Immigration Corner | Staying in the UK on a family visa beyond six months

Dear Mr Bassie,

I would like to know what kind of visa I would need if I intended to stay in the UK for an extended period with a family member. I look forward to reading your advice.

WG

Dear WG,

Persons will need a family visa to live with a family member in the United Kingdom (UK) for more than six months.

When applying from outside the UK, persons can apply for a family visa to live with their:

• Spouse or partner

• Fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner

• Child

• Parent

• Relative who will provide long-term care for him/her

Please note that if visiting the UK for six months or less, persons should check if they need a Standard Visitor visa or Marriage Visitor visa.

EXTENDING A FAMILY VISA

Persons can apply to extend their stay with their family member if they are already in the UK on a family visa. They can extend it at any time before their current permission to stay in the UK expires.

If they are extending to stay with the same family member, they will only get up to 28 days left on the current stay added to a new visa.

Please note that persons must live in the UK for a certain amount of time before they are eligible for settlement (‘indefinite leave to remain’). It is advisable that before extending the visa, persons check how much time they need to settle in the UK. Persons might be able to apply to stay on the basis of their private life if they have lived in the UK for many years already.

SWITCHING TO A FAMILY VISA

Persons who arrivein the UK on a different visa, might be able to switch to a family visa to stay with their:

•`Spouse or partner

• Child

• Parent

Those persons can switch at any time before their current permission to stay in the UK expires

FEES

How much it costs will depend on who is joining and how they apply.

Apply outside the UK Apply in the UK

Cost if joining a partner, parent or child £1,538 £1,048

Cost for each dependent added to the application £1,538 each person £1,048 each person

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE

If the application is made outside of the UK, a decision will usually be made within 24 weeks. On the other hand, If the application is made in the UK, a decision will usually be made within eight weeks of the application date if the standard service is used.

There is the option of using the super priority service and a decision will usually be made:

• By the end of the next working day after persons provide biometric information if their appointment is on a weekday

• Two working days after providing biometric information if the appointment is at the weekend

Please note that working days are Monday to Friday, not including bank holidays.

It might take longer if the application is complex, for example, applicants:

• Do not meet the minimum income requirement

• Cannot prove their knowledge of English

• Need to attend an interview

• Have not provided all the evidence that the Home Office needs

• Have a criminal conviction or another personal circumstance that needs to be reviewed

WHEN PERSONS CANNOT GET A FAMILY VISA

In some circumstances, persons cannot apply for, or switch to, a family visa. For instance, the family member has a work visa or student visa. Therefore, the applicant cannot apply for a family visa if their family member is in the UK temporarily on a work visa or student visa. However, persons can apply to stay with them as a dependent instead.

Persons who have a visitor visa or a visa for six months or less will usually need to leave the UK to apply for a family visa if either they have permission to be in the UK as a visitoror if their visa is for six months or less.

However, persons might be able to switch to a family visa in the UK if they have either a six-month family visa as a fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner or permission to stay in the UK for the outcome of a family court case or divorce.

Other ways persons can stay

Persons may be able to apply to settle in the UK if they had permission to stay in the UK as a partner when either they were the victim of domestic abuse or if their partner had died.

Persons may be able to apply for ‘family reunion’ to join a partner or parent who has either leave to remain as a refugee or permission to stay as a refugee in the UK or has humanitarian protection in the UK.

I hope this helps.

All the best.

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court Appointed-mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator, the global president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com