Settlement - effect of absences from UK

Hello all, I currently live in the UK as a Tier 1 (General) Migrant. Held an HSMP visa for 2 years prior to that. Now Ive got a total of 3.5 years continuous stay on a Working visa, and Im working towards permanent residence. My problem is: I work for a UK Automobile mfg company and I am going to be sent to India on a project for 2 years, after which I will return to the UK. I will still be employed by the UK company for the 2 years, and will have my house here.

Could anyone please advise about my options after that and how this absence will affect my application for PR? Do the rules not state that the applicant should have stayed CONTINUOUSLY in the UK for 5 years? Or will a total of 5 years be sufficient for a case like mine?

Thanks in advance.

Clington06 wrote:Hello all, I currently live in the UK as a Tier 1 (General) Migrant. Held an HSMP visa for 2 years prior to that. Now Ive got a total of 3.5 years continuous stay on a Working visa, and Im working towards permanent residence. My problem is: I work for a UK Automobile mfg company and I am going to be sent to India on a project for 2 years, after which I will return to the UK. I will still be employed by the UK company for the 2 years, and will have my house here.

Could anyone please advise about my options after that and how this absence will affect my application for PR? Do the rules not state that the applicant should have stayed CONTINUOUSLY in the UK for 5 years? Or will a total of 5 years be sufficient for a case like mine?

Thanks in advance.

You'd be taking a risk to work in India through a UK company for such a long length of time. People have obtained ILR with a significant amount of absences but frankly 1.5 year of absences is not helpful. There would be no way anyway could guarantee you that you'd get it under these circumstance. I personally would not take the assignment and would tell them why.

More than 6 months long absence is not allowed.

Thankyou for your responses. Well in case a 6-month absence is not allowed, would it help if I visited the UK once every 6 months for a couple of days?

ANd one more thing: Is it 3 months or 6? Im asking this, as the ILR application doc asks you to mention any periods longer than 3 months that you have been absent from the UK.

Thanks

Clington06 wrote:Thankyou for your responses. Well in case a 6-month absence is not allowed, would it help if I visited the UK once every 6 months for a couple of days?

ANd one more thing: Is it 3 months or 6? Im asking this, as the ILR application doc asks you to mention any periods longer than 3 months that you have been absent from the UK.

Thanks

You can't be absent for more than 6 months in total (of the qualifying 5 year period) but no single gap should be longer than 3 months.

There seems to be some concession for work-related absences abroad. There are a number of threads about this in the General Immigration section which might give you an idea of what you might get away with (what you suggest probably won't).

MrBaboo wrote: You can't be absent for more than 6 months in total (of the qualifying 5 year period) but no single gap should be longer than 3 months.

Hi Mr Baboo, I was wondering if that 3 month limit applies to the initial period of the Tier 1 visa too? Specifically, would entering the UK more than 3 months after the visa was issued affect settlement or does that only come into question after one has actually entered the UK?

pyke wrote:

MrBaboo wrote: You can't be absent for more than 6 months in total (of the qualifying 5 year period) but no single gap should be longer than 3 months.

Hi Mr Baboo, I was wondering if that 3 month limit applies to the initial period of the Tier 1 visa too? Specifically, would entering the UK more than 3 months after the visa was issued affect settlement or does that only come into question after one has actually entered the UK?

I'm not sure but I think it would. The relevant requirement here is 5 continuous years of residence in the UK prior to the ILR application. If you had 5 years of visas (initial + renewal etc) but you arrived 6 months into the initial visa then at the 5 year mark you've only spent 4.5 years continuously in the UK (thus don't qualify). Others may have a different take on this.

Thanks Mr Baboo! That makes sense. In that case, I suppose the thing to do would be to apply for another 2 year extension and qualify for ILR when the 5 years have been accumulated?

I have wondered about this too. How exactly do they count five yrs...

Making up dates here, but say my HSMP was valid from Apr 15th '08, but I first entered UK on HSMP EC four days later, i.e. Apr 19th '08, for 7-10 days. I then stayed away from UK for another 1.5-2 months, i.e. had interview in early Jun '08 (flew back out of UK in two days), came to UK again in late Jun '08 for 4-5 days and "moved" to UK in mid-July '08 for my job. This is a fairly accurate description of my situation thus far, except for the months and dates.

I plead guilty to not having read any guidelines or rules that exist, so if the answer to my question is fairly obvious, pls don't flame on me, and just suggest reading the material.. Its just that I saw this thread and thought of floating this question for knowledgeable souls on here.

Cheers.

rajesh9pl wrote:More than 6 months long absence is not allowed.

Is it 6 months or
totally you might have been out of country for 15 months in 5 consecutive years but on the last year not more than 3 months.

Indefinite Leave to Remain - The total duration of absences abroad that are allowed in the 5 year qualifying period have remained the same as under the 4 year qualifying period. That is the total duration of absences abroad that are allowed in the 5 year qualifying period for ILR for HSMP / Tier 1 / Work Permit holders is 6 months. Please note that absences should not exceed 3 months at a time and should not amount to more than 6 months in all. See also Annex F

Naturalization (leading to citizenship) - See Residential requirements

regards