UK residence card application + British citizenship

[finchleyresident2019]

Hello all,

First time poster here - have searched the forums and not been able to find anything specifically related to my circumstances, so hopefully someone will be able to help with my query.

I am a British citizen and my wife is a US citizen. She has been resident in the UK since September 2013, when she came over to London to study for a PhD, having done an MSc in 2008. She was enrolled as a full-time student and entered the UK on a tier 4 visa. As part of her PhD, she was overseas for a period of 9 months undertaking required fieldwork. This period was from approximately June 2015 - March 2016, during which she remained on a tier 4 visa. We had a son in December 2016, and my wife transitioned to a spouse visa in November 2016 as she took an interruption in her studies. She is now finishing her PhD and is enrolled as a part-time student.

What I've been unable to do is find any literature on the Home Office website which permits a break of residence for > 180 days for absences related to educational work. If we can provide compelling evidence that the fieldwork was required, would my wife be eligible to apply for a UK residence card, and thus, in turn, apply for British citizenship?

[CR001]

Presumably by 'UK Residence Card' you are asking about ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) based on 10 years long residence?

Absence of 180 days in one go breaks the continuity in residence and therefore the eligibility to apply for ILR based on long residence.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -residence