UK Extending Spouse Visa For External Application Early

andy.hatesthis · Sep 23, 2025

Hi,

Apologises if this has been answered already, I did look and read quite a few posts but did not see my particular scenario answered.

My wife applied for her visa from abroad, so it was the 2 years 9 month visa time. It was confirmed as successful in May last year and she moved to the UK in July. Her visa expires in march 2027, i've read comments that we can start the next visa application early, and then someone has mentioned a 28 day early period as well.

So just to confirm, say if she had her visa accepted on the 20th June 2024, valid until the 20th March 2027, moved here on the 10th July, does this mean we can start the next visa application from the 13th December 2026? Or would it be the 10th January 2027?

Thank you in advance for any help.

ForaFrank · 2025-09-26T16:51:12-0400

Hey @andy.hatesthis, I can see how the timing for that spouse visa extension gets tricky, especially when you're trying to figure out the 28-day window for an application made from abroad. What have you read so far about whether the clock starts from the visa issue date or the date your wife actually entered the UK? Sharing that could help the community give you a more specific answer

Crawford · 2025-09-26T19:23:37-0400

You apply for the second leave to remain visa (a Family Permit/spouse Extension) when you are within the last 28 days before the expiry of your current Spouse Visa.

andy.hatesthis · 2025-09-27T07:03:37-0400

Thank you for the response. I've been receiving conflicting information about this, many have said that because the current visa is for 2 years 9 months we can start it 3 months early, plus 28 days.

Crawford · 2025-09-27T10:55:45-0400

The period of the visa is 2.5 years PLUS, for the initial visa, an additional 3 months in order for the applicant to have time to move to the UK once the visa is issued.
You can apply for the second 2.5 years visa up to 28 days prior to the expiry day of the current visa.

UK Extending Spouse Visa For External Application Early

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