I am a British National married to an Egyptian. We are looking

Hi
Thank you for your question and patience, I’m Tom and I’ll try to help you.
She will have to apply for a spouse visa and obtain this before she travels. It’s quite a complicated application and the evidential burden is high.
The webpage on spouse visas is here:
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk
The eligibility criteria is here:-
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/eligibility
If the application is well prepared and you meet the following eligibility criteria then it will make the application easy and quick to decide upon for the UKBA. To be eligible, you must show:-
• you and your partner are both aged 18 or over at the date of application;
• your partner is a British Citizen, or is present and settled in the UK, or is here with refugee leave or humanitarian protection;
• your partner is not related to you in a way that means you could not marry in UK law;
• you and your partner have met in person;
• your relationship with your partner is genuine and subsistingif you are married or in a civil partnership, your marriage or civil partnership is valid in UK law;
• if you are not married or in a civil partnership you have been living with your partner in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least 2 years prior to the date of the application;
• you meet the suitability requirements
• any previous relationship has permanently broken down (this does not apply to certain polygamous relationships);
• you and your partner intend to live together permanently in the UK;
• You must meet the financial requirement:-
• https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371437/AnnexFM_Section_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf
• This means that the UK based spouse must earn a minimum income threshold of £18,600. Alternatively, if you have savings of £62, 500.00 then you would not have to prove any salary. You can also use a mix of the two.
• You would also have to show that you meet the English language requirement:-
• https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/knowledge-of-english
You have to produce to the UKBA documentation that proves the above. This would be some of the following but there will almost certainly be other documents that you should provide depending on your individual circumstances :-
• Bank statements from both you and your spouse going back 6 months showing the income/capital you have available
• Payslips (6 month of) and a letter from your employer stating that you have a permanent job, contract of employment
• Documentary evidence of any other assets you hold (eg. Shares, evidence of ISAs or bonds)
• Marriage certificate, Birth Certificate, passport
• Evidence of correspondence between you and your spouse showing that the relationship is credible and genuine (eg. Emails, letters, evidence of previous trips, photos showing you together, phone records
• Evidence of the accommodation where you will live or that you can afford to accommodate yourselves once here.
He will need to apply for settlement (ie. spouses visa) by form VAF4A Settlement, available for download from UKBA's website, though she will have to actually apply online.
You can find Uk immigration solicitors through the following Law Society Website search engine:-
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law
Instructing a solicitor will cost around £800 + VAT for this and it really is worth it.
My goal is to provide you with a good service. If you feel you have received anything less, please reply back as I am happy to address follow-up issues specifically relating to your question.
Kind regards,
Tom

Hi Peter,
The spouse visa application must be made from her home country. It cannot be made in the UK on the visit visa that she holds. This is very strictly enforced.
Having a property will assist in proving that you are able to accommodate yourselves without needing to access public funds, but it does not help the financial requirement unless the property is sold/remortgaged in to cash before the application date.
In order to naturalise, the requirements if she is married to a UK citizen are here and please refer to the second set of bullet points for the time outside the country requirements:
https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen/if-your-spouse-is-a-british-citizen
Kind regards,
Tom

Hi Peter,
You have to make the spouse visa application in the same way that any other applicant does, it does not matter that your wife has a visit visa I'm afraid.
There is no option to "convert" a visit visa to a spouse visa. You simply have to make the application from her home country in the normal way.
This also means that you have to submit the documents again, you cannot reference any earlier application and tell the home office to refer to the previous application. It has to be a whole new application submitting the documents as requried.
Kind regards,
Tom

Hi
"settlement" for these purposes means "indefinite leave to remain" which is the right to remain permanently in the UK without any visas.
This is what your wife will have to apply for once she has been living in the UK on her spouse visa for 5 years.
If your wife wishes to settlement permanently in the UK then she must apply for a spouse visa from outside the UK in the way referred to in my original answer. Once she has this, she travels to the UK on her visa which will be granted for 27 months.
Just before this visa expires she has to apply for an extension of her spouse visa, this will be extended for a further 24 months. Just before the expiry of her extension she has to apply for settlement/indefinite leave to remain.
Once she has this she can remain permanently in the UK (ie. no more visas) and apply for naturalisation as a UK citizen provided that she meets the eligilibty criteria on the following page:
https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen/if-your-spouse-is-a-british-citizen
The short answer is simply to pick the date where you wish for your wife to travel to the UK with you and then instruct a solicitor 5 months before this date to start prepartion.
Kind regards
Tom