).
> 
> Application for Indefinite Leave to Enter the UK (ILE), one category of which is the multiple entry spouse visa, is applied for from outside the UK. (There are some exceptions).
> 
> ...


Ahhh I see, sorry about that, I was concerntraing on the married for 4+ years thing on that website. 

I also saw on another website that if the couples have been married for 4+ years, than the non British citizen can apply for citizenship after only 3 years of living in Britain, including the child of the relationship!! Good old Britain.


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## suninspired (Nov 1, 2009)

The OP (Ems) original question was this:



> We want my husband to get his permanent residency in England but don't want to return for another year or so.


According to the UK Border Agency Home Office website: "_Indefinite leave to remain (often known as ILR) is permission to stay permanently (settle) in the United Kingdom, free from immigration control._"

Since there is no other definition elsewhere within the UKBA home office website, I take this to mean Permanent Residency. Indefinite Leave to Enter is not similarly defined.

ILE is not ILR. In the OP's case, it appears that her husband has a Multiple Entry Clearance Spouse Settlement Visa...loosely referred to as an Indefinite Leave to Enter visa.

My wife also has this Multiple Entry Clearance visa. She does not have Permanent Residency for the simple reason that the visa is specifically endorsed "KOL Required". For her to gain Permanent Residency or Indefinite Leave to Remain she must write and pass the Knowledge of Language and UK test. Once passed she may immediately apply for ILR - permission to stay permanently in the UK. 

For those spouses who were not married for 4 or more years when they applied for their "ILE" (barring a few exceptions) they will have to pass the Knowledge of Language and UK Test and wait out the prescribed period (currently 24 months) before they can apply for permission to stay permanently in the UK - Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).


One way or the other there is a difference between an ILE and ILR. 

And you can only apply for permission to stay permanently in the UK (Indefinite Leave to Remain) from within the UK.

It's all here:

UK Border Agency | Settling in the UK

P.S. No need to apologise


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## suninspired (Nov 1, 2009)

> I also saw on another website that if the couples have been married for 4+ years, than the non British citizen can apply for citizenship after only 3 years of living in Britain, including the child of the relationship!! Good old Britain.


Yeah! :clap2::clap2::clap2:

And, if I remember correctly, you're even allowed to be away from the UK for up to 90 days in each of those three years to get some sunshine over those winter months and replenish the old Vitamin D. Very, very thoughtful of Her Majesty's.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

suninspired said:


> For those spouses who were not married for 4 or more years when they applied for their "ILE" (barring a few exceptions) they will have to pass the Knowledge of Language and UK Test and wait out the prescribed period (currently 24 months) before they can apply for permission to stay permanently in the UK - Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).


Those married for less than 4 years *cannot* apply for ILE - only 2-year probationary visa. After living in UK for 2 years (minus 4 weeks), they can then apply for ILR (plus passing Life in the UK test).


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