Overstayer or Not - Long Residence

Hello,

First of all, thank you very much for everyone who contributes to making these forums so informative. I really appreciate the help it provided me in the past and I would be very grateful for any assistance with this situation.

My partner is now in the process of switching from Tier 2 to FLR(M) and in a couple of years he will be eligible, in theory, for ILR through long residence (10 years). Going through the FLR(M) application now brought to our attention that he may have to wait 11 years before he becomes eligible for ILR. This is due to a gap between his first two visas, which might have broke his continuous residence, but we are not sure. Here are the details:

- He entered the UK to do a 12 months foundation course in September 2009.
- He was accepted into a 3 years undergraduate course starting September 2010.
- He applied to extend his Tier 4 visa before the expiry date of his first visa.
- He applied by post and there was a silly mistake with his application: one of his bank statement pages was not stamped by the bank.
- The Home Office sent him an email asking for the stamped page.
- He was only 19 and very busy with university deadlines, so he didn't check his email for a while.
- The Home Office rejected his application via a letter.
- He wrote back to the Home Office apologising and asking them if he should re-apply.
- The Home Office confirmed via writing that he should make a new application.
- He consulted with a visa advisor in his university and they gave him two options: either leave the country and make an application from abroad or make an in-country application.
- He was very busy with university work, so he decided to re-apply by post while he focuses on his studies.
- The date he made the new application was more than 28 days after receiving the first rejection letter (it was around 32 calendar days)
- The Home Office granted him visa very quickly after he re-applied, and they granted him 2 more visas after that.

I have done some research and discovered that the 28 days grace period was only introduced in July 2012, and it was made to 14 days last year. The Home Office letters and the university's visa advisor didn't mention anything back then about re-applying within 28 days. So the questions are:

- Will his stupid mistake that happened in 2010 affect his continuous period to apply for ILR?
- Was he an overstayer at that point in time?

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

I guess you must read this already -

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 6.0EXT.PDF

So yes. His stay has broken during the extension of his Tier 4. So his 10 year continuous period can only be counted from the date his new tier 4 granted.

Yes. He was also overstayed. So any time when he applied naturalisation, remember to declare this, although likely 10 year has passed from this incident.