Important date clarification for LR SET (10 long residency)

Hi Team,

First of all, I am a great fan of the work of moderators on this website. It helped thousands or maybe millions of confused people while applying for the UK visa or ILR or many other topics.

Now come to my current issues and I am hoping you will be able to provide much-needed clarity on the same.

Point 1. Situation- I came to the UK on 16 July 2011 (entry stamp on the passport at Birmingham airport) but ICT short-term visa was valid from 24Th June 2011.
Question - From which date I should count 28 days for LT application (I mean 28 days less 10 years) Visa date or First entry date in UK i.e 16th July 2011 in my case? My understanding is it the entry date (stamp on passport) that matters in this case. please clarify.

Please confirm the possible earliest dates based on my situation.

LR SET form submission date - fee pay date - As I am confused about on which date I should finally submit the application now or once 28 days period start?


Point 2 - In the last 10 years I lived on below mentioned visa with a validity date and application date. Please review and let me know if my continued residency is intact or not, I think I am fine but your opinion matters a lot.

Visa category From to Gap Visa app date Visa submit/fee date
ICT-Sort term 24 June 2011 23 June 2012 N.A
ICT long term 09 July 2012 08 August 2014 16 05-Jul-12 05-Jul-12
ICT long term 16 July 2014 03 August 2016 No Gap
ICT long term 11 July 2016 23 July 2017 No Gap
Tier 2 gen -dependant 14 August 2017 13 August 2019 22 25/07/2017 21/07/2017
Tier 2 gen -dependant 12 August 2019 13 August 2022 No Gap

only on 2 occasions, I have a little gap in my Visa but the first one is well within the 28 days limit application at that time (before Nov 2016) and on the second one I submitted a visa application (fee paid) on 21st July before my last visa expired and applied for the visa in Mumbai on 25 July 2017 just 2 days after the old visa expired. But the home office took a couple of weeks to a made decision but that to my understanding should not break the long residancy. I think the Visa application submission especially the fee date is important in this regards.

I also calculated the days I went out of the UK based on the stamps on my passport and I was out in total for 318 days and never more than 45 days in a single trip.

I think my continuous residency is intact, do I need to submit any evidence for the visa application dates for the gap and mentioned the same in any other information section?

I will wait for your answer as your help is really appriciated.

Thanks in advance.

1) Apply online when you complete 10 years minus 28 days from the date of first ENTRY in UK. Book biometrics when you complete full 10 years (on the safer side).
Date of application is the date you apply online and pay and submit your application.

2) Page 16:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf

Thanks for your reply and guidance as always this was really helpful.