Settlement visa

[lindosfan1]

We are planning to move to the uk. Obviously my wife will need a visa. The visa that seems to apply is a settlement visa. Four months ago I researched this and the fee was 88 pounds and after two years it cost another 800 pounds to take the life in the UK test, the english test does not apply my wife is fluent in english.
Now the initial fee seems to be 810 pounds.
Has anybody got any tips on this and why the price seems to have risen by so much.
Thanks for any advice.

[chopsticks]

She will need to apply for settlement using the SET(M) application process.
The bad news is it's now increased to £972 for postal applications. The fees have been increased substantially over the last 4-5 years and are continually changing along with revisions to the application forms and language requirements.

£88 sounds more like the fee for a visitor, as the settlement visa fees have been a lot more than that for the last 6+ years, before that it was free ?

It seems as if these high fees may be cross-subsidising other activities the UKBA is kept busy with.

Also needed is to submit evidence of proficiency in a very basic level of English (speaking and listening) either from an accredited test centre or they may accept evidence from educational qualifications such as a degree certificate.
Check out the UKBA web-site to make sure exactly what's needed otherwise they may reject the application and you will lose the fee!!
The test is very easy and takes about 5 minutes in the UK for £50 + but the difficulty is finding somewhere to do it as they have issued a new list of approved tests very recently to try and eliminate some bogus test centres.

Once in the UK she will eventually need to achieve a 75% pass in the 'Life in UK' multiple choice test which has some rather obscure questions in it or else attend an ESOL with citizenship course.

After all that she can eventually apply for 'indefinite leave to remain' which is a pre-requisite for the final stage of applying for and being granted citizenship (UK passport entitlement).

The whole process will take a few years and be costly at minimum £ 2000 - 2500.

[lindosfan1]

Thanks Chopsticks, english is not a problem, she has a degree in english. The life in UK test is odd it asks some very obscure questions that 95% of english would not get right. Main thing that annoys me is the price of the visa, and from where we live she has to fly to Athens twice, which adds another 400 pound to the cost.
What also annoys me is I get a state pension for her, to do that I had to give them all the details that immigration are asking for.

[chopsticks]

I agree it's an expensive load of red-tape that needs to be got through but not sure why she would have to go to Athens ?
If it can't be processed in Bangkok then it usually gets done in Hong Kong.
If you have the option it may be easier to first get a passport from another EU country and then move later to the UK.

[lindosfan1]

We live in Rhodes a Greek island

[chopsticks]

OK, assumed you were in Hua Hin. PM me if you want more info.

[caller]

Lindos, English might not be an issue for your wife, but unless she's exempt - see here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... icants.pdf

She will still have to find somewhere to take the A1 level listening & speaking test and for 1st time applicants, the outcome of that has to be provided as part of the visa application?

Good luck and welcome to the nuthouse!

Edit - Thought a bit more about this - Lindos, what is the basis of your wife staying with you in Greece? If she already has a visa for a member of the eurozone, she might be exempt from the normal UK visa rules? I'm not up on the rules, but I have heard of something akin to this before. Let us know and if no-one can answer it here, I'll find out.

[lindosfan1]

Caller she has a masters degree from the USA which is allowable, so we should be ok from that part of the nuthouse

[caller]

Caller she has a masters degree from the USA which is allowable, so we should be ok from that part of the nuthouse

Yup, without a doubt! Did you see the edit of my 1st post?

[lindosfan1]

Caller when we came here she was on a schengen visa, the UK is not part of that scheme, that lasted for 3 months in that time we got her a residency card. She cannot work but can stay with me. Since then she has travelled to Thailand 3 times and the residency card was enough to get her back here back each time a bit wierd. Also the state pension has given me an allowance for my wife after forwarding all the details immigration want.

Thanks for any advice you have. I can find nothing that covers our situation.

[chopsticks]

New UK government proposals for 2012 will make it much more difficult for non EU immigrants to obtain UK settlement / citizenship as detailed here :

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... onsult.pdf

and here :

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary