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Hi all

I am currently living in the UK with my husband and had been granted a Spouse Visa in June 2014. This visa is due for renewal in December 2016.

Currently I am planning to apply for the Indefinite Leave to Remain using the 5 years route in 2019.


I am working for a UK company and they had ask me to consider a "month on, month off" work rotation for a year oversea, starting in June 2016. (But they will accommodate my need to renew my spouse visa in December)

This meant I will spend a month oversea and then one month in UK at home for a year. Totally 6 months being away from UK.


Would this be affecting my application for ILR in 2019 because I would had spend around 180 days abroad in one year just because of work. Not including personal holiday that might be spent abroad etc.

Would you please give you opinion on this matter and just advise so I can consider my option? thank you



P.S. It is the nature of my job to have frequent short business trips abroad; but year long commitment like this do occasionally pop up.

Suggest start here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf
- page 19

noajthan wrote:Suggest start here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf
- page 19

Thanks but I didn't find this document cover people on Spouse visa? Is this the correct document to refer to?

zaq12wsx wrote:Thanks but I didn't find this document cover people on Spouse visa? Is this the correct document to refer to?

Apologies, my misunderstanding of your reference to ILR.

The document is used when applying for ILR. Isn't that what you are spending time in UK & aiming for?

If that's not what you mean, I'm no longer up to date with the spouse visa but I seem to recall absence limits are much more strict than for ILR.

noajthan wrote:

zaq12wsx wrote:Thanks but I didn't find this document cover people on Spouse visa? Is this the correct document to refer to?

Apologies, my misunderstanding of your reference to ILR.

I'm no longer up to date with the spouse visa but I seem to recall absence limits are more strict than for ILR.

Ah, thank you though. Because I had came across this document and seem to be the only detailed document about what is considered exceptional absence.

I understand spouse visa is a lot stricter and long term absence like this will be viewed very negatively. Just want to see if I interpreted it correctly. Seem like I had.

zaq12wsx wrote:Ah, thank you though. Because I had came across this document and seem to be the only detailed document about what is considered exceptional absence.

I understand spouse visa is a lot stricter and long term absence like this will be viewed very negatively. Just want to see if I interpreted it correctly. Seem like I had.

It still seems that your next visa application (after spouse) will be for ILR so you should also be aware of ILR rules on absences in the run up to applying for ILR.

It will certainly mess up any plans for naturalisation, if you have that on the horizon.

Naturalisation requires an absence of less than 90 days in the year preceding naturalisation and 450 days in the five years preceding naturalisation. Also you must have been physically in the UK exactly five years to the day on the date of your naturalisation application. If you are planning to apply for citizenship in 2020, that would mean that 2016 would be the fifth year preceding naturalisation. If you are on a month on,month off plan, you have effectively ruled out half the year for even applying.

I believe that the absences for spousal/dependent visas should be "limited" and "for good reason".

For ILR as as spouse on Set(M), only absences of 180 or more need to be declared. But as secret.simon has noted, any absences should be limited and for good reason.

noajthan wrote:

zaq12wsx wrote:Ah, thank you though. Because I had came across this document and seem to be the only detailed document about what is considered exceptional absence.

I understand spouse visa is a lot stricter and long term absence like this will be viewed very negatively. Just want to see if I interpreted it correctly. Seem like I had.

It still seems that your next visa application (after spouse) will be for ILR so you should also be aware of ILR rules on absences in the run up to applying for ILR.

Yes, thanks for the information. I struggle to find a home office guidance specifically for spouse visa to ILR (5 years route application) discussing the days of absence. The form you shown me is great but it just does not mention if there is extra guideline for spouse? I feel like they would make extra guideline but just cannot find a definite proof.

secret.simon wrote:It will certainly mess up any plans for naturalisation, if you have that on the horizon.

Naturalisation requires an absence of less than 90 days in the year preceding naturalisation and 450 days in the five years preceding naturalisation. Also you must have been physically in the UK exactly five years to the day on the date of your naturalisation application. If you are planning to apply for citizenship in 2020, that would mean that 2016 would be the fifth year preceding naturalisation. If you are on a month on,month off plan, you have effectively ruled out half the year for even applying.

I believe that the absences for spousal/dependent visas should be "limited" and "for good reason".

Cheers; I just sat down and wrote out my current spouse visa application dates down, counting when my 5years is up, like shown in the form by noajthan. You are right this will definitely mess up the days count. Shame and also meant I might be on the job market soon....

CR001 wrote:For ILR as as spouse on Set(M), only absences of 180 or more need to be declared. But as secret.simon has noted, any absences should be limited and for good reason.

Thanks. This is one of the problem I asked myself. If I willingly agree to this work arrangement is this a good reason? For Home office they probably do not agree. Even though my husband agree this is a golden opportunity. Oh well..

zaq12wsx wrote:...

Thanks. This is one of the problem I asked myself. If I willingly agree to this work arrangement is this a good reason? For Home office they probably do not agree. Even though my husband agree this is a golden opportunity. Oh well..

Dream job or settlement & citizenship. A tough call.

At least you had the foresight to ask ahead of time rather than find yourself caught out later & with no room to manouvere.

Good luck.

zaq12wsx wrote:If I willingly agree to this work arrangement is this a good reason? For Home office they probably do not agree.

You have got it the wrong way around. A good reason for the Home Office to exercise discretion is if you had no choice in the matter of exceeding the required number of days. An example would be if you traveled to a country and civil war or terrorist threats forced closure of flights between that country and the UK. In such a case, the Home Office could exercise discretion because you had no choice.

But in the case of applying for your job or if you were to travel abroad for childbirth, that is your choice. You made the decision to absentee yourself from the UK and hence the Home Office would not exercise discretion in such cases.

The decision comes down to how important completing your immigration journey and achieving citizenship is to you. If you are content with living legally in the UK and not necessarily achieving ILR/citizenship, go for the job. On the other hand, if you want to live freely as a citizen in the country and not have to worry about the Rules changing every few months, I suggest letting the job go.