Hi nagarjuna,
As always, I want to be careful trying to clarify the UK Gov't position on this, but I think I can straightforwardly answer your questions.
1. No. It seems that the program must be post-graduate at a university and
greater than 12 months. Now, is it possible that there is some leeway for programs that are right at 12 months? Perhaps. Some '12-month' programs could actually run 12.5 months, which would technically be greater than 12 months. Or perhaps the official start and end dates can be stretched accordingly. Obviously, the devil is in the details, so it's hard to say exactly how things will shake out for your program specifically. At this point, I would want to talk to someone more knowledgeable about how UK student visas actually work.
2. If you are, in fact, able to sponsor your spouse through your student visa (again, assuming through a post-grad course at university), your spouse can work. I haven't found anything suggesting any restrictions on the kind of work a sponsored spouse can do.
Hope that helps. Another resource I found very helpful was the following PDF from the UK Home Office summarizing their student visa changes:
https://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... policy.pdf.
Cheers,
redneck2011
nagarjuna13 wrote:
Hi redneck,
I have couple of questions for you regarding spouse-student visa.
1. Can a 12 month masters program student bring his or her spouse along?
2. Is there a restriction on the kind of job spouse can do? And is there a restriction on upper earning limit as such?
tc
nagarjuna