180 days requirement for ILR

Hi All,

I just wanted to find out that how home office checks for 180 days requirement in 5 years. Do we have to provide any proof? I have looked in to my passport for entry and exit stamps but I am not sure if they are the exact dates. I don’t have old airline tickets either.
Can anyone tell me how these requirements are checked and if we have to give any proof? Thanks a lot

You dont need to provide any proof but need to mention all dates in the application form clearly.
The entry/exit stamps on passport should be the exact dates. I'm surprised if they are not. HO has database of all entry/exits recorded from the landing card you fill when you land.
You can request get this information from HO by a SAR request.

imran22 wrote:Hi All,

I just wanted to find out that how home office checks for 180 days requirement in 5 years. Do we have to provide any proof? I have looked in to my passport for entry and exit stamps but I am not sure if they are the exact dates. I don’t have old airline tickets either.
Can anyone tell me how these requirements are checked and if we have to give any proof? Thanks a lot

Thanks for your reply

Ok so the dates on my passport are fine. The only reason i asked the question was because homeoffice have entry data from landing card but they dont have exit data. They dont put exit stamps if somebody is leaving the country.

The only way they can find out is the passport entry stamps from my country but some of them are not clear enough so i was wondering that we might have to give some other evidence to show when we left the country.

I am not sure if it is required to provide evidence incase the stamp is not clear enough. Atleast my details are fairly clear thankfully.

Experts please advise if any documents need to be provided in such cases?

imran22 wrote:Thanks for your reply

Ok so the dates on my passport are fine. The only reason i asked the question was because homeoffice have entry data from landing card but they dont have exit data. They dont put exit stamps if somebody is leaving the country.

The only way they can find out is the passport entry stamps from my country but some of them are not clear enough so i was wondering that we might have to give some other evidence to show when we left the country.

i can understand that stamps are rubbish sometimes and we dont' really pay any attention to this when passing immigration control BUT you were told already that you can request your SAR file. that's one and the best option

another one is just to think logically and make a table of all travel dates and i'm sure officers can make a sence out of it.
you can even put a small calendar together with dates marked. wont' take much space and time but will help you and you case worker a lot.

anyway, if you were economically active ie working/getting income. paying NI and tax during "unclear period" your alleged absence should not be a problem.

is there any time limit for dependant like 180 days. Does going home for maternity be classified as being out of country and will it affect ILR.

letmec2006 wrote:is there any time limit for dependant like 180 days.

For ILR, don't think so. For naturalisation, there is a limit of 450 days absence in 5 years, so one needs to be careful not to exceed that!.

letmec2006 wrote:Does going home for maternity be classified as being out of country and will it affect ILR.

Yes, unless you can prove that delivery in UK was impossible . Again, might not affect ILR (if 180 day absence is not applicable to dependents). But can affect naturalisation.

All IMHO.

regards

sushdmehta wrote:Again, might not affect ILR (if 180 day absence is not applicable to dependents). But will affect naturalisation.

how? why?
you get your ILR
+ 12 month (allowed 90 days max away from the UK)
on 12 months +1 day you can apply.

Does anyone know for sure if 180 days limit apply on dependents as well. My wife and son are away for more than 3 months now. I thought this only apply to the main applicant.

Like when you apply tier 1 visa only main applicant has to fullfil the requirements not the dependents.

Please can someone clear this issue for ILR and Naturlization as well. Thanks

kamalin10 wrote:

sushdmehta wrote:Again, might not affect ILR (if 180 day absence is not applicable to dependents). But will affect naturalisation.

how? why?
you get your ILR
+ 12 month (allowed 90 days max away from the UK)
on 12 months +1 day you can apply.

As per my understanding, the following requirements are to be met by everyone (including those with ILR who were dependents before).

[url=http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/eligibility/naturalisation/standardrequirements/] wrote:Residential requirements[/url]
To demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:
â–  have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least five years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
â–  have been present in the United Kingdom five years before the date of your application; and
â–  have not spent more than 450 days outside the United Kingdom during the five year period; and
â–  have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the five-year period; and
â–  have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the five-year period.

So if >180 days absence takes one above the 450 day limit, it does affect!

All IMHO.

regards

sushdmehta
do not confuse people.

180 days have nothing to do with naturalization process.
it is 450 days including 90 days in last year.

kamalin10 wrote:sushdmehta
do not confuse people.

180 days have nothing to do with naturalization process.
it is 450 days including 90 days in last year.

I hope the edited response above takes care!


regards

Thanks everyone for the response.

FOR ILR

One last confusion which still exists after reading all the messages is, does 180 days and 90 days in one stretch limit applies to dependants for example my wife and my 2 year old son.

