ILR application while waiting for visa extension

Hello,

I went to Turkey on 5th of March 2020 and returned on 27 August 2020. I needed to look after family members and received psychological support to take a flight again.

During my stay the flights have been cancelled and there was lockdown for 85 days until 10 of June.

When I managed to return back to UK my absence was over 180 days (210 days).

Home office regulation change says:
CR 2.3. When calculating the 180 days in CR 2.1. or CR 2.2. any period spent outside the UK
will not count towards the 180-day limit if the absence was for any of the following reasons:
(a) the applicant was assisting with a national or international humanitarian or
environmental crisis overseas, providing if on a sponsored route their sponsor agreed
to the absence for that purpose; or
(b) travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; or

I'm curious about how the absence calculation is done. When calculating the absence days for ILR submission, should I deduct the days when there was no flights?

I have posted posted a thread with a similar situation, waiting for experts' opinions.....

the paragraph you are quoting only applies to certain categories of visas, regular tier 1 entrepreneur (200K) does not fall under this, I think.

this is for ECAA - Turkish Business Person visa

any comments about this case?

Hi all,

I've applied for my 2nd extension of ECAA Turkish Business Person visa after my 4th year here (1 + 3 years). Normally it should be completed in 6 months. However, like many other people, they sent me an email after 6 months saying that due to the complexity of my case, they won't be able to give a decision.

There are people waiting for more than 12 months and some people have been waiting about 15+ months! In January I'll be in the UK legally for 5 years and be eligible to apply to ILR. Could I apply to ILR while my visa extension still has not resulted?

Thanks!

Hello,

I'm tired of waiting for my visa extension result and I've decided to apply to ILR - as of tomorrow I'm eligible to apply to ILR. I've issue of being outside of the UK for more then 180 days during covid period where there were no flights (85 days) outside of Turkey. I believe with the above mentioned regulation change, my absence days that doesn't have flights will not be counted.

I'll try to explain this case in detail in my cover letter. In case of a potential refusal of ILR, I won't have any other active visa and I'm curious what would I need to do?

Would I be asked to leave the country if so?

Would any of the moderators be kind enough to review my cover letter? I would really appreciate your time and help.

Thanks a lot Zimba. My cover letter is below:

---------------
Dear Sirs,

After 5 years as a businessperson under the provisions of EC-Turkey Association Agreement 1973, I am submitting an application for the Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

Background

I am a Turkish national. I was granted 12 months of Leave to Remain until 2 February 2017. After the 12 months period I applied for Further Leave to Remain in 2018 and received 3 years of Leave to Remain until 2 February 2021.

I applied for Further Leave to Remain on 23 December 2020. I haven’t received a decision about that application. Since I completed 5 years in the UK under ECAA visa, I decided to vary my application and apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

On 5th of March 2020, I went to Turkey to visit my family. I was expecting that visit to be about 2 weeks long. The longest time I have been away from the UK was 22 days in 2019 and my other trips outside of the UK were no more than 15 days. I was enrolled in a salsa course and exchanged emails with them. On 9 March 2020, I sent them an email saying that I will join the classes on the week of 17th of March. This email conversation is attached as attachment 1.

On 16th of March 2020, due to the rise in Covid cases, Turkey banned flights between the UK and Turkey and 5 other countries. The below related news article is attached as attachment 2.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... KKBN21332W

On 28th of March, Turkey closed international borders and banned intercity travel. The below related news article is attached as attachment 3.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/3/2 ... strictions

On 11st June 2020, the flights between the UK and Turkey started operating again.

The below related news article is attached as attachment 4.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/flights ... 11/1872517

The below Twitter post of British Embassy Ankara is attached as attachment 5.


The below Facebook post of British Embassy Ankara is attached as attachment 6.


From 10th of July 2020, Turkey has been added to the travel corridor with eased travel restrictions. This official report is added as attachment 7.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/travel-corridors

I, like many other people, was very frightened and affected by this global pandemic and tried to protect the physical and mental health of myself, my family and the general public. After the travel corridor opened, I followed the frequency and consistency of flights and the case numbers both in Turkey and in the UK. After gaining confidence that the travel to/from the airport and the flight between Turkey and the UK will be safe and observing that the case numbers are under control, I decided to arrange my travel and returned back to the UK 27th August 2020.

During my time outside of the UK, I kept my tenancy active in in my primary address and returned back there.

Between 16th March and 11 June 2020, there was travel disruption for 87 days in which I wasn’t allowed to travel between Turkey and the UK.

Between 11 June and 10 July 2020, for 29 days the travel corridor between the UK and Turkey had not been implemented and flights were inconsistent with multiple cancellations.

On 30th October 2020, I was informed that XXX XXX, the mother of my father YYY YYY, passed away. In order to join the funeral, I booked the first flight available on the 30th of October and returned on 1st of November, the day after the funeral. Her death certificate is attached as attachment 7. Family tree received from the Turkish Government official web page (turkiye.gov.tr) is attached as attachment 8. On attachment 8, XXX XXX is highlighted on page 2. For this grievance period, I was outside the UK for 2 days.

Regulations about the absences from the UK are shown in the below web page. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... -residence

CR 2.3. When calculating the 180 days in CR 2.1. or CR 2.2. any period spent outside the UK will not count towards the 180-day limit if the absence was for any of the following reasons:
(a) the applicant was assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas, providing if on a sponsored route their sponsor agreed to the absence for that purpose; or
(b) travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; or
(c) compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant, or life-threatening illness or death of a close family member; or
(d) research activity undertaken by a Skilled Worker which was approved by their sponsor and where the applicant was sponsored for a job in one of the following occupation codes:
2111 Chemical scientists
2112 Biological scientists and biochemists
2113 Physical scientists
2114 Social and humanities scientists
2119 Natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified
2150 Research and development managers
2311 Higher education teaching professionals; or
(e) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who was endorsed by:
(i) The Royal Society; or
(ii) The British Academy; or
(iii) The Royal Academy of Engineering; or
(iv) UKRI; or
(f) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who qualified on the basis of a prize listed in table 6 of Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes.
In a total of 118 days, there was travel disruption due to Covid pandemic which prevented me from travelling safely to the UK from Turkey and compassionate personal circumstances due to the death of a close relative. As stated in CR 2.3 above, I’d kindly ask you to not count those days in the 180 days absence limit.

I’m a senior software developer specialising in front-end web and app development. I’m always up-to-date with new technologies and invest in myself to find more potential clients, projects and contracts.

I have been engaged in business activity for the past 5 years and I am still actively conducting my business at the time of this application. I spent a continuous period of 5 years lawfully in the UK with leave to remain as a Turkish businessperson. I herewith enclose my Turkish passport and other relevant documentary evidence confirming the same.

I would be grateful to be granted the Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

I made my online application for ILR on 6 January and gave my biometrics on 2 Feb.

I talked with some people who are in the same position as me; waiting for ECAA decision more than a year and eligible to apply to ILR. They said they received confirmation mail from HO ECAA email address saying that their ECAA application is cancelled and varied to ILR. They received this email about 10 days after they submitted their online ILR application. However I haven't received a confirmation email like this. In my application I mentioned that I have a pending application and entered my Case ID instead of Unique application number(UAN).

Another weird thing is, on 3 Feb, HO ECAA email address sent me a mail for my ECAA visa application and asked for more documents.

I sent an email to HO ECAA email address giving the details of my existing ECAA application (Case ID and UAN) and also shared my UAN for ILR application. I told them to vary my application. Is there anything else that I can do to clarify my position?

Just a follow up: today I received approval for my ILR! Thanks for your support