Quote Originally Posted by melovesengland View Post
Hi everybody, I am posting this in behalf of my friend. She is a member already but shy to post threads so I am doing it for her.

SITUATION:

Yang was granted a spouse visa in October 28 2012 and arrived in the UK in November 1 2012. She has been in and out of the country for little holidays to the Philippines with her Brit husband and consumed 3 months out of her 27 month spouse visa. The spouse visa will expire January 28 2015.

She knows that the 24 months that she need to comply will start on the day she arrives the UK which was Nov 1 2012 and the 2 year anniversary date of her arrival in the UK is in November 1 2014.

Because she is in and out of the UK, by the time Nov 1 2014 will come she only completed 21 months.

QUESTION:

Now, her question is will she apply 28 days before the anniversary of her arrival in the UK which is November 1 2014 or apply 28 days before her spouse visa expires to complete the 24 month requirements of the UKBA for ILR application.

Hoping someone could help her out? Advises, tips or links that you will provide will be such a great help!
Hi Novie,

For ILR she has no need to be concerned. Under 'old-rules' she can apply earliest 28 days before her 24 month anniversary of living in UK as spouse.Period.

No need to worry about absences. There's no requirement, mention, question or declaration for any restrictions on absences from UK when making application for ILR.

Importantly however, there are restictions on absences from UK when applying for British Citizenship. Additionally these restrictions go back a few years and may be impacted by absences made during the whole time spent living here in UK.

If your friend is under 'old-rules' she can apply for British Citizenship as a spouse after 3 years living in UK.
She must then show that she has spent no more than a total of 270 days outside the UK during the whole of that previous 3 years.
Also, she'll need to show that she has spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the 3 year qualifying period.

UKBA may allow some discretion above these standard limits but good reason will need to be shown.

Hope that helps