ILR - start of 5-year qualifying period

Dear forum members,

I have been issued a work permit visa outside UK in January 2007,
on the basis of which I entered the UK the same month. As my
passport was due to expire later in 2007, I returned back to my
home country in April, cancelled my visa, as instructed by the
British embassy, got issued a new passport having surrendered the
old one, re-applied for a new visa on the basis of the existing
work permit and re-entered UK later in April 2007.

I subsequently switched to Tier I (General) residence permit inside
UK.

As I read the rules, the qualifying period for ILR on the basis of
5-year presence in the UK on a combination of WP/Tier I started
when I first entered the UK (as stamped in my WP), ie January,
rather than April,2007.

Would really appreciate your views/thoughts on my situation, thanks in advance.

as far as i know there are no reasons why british embassy ask you to cancel your visa? do you have anything in writing confiming this.

you had no need to cancel visa let alone go back to home country. you could have got passport renewed while in UK.

it was more convenient to do so this way - it took 3 days to get issued a new passport back home comparing to 3-4 months wait should I applied via the embassy inside UK. Besides, there was other reasons not related to immigration.

Any other comments/viewa are highly appreciated

Thank you

to clarify the situation a bit:

Back in 2007, it was not legally allowed to have 2 passports on hands - if one has expired/there were no free pages left, it had to be exchnaged for a new one (and you have to give the old one back).

Whilst at home in April 2007, I have enquired with the British Embassy on the course of action given that the old passport had to be surrendered upon the issuance of the new one. I was advised to cancel the existin visa and apply for a new one once the new passport was issued (guess otherwise their records would have shown that I already have an existing visa)

I did so, on the basis of the same Work Permit, so there were no problems there

I have retained the old Work Permit, which has been stamped the first time I entered UK for work, ie Jan 2007.

I'd like to think that you have good reasons to count your 5yrs from Jan.

what proof do you have that you had an original visa in january 2007. do you still have old passport? it might be safer just to wait for 3 more months... what is the start date in your visa which was issued in april 2007.?

anyway the rules might as well change in 2012.

out of interest which country doesnt allow old passport to be held along with new renewed passport?

As to the documents, I have:

1) WP stamped in January 07
2) Scanned copy of a passport page with initial WP visa (with Heathrow arrival stamp alongside police registration stamp dated Jan 07)
3) Police registration certificate (with a stamp in Jan 07)

As previously, appreciative of any views/thoughts, especially from senior members/moderators

Many thanks in advance.