Hi all,
I know that many of us, myself included, want to map out exactly what we have to do from spousal visa through to citizenship, but we are in an odd period at the moment. A new points based system for citizenship is going live in July 2011, and the details are not completely available. From what I can interpret, however, it means that for those of us applying for spousal visas, either right now or at a later date, ILR no longer exists. It will be gone before we get to that 2 year mark in order to apply for it.
What information that is available can be found here, and I suggest we all keep an eye on developments.
UK Border Agency | Earning the right to stay - a new points test for citizenship ,
UK Border Agency | Earning the right to British citizenship ,
UK Border Agency | Transitional arrangements for earned citizenship
I urge no one to panic or get too worried, as it does not seem that citizenship necessarily will take any longer to achieve, though it may require a bit of extra volunteer work and the fees may also be raised. Obviously, no one is thrilled to hear about higher fees, but until they release information about the new fee structure, we have no idea how much higher if really at all, so we'll just have to wait.
Those that have ILR by the time the new program goes active will be assumed to have permanent residency, and nothing should change for them. Those that have applied before the new system will also be able to get ILR and thus permanent residency. They also plan to let those that have come in under the Highly Skilled Migrants program continue as normal.
Hope this is of some use to everyone.
Best wishes,
Elizabeth