It seems a no-brainer that if you are moving to the UK because you have a British partner you apply for a spouse or partner visa, and if you are moving to the UK to take a job, you apply for a skilled worker visa. However, real life is sometimes more complicated.
UK spouse visa has three negative factors which may or may not be significant for you.
The first is the processing time. Standard processing time for a partner visa is up to 12 weeks but it may take longer depending on the country you are applying from and the current backlog with the Home Office. An expedited application puts you ahead of the queue but doesn’t guarantee a timescale. On average, you may expect a decision within 4-6 weeks.
The second negative factor is the cost. The partner visa fee is £1846. It is granted for 33 months and has to be extended for another 30 months at least once. In addition, there is £3105 for the Immigration Health Surcharge payable with the first application and £2587.50 with the application for extension.
The third negative factor is the financial requirement. Eligibility for the spouse visa largely hinges on the sponsor’s income over the last six months, or over the last financial year for self-employed people and directors of limited companies.
This may be extremely frustrating if the sponsor only recently started self-employed and has to wait for a full year of accounts to be ready. Also, temporary unemployment of the British partner or change of employment may delay the eligibility of the non-British partner to apply for the visa even if they have a good prospect of finding employment and expect to be the main breadwinner for the family.
An application for a skilled worker visa is normally processed within 3 weeks. If expedited, you can expect a decision within 5 days or even within 24 hours. Priority service offers you a clear timescale, not merely preferential treatment.
The skilled worker visa is less costly and can be issued for the entire five-year period which would lead to your eligibility for indefinite leave to remain. In other words, you will not have to make an extension application and your initial visa application fee will be lower.
Lastly, the Skilled Worker visa has a much lower financial requirement. You only have to have £1025 in your bank account for 28 days. This can be met in any event if the sponsor (in this case, the employer) certifies maintenance when assigning the certificate of sponsorship.
Having said all that, the disadvantage of the skilled worker visa is that you need to secure an offer of employment in the UK. Your employment has to be in a skilled occupation and with the right level of pay.
The employer has to act as your sponsor – i.e. undertake certain duties related to the prevention of illegal working and pay the government an immigration skills charge which, for a large organisation, amounts to £5000 for five years of sponsorship.
The English language requirement is more onerous for the Skilled Worker visa applicant than for a person applying for a partner visa. For skilled workers, the required standard of English is B1 in four components – speaking, listening, reading and writing. For partners of settled persons, it is A1 (for the initial application) in speaking and listening only.
The skilled worker visa allows you to work only for one employer. You may take some supplementary work, but only in the same occupation as for your sponsor, or in a shortage occupation. This supplementary job can only be part-time and in addition to your main duties for the sponsor.
As a skilled worker, you are not allowed to work for yourself or set up and run your own business.
Change of employment will also require a change of sponsorship and a new visa application. This should not interrupt the continuity of your residence, but your visa may be curtailed if you stop working for your employer and don’t make an alternative application for permission to stay.
If you are a frequent traveler, it may be important that your eligibility for indefinite leave to remain as a skilled worker would be conditioned on your absences from the UK not exceeding 180 days in any 12 months.
Any absence of more than 180 days in 12 months will interrupt the continuity of your residence and will set the clock back to 0 from the date of your return from the prolonged absence. This would mean that you would have to extend your visa instead of applying for ILR.
A spouse visa does not impose restrictions on the time spent outside the UK. However, any absences of more than 6 months would need an explanation and you would have to show that the absences are due to special circumstances of a temporary nature and that your main home is and will remain in the UK.
With all that in mind, you can switch between the partner visa and the skilled worker visa. However, the time spent in one of these immigration categories does not add up with the time spent in the other when calculating eligibility for indefinite leave to remain. So you have to make a decision fairly early on as to which type of visa suits you best.
