Spouse Visa - ILR or can Apply for a derivative residence card

[ChrisL71]

I have just returned from a long period working overseas, returning with my family. I am married to Indonesian, and we have 3 children, 14, 10 & 4 years, all were born overseas, all children have British passports.

Work has dried up overseas, and the kids' education was suffering as a result, so I find myself back in the UK looking for work, but currently, I am not employed. I have a house, which I have put on the market so I can support all my expenses, however, the timing probably couldn't have been worse since the election the market has gone very quiet. Therefore I am burning through all my savings while trying to get things sorted.

My wife has had a 5-year visit visa for a couple of years, so is able to visit the UK for 6 months at a time, but I understand this is not a suitable long term solution, and she needs to become a resident.

I can't see how I can apply for ILR unless I have a permanent job paying at least £23k annually, which isn't much or meet the criteria some other way. I work on a freelance basis offshore or overseas, so work away from home for 4 to 8 week periods at a time, which doesn't fit into the normal 'employment' category.

However, I can't work offshore or overseas and expect my wife to remain here looking after the kids while she is on a visit visa. Also, as she is not a resident, she is unable to be insured permanently to drive my car, so she can't even run the kids to school, which limits my employment options further.

I was initially looking to apply for ILR, but don't see how I can comply with the requirements of the application, also my wife will have to apply from her home country. This further complicates things.

I just came across the derivative residence card, and wondered if this is suitable as my wife will be supporting our children while I am working away from home?

I am at a complete loss at the moment and don't know which way to turn, or where to get the right information. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Chris

[Casa]

Your post is slightly confusing. You mention applying for ILR as if this is your application.

Assuming you are actually referring to your wife, she would only qualify for ILR (permanent residence) after 5 years of living in the UK (2.5 + 2.5 years). The correct application would be a Spouse Settlement Visa - VAF4a for which you need a minimum income level of £18,600 p.a. Your children are British citizens and therefore aren't considered in the calculation.

What amount of savings do you have?

Edit: If you read through the guidance on Derivative Residence Cards, you will see that this isn't applicable to your wife's situation.
I'm assuming you haven't been living and working in a another EU state?
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... v3-ext.pdf

[Casa]

Further to my previous post, my understanding of your wife's situation regarding a Derivative Right of Residence under Zambrano is explained below:
Example scenarios
The mother of a British citizen child is a non-EEA national who is asserting a
derivative right of residence on the basis that she has primary responsibility for the
child in line with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgment in
Zambrano. The mother lives with the father who is a British citizen and both parents
look after the child jointly.
In this instance, the mother is unable to claim a derivative right as she shares equal
responsibility with a British citizen who comes within the exempt definition.
This would also be the case where the father lives in the household but works fulltime
and does not undertake the main day to day caring duties for the child. In this
instance, the father still shares overall responsibility for the child and will be involved
in making important decisions jointly with the mother on the child’s upbringing.
Working full-time does not, by itself, mean that a parent does not have equal
responsibility for care.

[ChrisL71]

Hi, and thanks for the input, I will attempt to clarify a couple of points.

The application is for my Indonesian wife, I am English, not British immigrant, or from an immigrant background. Our children are all British Citizens.

I am a seafarer, so my work is overseas/offshore, not UK or land based. I work on a freelance basis in Asia, and since I have been back in the UK I have not been working. I am living off our savings, so can't technically meet or prove the financial requirements, I'm not sure how to prove this on a freelance basis, as I don't have a permanent or UK employer?

If/when I do go back to work, I will have to leave my children at home with my wife, she will have ultimate responsibility for their well being. I will be out of the picture and will have very little contact.

I no longer meet the 60K savings threshold, and in hindsight, I could have addressed this earlier in the year, but the original plan was somewhat different, and I am now having to improvise. I do have 200K equity in my house, which I am now trying to sell.

I will look into the VAF4a and see if that makes more sense.

Thnks & regards
Chris