Long term Residency -Travel to UK - CoronaVirus Outbreak

[narass]

Hi Team,

I am working in UK for the past 9.5 years under Tier 2-ICT visa category. My Wife and kid(22 months old) has got valid UK visa as my dependant. They travelled to India 5 months ago and they are about to travel back to UK on 09/03/2020. Since my wife is going to finish her 10 year long residency by Nov-2020 and she is about to cross the 180 day limit by mid March while calculating the continuous period (no more than 180 days absence in consecutive 12-month period), she had to return to UK now.

Question:

Since we have 22 months old toddler and the Corona Virus outbreak is rapid in UK now, we afraid to make them travel in this situation. If we postpone her travel from India to UK by couple more weeks and if she crosses 180 day limit because of this, will UKBA take this as an exceptional situation (because of the CoronaVirus outbreak) while we apply for her 10 long residency application in Nov-2020 and grant her ILR ?

Can anyone in this forum advise me immediately considering your past experience or direct me to corresponding UKBA helpline numbers/email where I could get this clarified. Please advise ASAP as we have to re-plan our travel based on your confirmation.

[Zerubbabel]

Hello

It's up to you and your inclination to take chances with the Home Office.

The Coronavirus crisis started in December and picked-up momentum in the last few weeks. No one has experience about its effect on immigration applications where the applicant stayed outside the UK longer than usual.

What I see here, is a big gamble. You give them a strong refusal reason on a silver plate then you justify it by a global event. They may or may not buy into your story. So you are taking a big risk here.

Check this out:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... the-public

Official Government website, no travel restrictions from/to India.

This also:



There are daily flights options from India to the UK. I would understand if she was strand in Wuhan.

So your claim that she stayed out in the UK for more than 180 days because of the Coronavirus doesn't make sense.

I understand she would rather not fly or rather not travel at the moment... but is this argument strong enough? It doesn't sound so.

Knowing that the Home Office tries to pull tricks for refusal even when everything is perfect in the application, would take chances to give them a refusal argument? It's your call.

[zimba]

There is no UKBA since 2013, it has been UKVI since then.
You are hoping for UKVI to make a concession based on a concern that is not real. Currently the risk remains low and travel to the UK should not put them at any great risk. I suggest NOT to hope for UKVI to exercise concession under long residence requirements as 99.9% of the times they won't. They better travel to UK and stay here for now to avoid the break in their continuous residence. If situation here started to deteriorate, they can go back to India again and they still can get ILR in November

[seagul]

Coronavirus has already arrived into India as well:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/asia ... index.html

[zimba]

Coronavirus has already arrived into India as well:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/asia ... index.html

This will soon be a global epidemic. Travel to avoid it in fact helps it to spread further