Guys I need some advise

I am British National and recently got an offer from an employer in Switzerland. My wife is non-EU national but got indefinite leave to remain visa status in UK, who is living and working in UK for past 5 years.

My questions

1. What kind of spouse visa, should I apply for her?

2. Is she eligible to work in Switzerland?

Please do clarify if anyone knows about this or gone through this situation before.

She would need a joining spouse visa.

http://ch.vfsglobal.co.uk/visacategory.aspx

She will be allowed to work.

I was in the same position last October. Good luck. It might be an idea to check if she is eligible for British citizenship before you come here and apply for that. You can apply at a checking service and it would only take one month to come through.

Sorry I just saw she's been living in the UK for 5 years. So she would be eligible for citizenship. I would recommend she get this.

Strictly her indefinite leave to remain visa is a residence visa and if she isn't resident then it's not strictly valid. Although the border security won't check and won't know she isn't living in the UK.

Just to make it easier for her to come to the UK!

I agree she should apply for UK citizenship ASAP. She will need to pass a civics/culture exam and declare each and every departure from the UK over the past few years.

However, ILR remains valid for two years following departure provided there is animus manendi -- intention to remain, or more exactly to return. Still, if she doesn't apply for and qualify for (she may need to remain in the UK for a while) for UK citizenship now, her absence may make it impossible in the future, even if regular visits keep her ILR alive.

It is a nuisance, and very expensive, to transfer ILR from one passport to a new one. One can keep the old one (assuming your embassy allows it), and carry it and your new one indefinitely. The ILR stamp in the old passport will be hooured. Although unlike time past, the border immigration control officer does not have the power to "transfer" it to a new passport.

The life in the UK test is part of the application for ILR visa in the UK.

Like you said you just need to carry your old passport and new passport to get entry into the UK in the event that your passport expires.

Another reason to get citizenship now is to avoid the evil new citizenship laws that are coming through.

Thats true. It would have made life lot easy if she had a British passport.
However she does not have, now we have passed through this process and below is the procedure, if this can helps others in similar situation

1. Make family reunion visa application
2. Then they contacted us asking for our kids births certificates (who r British)
3. We have Indian marriage certificate, (becoz we got married in India), they wanted some evidence from EU/UK confirming our marriage, I contacted Marriages, Births & Deaths registry office in UK, but they said they cannot re certify, the very fact was, UK recognized the marriage and hence issued dependency visa. At most, what they can offer is an Affidavit, I have to go to nearest embassy and give a statement saying I got married to so and so ect. It costed me CHF 117.00, It took an hours time.

Finally I got that affidavit and it worked.

4. Apart from this, I had to submit a credit report kind of document from Stadt (I don't remember its name, will post that name later) where I was living, it costed me CHF 17.

5. Finally, I got approval letter valid for 3 months ( we have to get the visa with in these three months) and was been asked to pay CHF 47.00, actually for European citizens this should be free, but my wife is not European so had to pay this.

6. Actually we could not apply for visa in the given three months, hence I requested them to extend the validity period, they asked me to send a fax. And in two days they send us a new reunion approval letter valid for another 3 months, but charged another CHF 47.

7. We have applied for VISA in Swiss Consulate in India(Bcoz she was in India at that time), with the re union approval letter, couple of my bank statements, salary slips, house rent agreements (later I come to know that those documents are not necessary )
She got visa for 5 years ( That might be becoz I got B Permit)

Once she came to Switzerland, she applied for permit here and got B-permit valid for 5 years.


It took 6 weeks to get the approval letter. 1 week to get the visa (in India), In UK, I heard that its 24 hours, you submit application today and collect it tomorrow, but person who is making application should apply in person)

Its but painful process, but you cannot help it.

Thank you for coming back and giving details of the processes you went though. It always helps to hear of the solutions and not just the problems.

Also she would lose her ILR if out of UK for two years and not resident here.

Which is why I recommended she apply for British citizenship. If the threadstarter ever plans to go back to the UK he would need to apple for new residence permits etc. and if his wife wanted citizenship it will be a lot more expensive and more difficult!

I think you can still apply for citizenship even if you aren't resident in the UK, I mean I guess she didn't tell anyone she is leaving the country? I'm sure you can use your parents address or something but it really does help if your wife is an EU citizen not just for this but for most walks in life

You have to be physically present in the UK to apply for citizenship and intend to make the UK your home. UKBA is getting stricter and stricter and any sniff of deceit will mean a refusal and possibility of ILR being revoked.

This doesn't apply if you are married to a UK citizen. Unless the form has changed since last November when my wife applied.

Standard requirements state:

You must intend to continue living in the UK, or to continue in Crown service, the service of an international organisation of which the UK is a member, or the service of a company or association established in the UK.

This is omitted if you are married or in a civil partnership with a British citizen.

Requirements for naturalisation if you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen

There are seven requirements you need to meet before you apply:
you are aged 18 or over; and
you are of sound mind; and
you can communicate in English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic to an acceptable degree; and
you have sufficient knowledge of life in the United Kingdom; and
you are of good character; and
you are the husband, wife or civil partner of a British citizen; and
you meet the residential requirements; or
your husband, wife or civil partner is in Crown or designated service outside the United Kingdom.

Residential requirements

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:
have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.

There is no way that the UKBA would find out that she is not resident in the UK unless she has de-registered in the UK with the p85 form. But yes you have to be resident in the UK to apply for citizenship. But the UKBA don't know if she has left for a holiday or moved away.

Regardless it might be a good idea to call. But if the thread starter had applied when he started this thread then he could have done it through the checking service and kept his wife's passport for travel purposes. Then if there was any problem with the application it would have been picked up at that point as well.

But my point is that of deceit, and if the UKBA/HO gets a sniff of it, visa/ILR/BC, denied....

I don't work for them but I do work on their systems so I know how tight things have become.

I agree with u on the other points tho, but with the UKBA now you really have to toe the line, for which Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg will take credit, no doubt!

Thats true, she loose her ILR status, when she is out of country for 2 years continuoiusly. What that means is if we keep traveling to UK lets say once in a year then its fine.

Other clause is, if you own a house/property you won't lose it.