Skilled worker dependent visa extension outside the UK.

[Linac Dude]

Hi,

I am asking for a friend. He holds ILR now having been on skilled worker visa before. His wife applied for SW dependent before he applied for ILR and this was granted last year.

The wife works as a cabin crew for an overseas airline so her absence in the last year is extensive and they are aware this year will not count towards ILR (unless there's a workaround maybe?).

Now the plan is for her to move permanently to the UK, and as her visa is running out, she needs to apply for extension. They are keen to continue extending on the pathway of SW dependent as he is a doctor so it means they pay less money for visa and also no IHS.

The questions they have are this:

1- Can she apply to extend her SW dependent outside the UK? For context please be reminded that her husband holds ILR now.

2- If she can apply outside the UK, does it usually take more or less time as compared to applying within the UK? Also, is there a difference in cost?

3- As far their understanding goes, her ILR clock is resetting anyway because of her absence, is this the case or athey missing something?

Thanks a lot for your time.

[AmazonianX]

An extension can not be applied from outside UK.