Migrating to the UK through marriage

[AntonioS]

Hi all,

I am a little confused as to the process by which a person achieves Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) through marriage, as I seem to be reading conflicting information from previous posts here and that of GOV.UK.

From what I can discern from the posts here, it takes 5 years to achieve ILR, consisting of a "family of a settled person" visa and an extension, then applying for ILR at the end of the visa extension. As well as of course meeting any financial requirements (such as the £18,600 per year req.), and intending to remain married etc.

The GOV.UK website's "Immigration Rules part 8: family members" (link below) however appears to suggest it only takes 2 years to achieve ILR if it is through marriage. According to "Requirements for indefinite leave to remain for the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom" clause 287 (a)(i)(a):

the applicant was admitted to the United Kingdom for a period not exceeding 27 months or given an extension of stay for a period of 2 years in accordance with paragraphs 281 to 286 of these Rules and has completed a period of 2 years as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom; or

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... ly-members

Background:
My girlfriend and I are both Australian born, however she holds a British passport. We will have been dating for almost 2 years by the time we would be looking to move to the UK and marry, and I have enough in savings to support the both of us for many years (however we intend to find full time work). She has expressed concern over how long it would take to achieve the ILR, and the pressure that it may place on our relationship due to the professional sacrifices I would be making by moving. Five years is a very long time to commit to a place in which would be isolating ourselves from our family and existing social groups and potentially stagnating my career progression.

[KatieWills]

It takes 5 years to be eligible to apply for ILR under the family of a settled person route. I think the 2 year option only applies to those who applied before July 2012 when there was a rule change.

If you dont intend to settle in UK then why worry about ILR? My understanding is that the status is lost after an absence of 2 years. However if you would like to claim British citizenship then ILR is required.

[AntonioS]

Thanks for your reply Katie. We both do intend to remain in the UK, however the concern stems simply from the fact that 5 years is a long time to wait with no certainty or guarantees in place. I am happy to take the hit to my career progression, however she is concerned that if things don't turn out as planned that I may resent her for it. I just don't think I'll ever understand the need to have such strict hurdles for migrants from "low risk" countries, particularly if the proportion of those leaving the country is similar to that arriving.

Oh well, something we'll have to figure out between the two of us then I guess! Thanks again for your reply!

[CR001]

With all due respect, but your government has some of the strictest immigration processes and it takes 5 years in Australia too before gaining permanent residency as a foreigner.

[MrSlyFox]

With all due respect, but your government has some of the strictest immigration processes and it takes 5 years in Australia too before gaining permanent residency as a foreigner.

No, Generally not true. For example, there are a huge range of visas which grant permanent residence without a preceding residence requirement.


https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1?S ... sa+options

For Partners of Australian Citizens, they get a two-year Provisional partner visa after which they can apply for a permanent visa. (much less that the UK process of apply for 2.5-year visa - then a second 2.5-year visa - then ILR (and then Citizenship if they wish))


For the Australian equivalent to the UK PBS streams, the most common is the 457 visa allows you to work in Australia with your sponsoring employer. If you have worked for your sponsoring employer for 2 years, you can apply for Permanent Residency via the subclasses 186 or 187 with the same employer sponsor.

Much less than five years.

After fours years living in Australia and Having held a PR visa for the previous 12 months you can apply for citizenship. So in four years, you could be Australian whereas in the UK you still won't have acquired ILR.

[CR001]

Thanks, but it is well known that it is harder to migrate to Oz than the UK.

A number of my friends back home, highly qualified, failed to meet the requirements for Oz and opted for UK instead.

[KatieWills]

Something else to figure in is that if you come to the UK with the intention of marrying here you have to provide evidence of the intention to marry which has to be within 6 months of arriving. Following the marriage you have switch to FLR(M) for 2.5 years and renew the FLR(M) for a further 2.5 years. Also you, as the non-British partner, will be unable to work until the first FLR(M) is granted.

On the bright side, being married to a British wife means you could apply for citizenship straight away after ILR, assuming all requirements are met, of course.

[AntonioS]

Thanks, but it is well known that it is harder to migrate to Oz than the UK.

A number of my friends back home, highly qualified, failed to meet the requirements for Oz and opted for UK instead.

I definitely didn't mean my comment regarding the difficulty of migrating as a slight against the UK, and I apologise if that is how it came across - I meant it in a much more general sense in that immigration controls seem to be getting stricter globally, in spite of extensive research suggesting that immigration and global mobility benefits local economies.

I do have to disagree with your assertion quoted above though. I think in the past that has been true, but in more recent times the UK has become increasingly difficult (such as the salary requirement increase for ILR). In addition to those mentioned by MrSlyFox, the Australian de facto visa only requires partners to have lived together for 1 year, whereas the unmarried UK visa requires 2 years and requires the applicant to have obtained an academic qualification (4 years together if they don't hold an academic qualification). I have also heard from a number of UK migrants to Aus (such as my brother in law) who have described the process as easy.

Anyway, I did not intend for this to descend into a debate over which country has stricter immigration, and I suspect both sides of the argument are naturally going to be somewhat biased. We are far more likely to be exposed to people trying to migrate to another country than to those that have tried to migrate to our own, and so we are going to have warped perceptions.