1-day employment gap - continuous period for ILR

Hi!

I am about to change my job. My new employer offered me a contract that starts on 2 Nov 2015 (Monday) while the contract with my current employer ends on 31 Oct 2015 (Saturday). Hence, there is a one day gap between the two contracts. My current Tier 2 (General) visa expires on 14 Nov 2015, hence, even if the new Tier 2 (General) starts on 2 Nov 2015 then there will be no gap between the visas.

The question is: will this one-day gap in my employment be a problem when applying for ILR a couple of years later?

I assume that the gap in employment should not cause any problems if there is no gap in visas but the "Apply to settle in the UK" (https://www.gov.uk/settle-in-the-uk/y/y ... -2-general) web page tells me that one of the eligibility criteria is "you’ve been living and working in the UK for 5 years..."

In "Indefinite leave to remain: calculating continuous period in UK" (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... .0_EXT.pdf) I found the following information:

Where an applicant’s continuous residence period includes time spent as a Tier 2 migrant or a work permit holder, annual leave can include a short holiday taken on conclusion of employment, if the applicant made an immigration application to work for a new employer within 60 days of the conclusion of the previous employment. See link on left: Breaks in the continuous lawful period.

As far as I understand, this means that any gap between employments is fine as far as I apply for the new Tier 2 (General) not later than 60 days after leaving my old employer. In my case, I will be applying for the new Tier 2 (General) a couple of months before moving to the new job. Could anyone please confirm that my understanding is correct? I don't want to spoil my immigration status just because of this one day gap! If there is a chance that this gap can cause any issues in future, I will attempt to convince my new employer to start the new contract on 1 Nov 2015.

Thank you in advance.

From an immigration perspective what is relevant is "continuous leave" and not "continuous employment". As long as you make an-time application to extend your leave in the UK with the new sponsor, you have nothing to worry about about this "one day employment gap".

Hi sushdmehta,

Thank you very much, that's what I thought; just couldn't find any clear statement like that in official documents.

Best wishes,
Daniel.

On this topic. I always understood that if a female spouse from outside the EU or EEA came to the Uk to join a UK citizen she is married to (myself) and that he meets the Financial Requirement, so long as she keeps out of trouble and is no burden on the UK taxpayer, she would normally expect to receive the TLR and the ILR approval without a hassle.

But is this interpretation wrong? Specifically, is it really the case she should be living and WORKING in the UK for the 5 years? Don't forget that many, probably most, new immigrants to the UK married to a UK citizen will have a struggle getting a job in the UK because of language problems, age discrimination and the fact their previous work history is from another country. So if they have to have been also working for 5 years, this is bad news for most new immigrants. I just don't think it would be a realistic requirement.

Please elucidate.