I sent them away for 6 months so that my son can live with his grand parents before going to school.

I will really appreciate if someone can clear this confusion

any comments?

imran22 wrote:Thanks everyone for the response.

FOR ILR

One last confusion which still exists after reading all the messages is, does 180 days and 90 days in one stretch limit applies to dependants for example my wife and my 2 year old son.

I sent them away for 6 months so that my son can live with his grand parents before going to school.

I will really appreciate if someone can clear this confusion

I am not certain, but I doubt that the dependents are required to follow the same time restrictions regarding absences, as far as ILR is concerned.

My reasoning -
1. When applying for ILR at the same time as the main migrant, there is no section in SET(O) that asks for details of dependent's absences from UK.
2. When applying for ILR seperately from the main migrant, there is no section in SET (M) that asks for details of the applicant's absences from UK (in this case, dependent is the applicant filing the form on his/her own).

But it should be kept in mind that that long absences may affect naturalisation (450 days in 5 years; 270 days in 3 years for spouse visa holders).

regards

I had a singaporean friend who applied as Tier2 dependant. She returned back to singapore for more than a year to deliver her baby and return when her girl is 10 month old. 5 month after she returned, together with her husband she applied for ILR and get an approval (Her husband always in the UK working), so my gut feeling told me that for ILR the length of stay of dependant is irrelevant.

I'm in a similar situation, and would be aplying for ILR in June 2011. As far as I have read the immigration rules and guidance notes,

- A dependent (say spouse) should have completed 2 years of stay in UK.

So, if your spouse has stayed in UK for 2 years in UK (i believe short breaks will be acceptable for holidays), I think it dioes not matter if they are away for 1 year after that...

diago_nelson wrote:HO has database of all entry/exits recorded from the landing card you fill when you land. You can request get this information from HO by a SAR request.

I requested my SAR file and it didn't have a list of absences, just copies of my previous HSMP application and one or two landing cards. Has anyone actually requested SAR and received a list of absences?

Why will the SAR have a "list of your absences"? That's for the applicant to ascertain .... not UKBA!

If you are complaining that they have not included copies of all landing cards, then that's fine .. a valid point to cry about! But "list of absences" that UKBA is supposed to provide to you???


regards

I am asking my question because someone who posted previously said they should be in the SAR (the quote in my post). So I would like to know if the information I received was incomplete.

I already maintain a list of my absences but it would be useful to have the UKBA list (if they maintain one) to ensure I haven't missed anything.

"Entry / Exits records" and "list of absences" mean two different things.

Also, UK landing card does not ask for / record "exit date" but has only an entry date / entry date stamped by the IO.

Since UKBA does not carry immigration checks on exit or stamp exit dates on passports, the exit dates from UK can only be ascertained by arrival stamp endorsed on the passport at the arrival airport in the destination country or from your personal record / memory of the trip.

hope this helps.


regards

sushdmehta wrote:"Entry / Exits records" and "list of absences" mean two different things.

Also, UK landing card does not ask for / record "exit date" but has only an entry date / entry date stamped by the IO.

Since UKBA does not carry immigration checks on exit or stamp exit dates on passports, the exit dates from UK can only be ascertained by arrival stamp endorsed on the passport at the arrival airport in the destination country or from your personal record / memory of the trip.

hope this helps.


regards

So if exit checks are not carried out, and you travel to a country which doesn't stamp your passport on entry/exit (e.g. a citizen), does the case worker have any way of independently verifying the date that you left the UK?

Oh yes, the resources are very much there ... if the caseworker need to verify something.

One such example is the advanced passenger information provided by airlines to UKBA (e-Borders).

One must not assume that if there're no exit/entry stamps in the passport, one can get away with lying about their absences.


regards

Thanks Sush for the URL. I was looking for something like this (having a hard time calculating an accurate list of absences from UK)

I entered the country on 01-Feb-2007 on a work permit (not Tier 2); still with the same company & don't intend to switch; switched from WP to T1G in Sep-10 (valid until Sep-12); hoping to apply for ILR in Jan-12.

During the past 5 years, apart from paid vacations, I did a lot of business travel during 2008-09 (3-4 days a week out of UK for about a year).

1) It seems like SAR should have the most accurate record of my travels?
2) Have you (or anyone else) ever used this service especially for determining absences for ILR context?
3) I've always received salary in UK & paid taxes here since Feb-07; never been out on unpaid leave; 2 wks of avg annual vacations out of UK; is this enough for being classified as 'economically active in UK'?
4) Any other thoughts/suggestions would be most welcome to help my cause.

Thanks.