Starting a Spousal Visa Application

[laukatjac]

Hello there! I apologize in advance for the seemingly simple question, but it's been perplexing both me (two time Tier 2 visa holder) and my husband.

I am a US national, who has been granted two separate Tier 4 Student visas over the years - one during my study abroad, and one for my MA course which was just completed. My visa expires at the end of this month, and I will return to my home city to make my spousal visa application. I want to apply to join my husband in the UK for 33 months, at which point I aim to extend.

I have always applied on the Visa4UK website. I know my way around it, and was confident in starting this new application. However, I can't seem to find the correct options on the drop down menu to start the application in the first place. Please help!

Here are the drop down options:

'Reason for Visit': The options are: visit, study, work, settlement, transit, other, exempt.

The settlement visa is incorrect, because it assumes that I am applying for indefinite leave to remain, which I am not. However, this does allow me to select the 'Wife' visa sub-type or 'Marriage' visa sub-type. This is confusing.

The visit visa looks promising at first, leading to the visa type of 'Family', but the sub type suggests 2, 5, or 10 year visit visas which looks like it's the kind of visa that doesn't allow staying past 6 months. I'm looking for the standard spousal visa where I'm allotted 33 months with the possibility of extending.

The study options bring up student visas, the work options bring up work visas, the transit options are transitory, and the other/exempt options do not offer a marriage visa option.

Can you please advise how to start the visa application process? Please feel free to ask any clarifying questions - I'm always available for messaging. Thank you in advance!

TLDR; I want to apply for a 33 month Spousal Visa but can't figure out how to start on the Visa4UK website.

[Casa]

Settlement

[CR001]

My visa expires at the end of this month, and I will return to my home city to make my spousal visa application. I want to apply to join my husband in the UK for 33 months, at which point I aim to extend.

Why are you returning to the US to apply?? You can switch to a spouse visa within the UK if your last visa was valid for longer than 6 months.

[laukatjac]

CR001, I'm returning to the US to apply as my current visa is expiring soon and I have some work to do back in the US.

Casa, why is the correct option settlement? Under the government guidelines, settlement is "(also called ‘indefinite leave to remain’). Is this absolutely the correct option? Thank you!

[CR001]

CR001, I'm returning to the US to apply as my current visa is expiring soon and I have some work to do back in the US.

Casa, why is the correct option settlement? Under the government guidelines, settlement is "(also called ‘indefinite leave to remain’). Is this absolutely the correct option? Thank you!

You are applying for a spouse settlement visa, which is the correct category if your husband is either British or holds ILR.

You select : wife > wife >> settlement as your visa category you are applying for.

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

How long have you been living in the UK and on what visas??