I thought that I would document my experience thus far in the hope that that there are others in the same boat – I havent found a case the same as mine on the forum as yet.
I am eligible for ILR under Tier 1 General (Set O) and will be visiting the folk in Croyden early May 2014 for assessment.
Over the last 5 years I have had many absences from the UK for travel (both for work and pleasure), none of which extend past the 180 day rule.
A specific area of concern was the fact that I have had a 120 day absence during this period and was not in employment – it was between the completion of one work contract and the beginning of another. So, no employer to verify and no reason ‘consisent with original purpose of entry in the UK’ or ‘compelling’ under the convoluted guidance for calculating conitious period. I found advice out there to be contradictory so I rang the immigration help line – several times over a 6 month period – to try and ascertain exactly whether or not I had broken my continuous period because I went on holiday without being employed.
The most recent time was today – following the April 2014 changes, I was very insistent in being clear as to my status - and was informed that given the information I provided (that I was out of the UK for 4 months during which time I was not employed either in the UK or the homeland) I had NOT broken my continuous residence and therefore would be eligible for ILR in my current circumstance – they then went on to caveat that they couldn’t guarantee this because the assessor on the day would take into consideration the application in totality and I should provide explanations and evidence!!
Given this information it’s clear that the law is indeed open to interpretation so I will take my chances and submit application for ILR providing a letter explaining my absence. I will feedback on the outcome but welcome any comments or shared experiences.
